A People's History of the United States

In the decade after the Spanish-American war, Americans began to experiment with international literature and ideas. Author Jack London read writers from Russia, France, and Germany (including Marx) as he worked on a San Francisco oyster boat. His experiences, and the philosophy he developed from this reading, would go on to make his books rich and vibrant descriptions of American life. Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, published in 1906, is remembered for its horrific descriptions of Chicago’s food processing industry. Less well remembered are its main characters, a Lithuanian immigrant family who find themselves trapped and exploited by the American dream until their lives are broken and the husband finds liberation in political agitation. Ida Tarbell’s articles on Standard Oil exposed the company’s business practices, which smashed competition and exploited workers (322-23). These works raised American consciousness of new European ideas on administration and equality and the shortcomings at home. In 1909, women at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company organized a union and pushed for better working conditions. But in 1911, after a fire had burned through the factory and killed 146 women workers, an investigation revealed that the factory was in poor condition. Cloth and materials were piled all over the factory so that when one caught fire most of the factory floor also burned.