Sinclair began to release his findings as a serial in Appeal to Reason, nearly doubling the newspaper’s circulation in about a year. After rejection by five different publishers, The Jungle was released as a novel in 1906. It was an instant success; meat sales plummeted, it was translated into 17 languages so that immigrants could also read it, and thousands of letters were written to the White House calling for meatpacking reform. President Theodore Roosevelt, not believing what he read, ordered a special commission to investigate Chicago’s slaughterhouse, which confirmed Sinclair’s findings. Sinclair himself was invited to the White House to discuss his book with the President. The President himself admitted, “There is filth on the floor,
