The Jungle (The Norton Library)

Part of the Norton Library series

The Norton Library edition of The Jungle features the complete text of the first (1906) edition. An introduction by Kenneth W. Warren discusses the novel’s biographical and historical contexts, its literary merits, and its successes (and shortcomings) in affecting social change.

The Norton Library is a growing collection of high-quality texts and translations―influential works of literature and philosophy―introduced and edited by leading scholars. Norton Library editions prepare readers for their first encounter with the works that they’ll re-read over a lifetime.

• Inviting introductions highlight the work’s significance and influence, providing the historical and literary context students need to dive in with confidence.
• Endnotes and an easy-to-read design deliver an uninterrupted reading experience, encouraging students to read the text first and refer to endnotes for more information as needed.
• An affordable price (most $10 or less) encourages students to buy the book and to come to class with the assigned edition.

About the Editor: Kenneth W. Warren is Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of English at the University of Chicago. He is the author of Black and White Strangers: Race and American Literary Realism (1993), So Black and Blue: Ralph Ellison and the Occasion of Criticism (2003), and What Was African American Literature (2011).

Upton Sinclair was born on September 20, 1878, in Baltimore, Maryland, the only child of a poor liquor salesman and his wife. He attended both the College of the City of New York and Columbia University. In 1906, Sinclair published The Jungle, a muckraking exposé of Chicago’s meatpacking district. An immediate bestseller, it prompted widespread public outrage and led to the passage of the Pure Food and Drugs Act of 1906. An ardent socialist and political activist, Sinclair ran for office several times. His large body of work includes the novels King Coal (1917), The Brass Check (1919), and the Pulitzer Prize–winning Dragon’s Teeth (1942). He died on November 25, 1968, in Bound Brook, New Jersey.

Kenneth W. Warren is Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of English at the University of Chicago. He is the author of Black and White Strangers: Race and American Literary Realism?(1993), So Black and Blue: Ralph Ellison and the Occasion of Criticism?(2003), and What Was African American Literature??(2011).