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The Grapes of Wrath
by John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath is a landmark of American literature. Published in 1939, it captures the horrors of the Great Depression as it probes into the very nature of equality and justice in America.
The novel follows the Joad family as they lose their tenant farm in Oklahoma and join thousands of others traveling from the Dust Bowl towards California and the dream of a piece of land to call their own.
Steinbeck depicts, in stark and moving detail, the Joad family's arduous journey, which sees them and their fellow migrants recreating society on the narrow concrete highways of Western America, while striving to preserve their humanity in the face of social and economic desperation. Steinbeck's anger after visiting the migrant camps in the 1930s drove the author to pen his most famous novel. His wife, Carol, came up with the title, taken from the lyrics of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."
"Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored... "The Grapes of Wrath sold nearly half a million copies in its first year of publication. Critics hailed the novel and it won a Pulitzer Prize. Steinbeck -- whose other works included Of Mice and Men, Cannery Row and East of Eden -- was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1962.
Time Magazine The Guardian NPR
Chapter-by-chapter synopsis
Understanding The Grapes of Wrath
The Grapes of Wrath study site
Banned!
Bitter Fruit of the Depression
The Grapes of Wrath: Fifty Years Later
On Steinbeck:
The National Steinbeck Center
Socialist Worker Online
