The Pulitzer Prize-winning epic of the Great Depression, a book that galvanized—and sometimes outraged—millions of readers.First published in 1939, Steinbeck’s Pulitzer Prize-winning epic of the Great Depression chronicles the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s and tells the story of one Oklahoma farm family, the Joads—driven from their homestead and forced to travel west to the promised land of … promised land of California. Out of their trials and their repeated collisions against the hard realities of an America divided into Haves and Have-Nots evolves a drama that is intensely human yet majestic in its scale and moral vision, elemental yet plainspoken, tragic but ultimately stirring in its human dignity. A portrait of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless, of one man’s fierce reaction to injustice, and of one woman’s stoical strength, the novel captures the horrors of the Great Depression and probes into the very nature of equality and justice in America. At once a naturalistic epic, captivity narrative, road novel, and transcendental gospel, Steinbeck’s powerful landmark novel is perhaps the most American of American Classics.
This Centennial edition, specially designed to commemorate one hundred years of Steinbeck, features french flaps and deckle-edged pages.
For more than sixty-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,500 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
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This is a classic and well-worth the time to read. Turned out that the author is a cousin of mine so I have taken a special interest in his works.
Probably the best written book I’ve ever read.
Well no wonder this book is on the top 30 books you should read in your lifetime. Just open it and you are captured.
The depression in Oklahoma was over-whelming to many. Steinbeck describes the trials of one family fighting hunger, disease, and loss of their old ways of life.
Tragic situation: honest, hard working, proud characters find themselves without work, without a home, but with a dream for a better life. The story follows their desire and heartbreak to find a better place for themselves: follow their journey (enduring struggle) from the Oklahoma dust bowl to the perceived land of milk & honey, California.
Still a classic after all these years. Today’s “millennials” need to read this to understand what poverty really is. It would do them good to get a handle on “community”, “charity” and generosity mean. Yes, it’s gritty. Yes, the author uses the now-dreaded “N” word…..leave it there and deal with it. This is real life.
I didn’t care for The Grapes of Wrath, I just could not get into it. Honestly it was the only novel I was required to read in high school where I broke down and got the Cliff Notes for it.
An excellent classic that only Steinbeck could write.
Not a pleasant read but a realistic look of the hardship faced by a farming family displaced by the depression and the dust bowl. The treatment of the downtrodden seeking a new start by both the banks and business was not as depressing as their treatment by fellow Americans in California. There are strange parallels to today’s attitudes toward the. Hispanic immigrants who pick our fruit and do the jobs natives prefer not to do….but are hated by locals and targeted by big business farming operators.
No happy endings here and an amazing closing that makes you think you missed the ending chapter. A classic worth the re-read fifty years later
A classic for sure
The best book I have ever read