Socialism and the Jungle by Upton SinclairIn 1906, Upton Sinclair's book, The Jungle, was published in book form; it had previously been published as a newspaper serial in 1905. Few works of literature have changed American history as much as The Jungle when it was published. It has been said that the book led to the direct passage of the "Pure Food and Drug Act" of 1906 (Dickstein) and that it led to a decline in meat consumption in the United States for decades. The book is set in early 1900s Chicago; a time when true industrialization had come to the United States and immigrant populations were skyrocketing (numbersusa.com). The story begins with the traditional Lithuanian wedding of Jurgis and his sixteen-year-old bride Ona. The marriage is one they can barely afford and is the backdrop to the changes they are just beginning to encounter in their new country. Immigrants of peasant origin had begun arriving in the United States en masse in the late 1890s, from countries including Ireland, Poland, Italy, and Lithuania (numbersusa.com). These people were ill-equipped to deal with the harsh realities of urban life in America at the time. In his book, Sinclair shows how capitalism creates pressures that undermine the traditional family life, cultural ties and moral values ​​that these immigrants brought with them. While “there is literally not a month's wages between them and starvation,” workers are pushed to abandon their families, and women are sometimes forced to choose between starvation and prostitution. Children are forced to work rather than go to school, just to avoid starvation for one more day..