Sunday, May 01, 2005
Supersize Him
Inside Higher Ed interviews Christopher Phelps, editor of a centennial edition of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, the grandaddy muckraker of all time. There are plenty of other editions already, Phelps admits, but then notes:
This new edition is for readers seeking context. It has a number of unique aspects. I’m pleased about the appendix, a report written by the inspectors President Theodore Roosevelt dispatched to Chicago to investigate Upton Sinclair’s claims about the meatpacking industry. In one workplace, they watch as a pig slides off the line into a latrine, only to be returned to the hook, unwashed, for processing.
Something I'm sure that never happens in processing plants now. Umm... right?
In the comments section to the article, one Wake Forest prof writes in: "I’ve been teaching the book, in my US Survey II course, for more than 25 years. And it is, hands down, the singular book that alumni cite to me as most memorable."
This new edition is for readers seeking context. It has a number of unique aspects. I’m pleased about the appendix, a report written by the inspectors President Theodore Roosevelt dispatched to Chicago to investigate Upton Sinclair’s claims about the meatpacking industry. In one workplace, they watch as a pig slides off the line into a latrine, only to be returned to the hook, unwashed, for processing.
Something I'm sure that never happens in processing plants now. Umm... right?
In the comments section to the article, one Wake Forest prof writes in: "I’ve been teaching the book, in my US Survey II course, for more than 25 years. And it is, hands down, the singular book that alumni cite to me as most memorable."
