The Jungle

I think it's a horribly racist book and, for that reason, blindingly ineffective propaganda. "Downtrodden unite! Band together to fight the oppressive bourgeoisie and the scary Negroes!" Fuck you, Upton Sinclair.

Dan I don't remember that part, but I do remember our 8th grade teacher telling us to "skip" a couple of chapters. Maybe that's why?

I wouldn't be surprised. I can't remember which chapter it's in, but there's a fairly lengthy description of how the wild and savage Negroes are stealing job opportunities from the hapless protagonist. In particular, there's a passage that's almost vile enough to have been in _Heart Of Darkness_ (another book I dislike because of overtly racist dogma).

I read both of these for the same class, along with _The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn_. I remember that when we got to _Huck Finn_, the whole class waited for me to scream, "RACIST!" and were completely shocked when I not only said that I loved the book, but argued vehemently against the people who claimed that it was racist.

Heart of Darkness? Definitely not as absolutely anti-racist as Huck Finn (the fact that anyone actually believes Twain was a racist makes me weep for my species) but I don't see it as 'dogma' of any sort. It's got some offensive passages, but how is the overall theme racist at all?

As for The Jungle, my favorite part is the utterly wacko ending where Marxism saves the day.