Research Paper on:
The Parallels Between the Progressive Era and The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
The turn of the twentieth century is often thought of as a time of great societal advancements. It was also  a time of many reprehensible practices in terms of human welfare in the workplace. First published in 1906, Upton Sinclairs "The Jungle" exposes this period in a manner in  which few of his time dared. Sinclair attacked one of the basic building blocks of American society, the sacred institution of capitalism. His book infiltrated Chicagos stockyards to  expose the deplorable conditions those who worked in those stockyards were forced to endure. His forceful attack, an attack which labeled the system "wage slavery", resulted in considerable changes  in workers rights both in the meat packing industry and elsewhere in American industry. It was an attack which greatly supplemented such recently enacted laws as the Food and  Drug Act. Written from the perspective of an immigrant family from Lithuania, Sinclairs "The Jungle" exposes the American dream to, in actuality, be  controlled not by hard work and commitment but by the various powers that characterized early twentieth century society. These power included the bosses, the police, the politicians, and a  myriad of other players. Sinclair reveals a dream which is interlaced by theft, prostitution, political graft, and a number of other adverse societal problems. They are problems which  in fact characterized this period of American history. The portrait presented in Sinclairs "The Jungle" is at first hard to reconcile with the  American values of hard work, profit maximization, and protection of the rights of the American worker. Most perceive these values as having roots which go well into our history.