Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

Upton Sinclair’s book The Jungle, published in 1906, helped advance the Progressive Era. Sinclair’s book was aimed at convincing the readers that socialism was far better than capitalism, but instead the readers focused on the abuses of the meat-packing industry. This book was just one of the causes that made the Progressive Era so progressive. The Progressive movement was filled with reformers who “sought to make the government more democratic, to eradicate unhealthful and …

…food and drugs and required the accurate labeling of ingredients.” The Meat Inspection Act “imposed strict sanitary requirements for meatpackers, set up a quality rating system, and created a system for federal meat inspection.” The Progressive Era did prove to be progressive. Upton Sinclair helped move the changes forward even though did not achieve his goal in spreading socialism. He instead helped inspire the government to regulate the unsanitary means in which the packing-houses operated.