Novelist Upton Sinclair, a lifelong socialist, wrote The Jungle to expose the evils of capitalism. But readers were more horrified by his descriptions of the unsanitary conditions in the meatpacking industry, where the novel’s hapless hero sees rats, filth, and diseased animals processed into meat products. The public outcry surrounding The Jungle contributed to the enactment of pure food and drug legislation and a federal meat inspection law. Picture Research Consultants, Inc.