The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

Throughout the course of my school career, I thought I had read the majority of The Jungle; so when I picked it up at the library I just thought I'd be piecing together what I already knew (you know, disguesting meat-packing stories). But the back of the book tells how Sinclair wrote the book, not for the sociological effect it had on the meat packing industry, but as a good way to introduce people to and to promote his new obsession: socialism; obviously I'd not read most of this book.
Have you read The Colour Purple or Angela's Ashes? The Jungle is up to par with those books in terms of absolute depressedness. The story follows a Lithuanian immigrant, Jurgis Rudkus, and his family as they come to America and find jobs and try to live in their new country. The book was written in 1906 and focus on the poor treatment of America's working class--the low labor force that moves the country.
I'm sure people of much softer heart than I probably fell to pieces over the plight of this family--yeah, it's sad, but c'mon they also made some pretty bad choices. The book was very well written, but it started to drag towards the end. And really, you don't see much of the pro-socialism part of it; it's just this super depressing book about how hard life is for them. It wasn't until (literally) the very end that Rudkus discovers socialism and becomes excited with how he's going to try and change the world with it.
It was a pretty good book, I can see why it is recommended reading for schools; if only because you are able to see how one man can change the way an entire nation thinks (read: views its meat). I don't see how it makes a point for socialism, just that it really sucks if you're poor. But it may be that I missed the point since I cannot bring myself to agree with socialist values.