In case you never read Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle (1906)—or if you have forgotten it since reading it in high school—this novel is not a story about Mowgli, Shere Khan, and the “bear” necessities. No indeed. The Jungle is a canonical example of an American protest novel—ostensibly about labor conditions—but reading it turned enough congressional stomachs to lead (unintentionally on Sinclair’s part) to federal regulations of the food processing industry, including the Meat Inspection Act of 1906. Lest you think a novel written 117 years ago has little relevance today, there continue to be…