Steinbeck is indeed a towering giant in the literary world, and this novel showcases his tremendous power. An interesting fact about this country of mine (U.S.A.) - there has always been enough food. We have never in our history known real famine or hunger. Now, people have not always had the money to buy the food, as this novel so intensely illustrates, but there has always, throughout our history, been an adequate food supply. This has led to some strange and unusual laws - also, we have been leery of government interference throughout our existence. (This has, of course, varied tremendously.) These situations where people starved while sitting next to warehouses of food have been all too common. Another irony is that the plains were the last area to be farmed and settled - the lack of trees made people think the land was not fertile.

If only Steinbeck were still around to lend his formidable talents to today's controversies and problems!

As I said it must have had an enormous impact when first published. I suppose one could compare him to Orwell in many ways - and like Steinbeck I wish Orwell was around today.

Mike, thank you for expressing so eloquently my own feelings after reading this book for the first time last year. I believe that this particular Steinbeck novel qualifies as having the greatest emotional impact on me of any book I have read in my adult life. Eye-opening, mind-boggling, depressing, unrelenting, masterful and without peer--the superlatives apply. Remember, too, that the labor tied to the company store scrip and housing was very common in the coalmining areas as well and you can begin to grasp the extent of this labor practice and the impact on the workers and their families.

Often, a book dealing with broad and/or controversial societal issues tends to degenerate into a political screed; Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" falls into that mold, to me, and detracts greatly from both the storytelling craft as well as the message intended by the author. Steinbeck's research, including living among the migrants, and his ability to tell the story without "the zeal of a convert" avoids the hectoring tone which can turn off many readers. On our last year's thread of "best book of the year" I listed this as first choice and it may well be the best book of my life. Yet, it is not one I can easily reread, nor have I since my first reading.

Just lurking on this forum and I must say - thank you for expressing what I felt about that book when I read it many years ago. It could be one of the best books I have ever read in my life.

This aspect of John Steinbeck is only tangentially related to the above thread involving Steinbeck's novel "the Grapes of Wrath." This thread begins with Steinbeck's grandparents in the 1850s. I've had an association with Steinbeck's books now for nearly 50 years and I thought readers here would find this post of interest:
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MISSED HIM BY A HAIR

In the 1850s the American writer John Steinbeck's grandfather, Johann Steinbeck, left Germany to live in Palestine. He married a woman of American descent Almira Dickson in 1854. In 1858 he and his wife returned to the United States. They had gone to Palestine as part of the Protestant millennial enthusiasms regarding the Second Coming. Johann Steinbeck and his wife, Almira, chose to live in Florida where their third son, John Ernst, the father of John Steinbeck was born. Johann enlisted in the Civil War and afterward the family moved to Massachusetts to be near AlmiraÂs family. Ten years later they tried their luck in the West and settled in California. There John Ernst married and in 1902 a son was born to him. He was the now famous writer, John Steinbeck. -Ron Price with thanks to Yaron Perry, "John Steinbeck's Roots in Nineteenth Century Palestine," Steinbeck Studies, Vol.15, No.1, 2004.

They missed Him by a hair, John.
They really had no idea how to look
at the true meaning of prophecy.
Well, they had some idea, nearly
died trying amidst the violence,
the heat, the pain and suffering.

They believed He would come
like a thief in the night and so
He did at the same time they
were nestling in Palestine--
the first intimations of that
Revelation when He was like
a man asleep and He was taught
all that was and all that would be.
This was not from Him but from
Someone Who was Almighty and
All-knowing and He bid Him lift
up His voice--and He did while
they were hoping and believing--
He would come!

Ron Price
5 January 2007
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PS If the above prose-poem interests you and, more importantly, if you are interested in Steinbeck's grandparents back in the 1850s read the article I mentioned above. It's free and on the net at "Project Muse."

Here is a link that might be useful: Pioneering Over Four Epochs