I read "The Jungle". didn't care for it all. But now I feel I will give it another go. As an historian I read a lot of history, I would highly recommend the following, all by Margaret MacMillan.. Paris 1919 , The Uses and Abuses of History and The War that Ended Peace. She is a very good historian.
and is an expert on the Great War. I would also suggest Barbara Tuchman, especially A Distant Mirror.
Finally, Rose Menocal, The Ornament of The World, Jews, Muslims and Christians in Medieval Spain.

For Travel books I do like Eric Newby, especially A Short Walk in The Hindu Kush, also Frey Stark and Vita Sackville Wests' book on her Journey to Tehran.
Travel with a Donkey by Robert Louis Stephenson was a book I disliked because I found Stephenson unlikeable. However, the donkey was grand.