On this day in 1939, John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath was published. A series of shorter novels published in the mid-30s -- Tortilla Flat, In Dubious Battle, Of Mice and Men, The Red Pony -- had brought Steinbeck increasing success and fame, but he longed to do a longer novel reflecting "a very grave attempt to do a first-rate piece of work." With a lifelong empathy for the working poor, and months spent researching the "fruit tramps" and "Okies" who lived in the West Coast migrant camps, Steinbeck's subject and theme were never in question; less clear were the book's style and tone ... FULL STORY »
