I started reading Upton Sinclair's "Jungle", and found it so disturbing that I could not finish it. This present book is a parable espousing the same ideals of social justice, and openly connecting it to Christian teaching. The message was equally disturbing, but made more palatable by the the Christian context. Many early Christians were indeed unabashed communists ( with a small "c", motivated by Christian love, and voluntary, not imposed by a totalitarian, atheistic government). This way of life continues in monastic communities to this day. Our present capitalistic system of unbridled consumerism contains the seeds of its own destruction, and we plainly see this in the economic recession of the past few years. This book invites us to reassess our fundamental values and curb our greed.