Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle:

[ensemble]

11. fascinating book...

I grew up in a meatpacking city (it was at one time), and many of my ancestors worked in the stockyards years ago. For whatever reason, the book was not assigned reading in HS; some classes read it, but more advanced students got stuck with English classics, which I had little interest in. I finally read it when in grad school on my own and was glued to it. It seemed a bit hyperbolic to me in some ways but is probably somewhat representative of many poor immigrants and their struggles in a sink or swim culture.

Remember that this was before Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, an expanded education system, 40 hour work week, etc:
The not-so-good ole days.

We might also have more vegetarians if everyone read the book.