'''''La Jungle''''' est un roman d'Upton Sinclair publié en 1905 dans son édition anglaise et, pour la version française, en 1905 pour le premier volume (''Les Empoisonneurs de Chicago'') et 1906 pour le second (''La Fin de la jungle'') chez Juven. Dans une édition plus récente, 10/18, le second livre s'intitule ''L'Affranchi''. Une nouvelle traduction a été publiée par les Éditions Mémoire du Livre mémoire du livre en 2003 et réédité en 2008 par les Éditions Gutenberg parallèlement à "Pétrole !"(Oil!). '''''La Jungle''''' a été tiré à plusieurs millions d'exemplaires, traduits en plus de trente-trois langues.

C'est le tableau horrible des conditions de vie et de travail de millions d'immigrés polonais, lituaniens, allemands, etc., dans les abattoirs de Chicago. Leurs combats, leur misère, leur déchéance, les grèves, l'alcoolisme, la prostitution, et tout ce qui tourne autour. La description de ces horreurs a poussé le président Theodore Roosevelt a engager une commission d'enquête sur les conditions de travail dans l'industrie de la viande et à faire mener des réforme du droit du travail.

Un homme politique anglais a pu dire, après la lecture de ce livre : 

{{Infobox Book | <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books -->
| name          = The Jungle
| image         = Image:Jungle cover.jpg
| image_caption = 
| author        = Upton Sinclair
| country       = United States
| language      = English
| genre         = Political Novel
| publisher     = Doubleday, Jabber & Company
| release_date  = February 28 1906
| media_type    = Print (Hardcover)
| pages         = 
| isbn          = Released before ISBN system implemented
}}
'''''The Jungle''''' (1906) is a novel written by author and corruption on the part of the "haves". The sad state of turn-of-the-century labor is placed front and center for the American public to see, suggesting that something needed to be changed to get rid of American "muckraking" tradition begun by journalists such as Jacob Riis. Sinclair wanted to persuade his readers that the mainstream American political parties offered little means for progressive change.

Upton Sinclair came to Chicago with the intent of writing this novel; he had been given a stipend by the socialist newspaper ''The Appeal to Reason''. Upon his arrival in the lobby of the Chicago Transit House, a hotel near the stockyards, he was quoted as saying, "Hello! I'm Upton Sinclair, and I'm here to write the ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' of the Labor Movement!" (Arthur, 43). He rented living quarters and immediately immersed himself in the city by walking its streets, talking to its people, and taking pictures.  One Sunday afternoon, he worked his way into a group of Lithuanian immigrants getting together for a wedding party – "Behold, there was the opening scene of my story, a gift from the gods".  He was welcomed to the festivities and stayed until two o'clock in the morning.<ref>Upton Sinclair, "Is ''The Jungle'' true?", ''The Independent'', May 17, 1906 – as quoted and cited in: Giedrius Subačius (2006), ''Upton Sinclair: The Lithuanian Jungle''. Rodopi, ISBN 9042018798.</ref>

The novel was first published in serial form in 1906 by ''The Appeal to Reason''.  "After five rejections", its first edition as a novel was published by Doubleday, Page & Company on February 28,1906, and it became an immediate bestseller.<ref name="young1"/> It has been in print ever since.

==Public and federal response == 	 
thumb|left|200px| Chicago meat inspectors in early 1906 	 

Although Sinclair originally intended to focus on industrial labor and working conditions, food safety became the most pressing issue. Sinclair's account of workers' falling into meat processing tanks and being ground, along with animal parts, into "Durham's Pure Beef Lard", gripped public attention.  The morbidity of the working conditions, as well as the exploitation of children and women alike that Sinclair exposed showed the corruption taking place inside the meat packing factories.  Foreign sales of American meat fell by one-half.  In order to calm public outrage and demonstrate the cleanliness of their meat, the major meat packers lobbied the Federal government to pass legislation paying for additional inspection and certification of meat packaged in the United States. <ref name="reed">"[http://www.mackinac.org/article.aspx?ID=7229 Of Meat and Myth]," Lawrence W. Reed, The Freeman, November 1994 </ref> Their efforts, coupled with the public outcry, led to the passage of the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, which established the Food and Drug Administration. 	 

Although the meatpackers lobbied the government for legislation, they did not welcome regulations.  Sinclair and President Theodore Roosevelt were both integral to the passage of the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906.  Roosevelt was sent multiple copies of ''The Jungle'', including one by Sinclair himself, prompting his curiosity about meat inspection, but not much else.  After much persuasion from Sinclair as to the seriousness of the situation, Roosevelt agreed to send two men to investigate Sinclair's claims.  The men the president chose, Charles P. Neill and James B. Reynolds, had both done investigative work for Roosevelt before, and were thought trustworthy. Sinclair really wanted Roosevelt to send his inspectors into the factories so they could see how poorly the workers were being treated; he wanted the nation to become better educated on the issue of "wage slavery". Instead of acknowledging the poor conditions and inhumane treatment of the workers, the men reported only on the cleanliness, or lack thereof, in these packing factories. 

Even though the meat packers had forewarning and time to clean up, the conditions Neill and Reynolds observed were described as "revolting".  The only claim in Sinclair's work which they failed to substantiate was that workers who had fallen into lard vats were left and sold as lard. Roosevelt was so concerned about the impact of Neill and Reynold's report on western stock growers and European meat importers that he did not release the findings for publication. Instead, he helped the issue  by dropping hints from the report, alluding to disgusting conditions and inadequate inspection measures. This pressure was adequate, although the bill that was finally passed did not include dating cans of meat or charging the packers for inspection costs.<ref>Young, "The Pig That Fell into the Privy," p. 467-480</ref> 	 
Sinclair rejected the legislation, as he viewed it as an unjustified boon to large meat packers partially because the U.S. was to bear the costs of inspection at $3,000,000 a year.<ref>Young, "The Pig That Fell into the Privy," p. 477</ref><ref name="sinclair">Upton Sinclair, "The Condemned-Meat Industry: A Reply to Mr. M. Cohn Armour", ''Everybody's Magazine'', XIV, 1906, pp. 612-613 </ref> He famously noted the limited effect of his book (which led to meat packing regulations, but not to reform of the wages and living conditions of its workers) by stating, "I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach."

In 1914 the All Star Features Corp. produced the silent film 'The Jungle' based on Sinclair's book.

==Plot summary== 	 
thumb|400px|Panorama of the beef industry in 1900 by a Chicago based photographer
The novel opens with a dramatic description of a Lithuanian wedding feast, which introduces the reader to all of the major characters &mdash; Jurgis Rudkus (originally "Rudkos"<ref>Sinclair, "The Jungle" ISBN 1-884365-30-2, pp i</ref>), his bride Ona, their extended family and their friends. Nearly every person who has passed by the building has been invited to attend the feast, as was the custom from the old country.  The musicians play, the guests dance, food and drink flow freely, but an undercurrent of terror foreshadows what is to come – their generous hospitality has cost them much, but the traditional donations expected of the guests are few in number and small in size. 

 	 

Lured away from con men, and unscrupulous realtors cheat them out of their plans to own a home. The family had envisioned that Jurgis alone would be able to support them, but one by one, all of them &mdash; the women, the young children, and Jurgis's sick father &mdash; are forced to find jobs and contribute to the meager family income. The reality of having to work in a capitalist society takes a hold of their family as they are forced to succumb to the demands of the upper class. As the novel progresses, the jobs and means the family uses to stay alive lead to their moral decay. 	 