The Grapes of Wrath
The Joad family drives west from the Dust Bowl to California, and finds the promise waiting there already broken.
The Joads lose their Oklahoma farm to dust and the banks and drive west on Route 66 with everything they own, joining a migration into California that the state neither wants nor can absorb. Steinbeck alternates the family’s story with short chapters on the wider movement, and the book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1940 and helped bring him the Nobel.
Recommended by 1 Person
John Kerry
It puts it in a context that people can really understand. While there is a story that takes place between characters, the hardship and unfairness is a central element of the book. It shows how fiction can create progressive change as well. I think it had a profound impact at any rate in shaping opinions. I think we need a new Grapes of Wrath today, a modern times version.
Interview · August 2011
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