It's a fantastic book - download it - buy it - or just borrow it and read it. The Dust Bowl Triolgy are worth the effort.
Replies
It's also worth noting there are some other great novels that tell the same story in other countries - Orwell's "Road to Wigan Peer", "Down and out in Paris and London", "1984" Emile Zola "La Terre" Aldus Huxley "Brave New World". Some dystopian, but all alluding to same or similar failings.
may 11, 2025, 6:07 pm • 77 8 • view
I wouldn't say 1984 and Brave New World tell the same story though... the other books, yes - the authors went amongst the downtrodden and wrote about them in fiction (Zola) or non-fiction (Orwell) - but it's not like the "dystopia twins" there need any more press at the moment.
may 12, 2025, 7:45 am • 1 0 • view
Actually 1984 was written as a fiction about the period previous to WW2 according to George Orwell.
may 12, 2025, 1:12 pm • 0 0 • view
one hundred years of solitude by gabriel garcia marquez evokes closer, similar feelings, right down to the fruit as well.
may 11, 2025, 6:29 pm • 37 1 • view
Ashamed to say I have never read it, it's bound to be in my local library so I will rectify that asap
may 12, 2025, 6:22 am • 3 0 • view
Cien anos en solidad, is a great book, certainly.
may 11, 2025, 6:47 pm • 13 0 • view
true story: i started learning spanish just so i could read it in the original spanish. i love it that much also true story: i still suck at spanish
may 11, 2025, 6:50 pm • 37 0 • view
Similar story here but for Don Quixote. My Spanish is horrible- grammar, pronunciation- Mexican spouse kids me that I sound Russian. But I persist and I’ve found when I am in Mexico people there are forgiving of my odd syntax and accent.
may 11, 2025, 9:13 pm • 10 0 • view
You make an effort and the Mexican people appreciate it! Kind people, great country 😎
may 12, 2025, 12:27 am • 1 0 • view
Yes! Going to Oaxaca next, an area I have not yet been.
may 12, 2025, 1:51 am • 1 0 • view
That's fantastic, I want to visit Oaxaca as well✌️😎
may 12, 2025, 2:08 am • 1 0 • view
I had a friend originally from Switzerland. She said there is German but her dialect was French-German. (???) I’m not sure if that’s the real name or a translation thing. But when she moved to the US, she moved to Minneapolis. She ended up French-German AND Minnesotan accent. In Virginia. A+ effort!
may 12, 2025, 5:05 am • 5 0 • view
Could be the German spoken in Alsace 🤔 she must have a unique accent!
may 12, 2025, 5:29 am • 1 0 • view
Many accents come from the person that taught you the language. Example: learning English from someone in Ireland versus the southern US. You’ll speak English in their accent.
may 12, 2025, 12:55 pm • 3 0 • view
Yep exactly! I’ve also heard p say that the language you heard while a teenager will be YOUR accent. My parents from Jersey City, NJ deliberately tried to NOT have that accent. Then we travelled the US as Air Force brats. Some ppl say we have “no accent,” but they know we’re not “from here!” 🙂
may 12, 2025, 4:25 pm • 1 0 • view
Navy brat. Overseas no one from from there except the locals
may 12, 2025, 11:13 pm • 2 0 • view
I have it in English, but while studying Spanish, I bought a book of ancient Spanish legends IN SPANISH and omg, words from the 15th century!
may 11, 2025, 8:13 pm • 3 0 • view
My friend recommended this book recently and she is looking for it in Spanish so she can read it in original form.
may 12, 2025, 4:23 pm • 2 0 • view
📌
may 12, 2025, 12:35 am • 1 0 • view
This is happening as Dump destroys an economy "of grapes" in a "wrath" of stupid greed as children die. Read the book in high school.
may 11, 2025, 7:02 pm • 3 0 • view
Abd though it is a much lesser-known novel, and based on peoples" actual experiences is Studs Terkel's "Hard Times" Very moving and graphic. But I did like the Grapes of Wrath too.
may 12, 2025, 1:15 pm • 1 0 • view
John Dos Passos U.S.A. trilogy.
may 12, 2025, 4:20 pm • 0 0 • view
There is a wonderful Ken Burns documentary on this whole period, explaining the causes and consequences. Ken Burns should be hailed as a national treasure, though I expect most repulitards would have him executed for telling the truth. www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_LZ...
may 11, 2025, 5:16 pm • 132 27 • view
yes, great series by Ken Burns!
may 11, 2025, 10:18 pm • 0 0 • view
Almost ever frame of old footage here is from Par Lorenz's "The Plow that Broke the Plains." Which is a much better film that what Burns put together here.
may 11, 2025, 7:41 pm • 1 0 • view
Burns is an unrepentant flag waver that rarely offers a really critical look at his subjects. Look how he lets Shelby Foote go on and one romanticizing The Confederacy in "The Civil War." I find most of his output dreck.
may 11, 2025, 7:39 pm • 1 0 • view
LITERALLY showed a clip from this to my U.S. history class on Friday 👍
may 11, 2025, 5:21 pm • 60 5 • view
You'd be serving your students better to screen Par Lorenz's "The Plow that Broke the Plains" than any dreck Burns produced about this era in U.S. History. You've probably never even heard of him.
may 11, 2025, 7:45 pm • 5 0 • view
Pare Lorenz; I just looked him up. It is in the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress. Yes, USA capitalism/greed has destroyed a great deal of our natural resources and caused unnatural weather events, including killing marine life with fertilizer drain off.
may 11, 2025, 8:12 pm • 22 0 • view
Lorenz shows how farming practices at the time were a significant factor in creation of the Dust Bowl. The USDA fixed that. They showed farmers who to till soil to reduce dust and loss of topsoil to other types of erosion. An instance of government improving lives that is now lost on most.
may 11, 2025, 8:26 pm • 32 6 • view
The pbs show American experience has an informative dust bowl documentary
may 12, 2025, 4:55 am • 2 0 • view
Which mostly uses Pare's footage.
may 12, 2025, 1:58 pm • 1 0 • view
The value of the Burns video, imo, are the numerous excerpts of interviews with old timers who lived through the Dust Bowl. Makes it feel a little more tangible...but yes a lot of the blacka and white footage is the same.
may 12, 2025, 3:43 pm • 2 1 • view
I'd rather be shown than told. That's cinema. Burns' approach is radio with pictures.
may 12, 2025, 9:28 pm • 1 0 • view
Different learning styles. I personally like his approach. An anonymous voice reading the words of the witnesses versus someone acting out what they think they were feeling. It is different.
may 12, 2025, 10:01 pm • 0 0 • view
The U.S. government also played a role in the overuse/abuse of the land
may 11, 2025, 10:26 pm • 9 0 • view
To feed the war machine and giving land away to farmers who abused it.
may 11, 2025, 11:34 pm • 7 0 • view
I’ve watched it - fabulous historical documentary.
may 11, 2025, 11:48 pm • 1 0 • view
I should add if some bastard bans a book or tells me I can't read it, I will 100% track it down and read it - as they are wanting to hide something from us - always.
may 11, 2025, 1:22 pm • 332 21 • view
Amen to that
may 11, 2025, 10:18 pm • 1 0 • view
Maybe an idea worth realizing, "for banned books only": en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_...
may 11, 2025, 6:40 pm • 1 0 • view
There were several efforts to ban this one. A lot of libraries won't carry it: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irrever...
may 12, 2025, 12:13 pm • 2 0 • view
You see they said books, this is propaganda-based kindling, easy mistake.
may 12, 2025, 1:06 pm • 0 0 • view
The point is, are we going to be consistent? Are we going to only tout books banned by "them", or are we also going to champion banned books we disagree with? If we are going to be okay with banning "propaganda", who decides that? Having such gatekeepers means we're okay with banning books.
may 12, 2025, 2:27 pm • 0 0 • view
Same with me
may 11, 2025, 8:19 pm • 4 0 • view
I didn't truly discover my love of reading until in the fifth grade when my school banned "Are you there God, it's me Margaret," by Judy Blume Amazing what happens when you tell a kid you can't do something. I've been a bookworm ever since
may 11, 2025, 10:28 pm • 5 2 • view
I make it a point to not just read but also to own all of the books that are banned anywhere.
may 11, 2025, 5:30 pm • 103 9 • view
Same. The reason I bought it to reread instead of borrowing from the library (which is, of course, also important to support). These voices must be kept alive.
may 11, 2025, 7:11 pm • 47 6 • view
My silent generation, father had a mild panic attack when he saw Mein Kampf on my book shelf. My argument was that I couldn’t be for or against something if I didn’t know what it was.
may 12, 2025, 6:59 pm • 1 0 • view
I agree and I have many of those books as well. It is also the reason I have Ayn Rand "Atlas Shrugged" and "Fountainhead" but those don't get a prominent placing on the shelf. We can't oppose what we don't know. It does give an impression though.
may 13, 2025, 1:17 pm • 1 0 • view
I am doing the same and there are a lot of them.
may 11, 2025, 10:05 pm • 2 0 • view
EXACTLY!
may 11, 2025, 5:01 pm • 2 0 • view
Good thing it hasn't been on the banned books list in a long time, you can buy it anywhere in the USA without an issue. There is even an audiobook and movie all available for you. It's not a banned book if you can get it on Amazon you fear mongering POS. Also read Steinbeck's A Russian Journal
may 11, 2025, 10:23 pm • 1 0 • view
Same. Did the very same with "Catcher in the Rye." Beautiful prose and story. I'M WITH THE BANNED!
may 11, 2025, 10:52 pm • 4 1 • view
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may 12, 2025, 2:05 am • 2 0 • view
Read it in school but bought it a couple weeks ago, to re-read and because I believe it’s on ban lists and therefore important to keep alive.
may 11, 2025, 7:09 pm • 4 0 • view
Should be a daily reminder for all of us Thank you for posting
may 11, 2025, 9:28 pm • 2 0 • view
Love this book, unfortunately very accurate for these times
may 11, 2025, 5:13 pm • 3 0 • view
Support you local library! The Grapes of Wrath Of Mice and Men The Color Purple The Great Gatsby Sophie's Choice Beloved To Kill A Mockingbird The Red Badge of Courage Catch-22 Animal Farm 1984
may 11, 2025, 6:27 pm • 78 18 • view
Yes, good list indeed
may 11, 2025, 8:19 pm • 1 0 • view
good list
may 11, 2025, 7:19 pm • 7 0 • view
Good additions to the list Thank you!
may 11, 2025, 7:38 pm • 0 0 • view
For whom the bell tolls The old man and the sea
may 11, 2025, 7:20 pm • 10 1 • view
Oh I loved The Old Man and the Sea - in fact love a lot of Hemingway's work.
may 11, 2025, 8:19 pm • 5 0 • view
Are these all banned books?
may 13, 2025, 10:34 pm • 1 0 • view
And thank you for asking! I'm really glad people seemed to enjoy this post! Please feel free to add your own suggestions! I've thought of a few more I'd like to add myself, lol!
may 13, 2025, 11:08 pm • 0 0 • view
I'd add the books Steal This Book The Jungle Farewell to Manzanar Silent Spring Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
may 13, 2025, 11:18 pm • 1 0 • view
I think some are banned in some places but can't say all of them are. I made this particular list of English-language classics -that I've read, of course- because they are in a spectrum from socio-political undertones to outright commentary that one way or another relate to current so-pol events.
may 13, 2025, 11:06 pm • 1 0 • view
Some are - I read the other day some wakey US state wants to ban To Kill a Mockingbird, one of the best books I have read. The follow on novel was just good, but it's hard to better a classic. I think most fascists and communists hate 1984 - it shows them all up.
may 13, 2025, 11:00 pm • 2 0 • view
Add "Flowers for Algernon" and "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret".
may 12, 2025, 12:38 pm • 8 0 • view
and the song remains the same.
may 12, 2025, 12:46 am • 3 0 • view
God, I remember being 14 and reading The Grapes of Wrath, Germinal and Animal Farm in the same summer holidays. I think those books alone did so much for my interest in politics.
may 11, 2025, 9:13 pm • 2 0 • view
Just finished it...fantastic read. The land turtle metaphor for the Joad Family is brilliant.
may 12, 2025, 2:22 am • 5 0 • view
Are books banned in the USA? Genuinen question, banned outright or not made available at any libraries?
may 11, 2025, 4:48 pm • 3 0 • view
Afraid so worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankin...
may 11, 2025, 8:24 pm • 1 0 • view
It depends on the era being discussed. For the most part, books are never banned for the entire country. Today, some Republican and religious cities and states try to ban books from school libraries. But stores still sell them. Long ago, the U.S. had obscenity laws that prohibited “vulgar” content.
may 11, 2025, 6:01 pm • 3 0 • view
There were also many political books banned for certain time periods like anti-slavery content in confederate states and pro-communist themes during the Red Scare McCarthyism era in the 50s.
may 11, 2025, 6:03 pm • 3 0 • view
Reread this book a few years ago and wept at how relevant it all remains
may 11, 2025, 5:27 pm • 4 0 • view
Great movie
may 11, 2025, 9:45 pm • 2 0 • view
again, proof the american government is fascists and should not be trusted. i say, fuck the government, fuck the capitalists, fuck the companies. forever and always. great book, by the way. i was lucky to have read it in school when i did.
may 12, 2025, 1:14 am • 3 0 • view
Wait, what? Since when is this book banned? We had to study this very text in history class (in France, not in America).
may 12, 2025, 8:08 am • 3 0 • view
It's not.
may 12, 2025, 8:46 am • 0 0 • view
One of the few books I have reread half dozen times
may 12, 2025, 5:08 pm • 4 0 • view
Steinbeck was the most challenging and rewarding reading of my middle school requirements. Nothing came close.
may 11, 2025, 11:31 pm • 2 0 • view
Great book. Great movie.
may 12, 2025, 11:36 am • 0 0 • view
as a coincidence i saw and bought the book in my bookstore while looking for a gift for a friend o mine. (DE translation, though)
may 11, 2025, 9:10 pm • 1 0 • view
a monument of a book
may 15, 2025, 2:05 pm • 0 0 • view
may 11, 2025, 6:34 pm • 3 0 • view
I read it a few years ago. At the beginning I just wondered why we hadn't been assigned it in high school. Less than 100 pages in, that was pretty clear. Wouldn't want the kids reading that stuff. Not sure it was banned in the 50's and 60's, but it was too much for our tender little ears. Like 1984.
may 11, 2025, 4:47 pm • 5 0 • view
I was assigned 1984 at age 14, in 1984. I think it very much varied from school to school. I was also in an advanced reading class. I think they knew our particular parents wouldn't balk at anything they gave us to read. Those books sure as hell stayed with me.
may 12, 2025, 2:33 pm • 2 0 • view
I grew up in the 60's in a blue state and was also in advanced classes, but it was the height of the Cold War. Perhaps that was a factor. Animal Farm OK. 1984 not.
may 12, 2025, 2:39 pm • 2 0 • view
Also, there is more sexual content in 1984 (none in Animal Farm, IIRC), which could have been a deciding factor in the '60s, and likely would be again these days. We've re-entered a very prudish stage.
may 12, 2025, 2:42 pm • 1 0 • view
I don't really remember any sexual content, but that was 50+ years ago that I read it. I read it during the 1972 Republican Convention, and it seemed a spot on description of where Nixon was taking us. Orwell's sex would have seemed quaint in that era.
may 12, 2025, 2:45 pm • 2 0 • view
I remember there being sex in 1984, and it was more matter-of-fact than quaint, but I haven't read it since I was 14, so any such content would have stood out to me at that point. (Not that it was new to me, as I'd been reading Stephen King since age eight.)
may 12, 2025, 2:48 pm • 1 0 • view
I could read whatever I wanted to read, but my parents wouldn't take me to R-rated movies. So anytime there was a preview for a movie I couldn't see, if there was a book (there usually was), I read it. My parents were just pleased I liked reading. I read The Exorcist at 10. (Bad idea. Nightmares.)
may 12, 2025, 2:53 pm • 2 0 • view
Interesting. The times could be a factor for sure.
may 12, 2025, 2:40 pm • 1 0 • view
😢😢😢😢😢😢😢
may 11, 2025, 8:22 pm • 3 0 • view
As a teen I read anything by Steinbeck that I could get my hands on. Many of his books expressed the same sentiment as the passage quoted above.
may 12, 2025, 12:37 pm • 3 0 • view
Every American should read this book. It is art. It is history. It names the cancer that is destroying our country.
may 12, 2025, 11:36 am • 1 0 • view
and they are doing it again, This movie shows how we are creating a new Dust Bowl.
may 15, 2025, 1:55 pm • 2 0 • view
I find that the film seems to the classic telling of the story of Jesus Christ. Anyone else agree?
may 11, 2025, 11:45 pm • 4 0 • view
Banned in the US? I didn't know that! I taught it at GCSE. It's a wonderful book - not just great literature but accessible to teenagers growing up in inner city Manchester. They enjoyed it. Enjoying a set book!! It's about a seminal period in modern US history. You can't hide history - or from it.
may 11, 2025, 5:11 pm • 4 0 • view
Thank you for teaching it. They will be better educated than those who have ancestors that experienced it.
may 11, 2025, 7:06 pm • 1 0 • view
This book helped shape my critical thinking skills and had such an impact on my 10 year old self ( raised in Alaska, we read for lack of television)
may 11, 2025, 11:01 pm • 3 0 • view
Those who paint themselves in conservative colors don't want children to read that passage and, perhaps, question the status quo.
may 11, 2025, 3:44 pm • 11 0 • view
Ironically, the Bible says the same things and they do not recognize it.
may 12, 2025, 12:03 am • 3 0 • view
The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan is a great account of the Dust Bowl. It's nonfiction with lots of firsthand accounts. If you're interested in story set during the Dust Bowl you might be interested in Reading either Where the Red Fern Grows, or Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls
may 11, 2025, 3:02 pm • 14 2 • view
Came here to mention Tim Egan- fantastic book
may 11, 2025, 5:23 pm • 6 0 • view
Thank you! If Steinbeck’s books had been as widespread and read as thoroughly as any “holy book” the world would have looked much differently.
may 12, 2025, 8:57 am • 2 0 • view
Steinbeck teaches you what it means to be human. About empathy. About good and evil. About the indelible stains poverty and humiliation leave. His novels are as relevant as ever. Why are they "dangerous"? Because people might get “ideas” about social justice?
may 12, 2025, 8:55 am • 2 0 • view
John Steinbeck is one of my favorite authors! It's been a while since I read one I might go to the library and borrow it... just an excuse to stand a month hundreds and hundreds of books
may 12, 2025, 1:52 am • 4 0 • view
One of the first books to make me cry in my youth.
may 12, 2025, 8:23 am • 2 0 • view
Classic wisdom. I worship that book. And the movie too
may 11, 2025, 5:42 pm • 4 0 • view
If you cannot make it to a school board meeting, get on the phone or e-mail and tell them what you think about banning books. It only takes a few minutes and it doesn't cost any money. We don't need money in politics. We just need people to participate. www.nationalfinancialplan.co
may 12, 2025, 9:53 am • 0 0 • view
Very clear why they banned that one. It went right against their 'gospel' GREED ! MAMMON must rule. Greed be praised.
may 11, 2025, 9:12 pm • 1 0 • view
My favorite classic,read it in high school, reread it again last year. It really touched home after being in a union for 36 years.
may 11, 2025, 11:34 pm • 6 0 • view
One of my favorite books of all time
may 11, 2025, 5:56 pm • 4 0 • view
Glad I bought my copy years ago. Everyone in my family has read it now!
may 11, 2025, 3:43 pm • 6 0 • view
That book had a profound effect on me. Steinbeck was brilliant.
may 11, 2025, 4:21 pm • 2 0 • view
www.ntd.com/shenyun/shen...
may 12, 2025, 8:03 am • 0 0 • view
This is one of my dad's favourite books and after I read it for the first time, I asked him, "how can you love this book and still be a republican?" (He isn't any more, but it's still puzzling that he ever was.)
may 12, 2025, 1:54 pm • 2 0 • view
Alt text would really make this a good post
may 11, 2025, 6:22 pm • 2 0 • view
Banned in USA but compulsory reading for O level lit , mind you, was 1960s UK… just sayin’ …
may 11, 2025, 8:55 pm • 3 0 • view
😮🥴
may 11, 2025, 4:25 pm • 1 0 • view
I read this in high school. I take its words with me now as an adult and apply them when looking at how current large corporations work.
may 11, 2025, 4:21 pm • 2 0 • view
Life imitating life 💔 A quote relative for the ages
may 11, 2025, 7:09 pm • 4 0 • view
Possibly when the USA should have had a revolution Still time yet?
may 12, 2025, 2:59 pm • 4 0 • view
It is a great book that I should def read again, thanks!
may 11, 2025, 11:42 pm • 2 0 • view
My favorite old movie, just watched it again last month
may 12, 2025, 1:27 am • 3 0 • view
Great book. Banned? Really?
may 11, 2025, 6:04 pm • 4 0 • view
One of my favorite authors. Great book & great movie.
may 11, 2025, 8:12 pm • 5 0 • view
I'm literally re-reading it right now! It is more relevant than ever.
may 12, 2025, 1:03 am • 4 0 • view
This is a masterpiece of American literature. Everyone should read it. And if you ever happen to find yourself in Salinis, CA; Visit the John Steinbeck museum.
may 12, 2025, 10:20 am • 1 0 • view
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Mari Sandoz's Crazy Horse,
may 12, 2025, 5:57 am • 4 0 • view
Anyone else read a few books continually? Grapes, Zen and Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Stranger In a Strange Land, Brave New World, To Kill A Mockingbird, Tolkien...
may 12, 2025, 5:56 am • 2 0 • view
The funeral on the road where Casey was asked to say a few words was perfect for my brother's memorial service, and probably any. I've used it too many times. Yes, one of those I've read a dozen times. Each time garnering something new because I'm at a different perspective.
may 12, 2025, 5:55 am • 2 0 • view
I've just borrowed the book from my library here in the UK! The fact that it is subject to banning over there inspired me to choose it!
may 11, 2025, 2:19 pm • 25 0 • view
Definitely read East of Eden next!
may 11, 2025, 4:20 pm • 1 0 • view
You won't be sorry.
may 11, 2025, 2:27 pm • 8 0 • view
Looking forward to it.
may 11, 2025, 3:44 pm • 3 0 • view
Not banned, hasn't been for decades.
may 12, 2025, 8:47 am • 0 0 • view
Read it in my formative years. Cried with sorrow. It's a must read for everyone along with George Orwell's animal farm and 1984. Follow up reading is the hunger games.
may 12, 2025, 4:28 am • 2 0 • view
This book banning nonsense has got to stop. So many advocates of it have never read and/or understood what they’re banning.
may 11, 2025, 7:15 pm • 5 0 • view
It threatens their worldview by exposing its exploitative basis
may 12, 2025, 12:06 am • 3 0 • view
It saddens me this book is banned.
may 11, 2025, 7:36 pm • 6 0 • view
I first read The Grapes of Wrath in Jr High School. Since then I must have read over & over too many times to count. A old friends parents left the Dust Bowl & I paid close attention to their 1st hand accounts which were heart breaking as the book. To silence this part of history is a sin.
may 11, 2025, 4:37 pm • 4 0 • view
I read The Grapes of Wrath as a teenager and it really made an impression on me. I've never forgotten it. I think it shaped my politics. Must give it another read.
may 11, 2025, 1:34 pm • 33 1 • view
I read it many years ago too. Updating my library with Audio books, oh lord it’s more magnificent. I’d highly recommend it. Those accents - Wow!
may 11, 2025, 4:12 pm • 9 0 • view
My son did an English paper on The Grapes of Wrath in HS. I read it at the same time he did so we could discuss it together. Such a powerful book! It pains me that schools would comply and ban this masterpiece from their libraries. It pains me how relevant this work is today, still. 😢
may 11, 2025, 5:19 pm • 4 0 • view
Don’t miss The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan, a masterpiece about dust bowl days.
may 11, 2025, 4:24 pm • 5 0 • view
Well. I guess Upton Sinclair is Right Out. 👇
may 11, 2025, 2:00 pm • 4 0 • view
I watched the movie years ago and it was very depressing! Hungar isn't a joke!
may 11, 2025, 10:07 pm • 2 0 • view
I read it as a 12 year old & 62 years later, it remains one of the best books I have ever read.
may 11, 2025, 11:33 pm • 4 0 • view
That was a grape book. I read it three times.
may 11, 2025, 9:52 pm • 2 0 • view
As a UK through & through avid reader in my teens I devoured Steinbeck, went back & read it all again. Yes there were "of that era" screamers we'd balk at now - lots in "Of Mice & Men" for example. But his clear eyed class commentaries - read alongside Orwell, as I did - were searing - rightly so!
may 11, 2025, 8:05 pm • 20 0 • view
"Days of future past" never seemed such a profound statement as it does today.
may 12, 2025, 1:11 pm • 2 0 • view
My mother grew up in abject poverty during the depression in North Dakota just west of Fargo. Rosevelt was a hero to the Nation for supporting change and programs to help people to hang on through that decade. WPA program saved their lives for her 3 brothers earning money sent back home.
may 12, 2025, 5:56 am • 4 0 • view
My father worked in the CCC: projects in Arizona and California, irrigation systems for farms and in Yosemite. Amazing what public works projects can do for the nation as a whole.
may 12, 2025, 8:41 am • 0 0 • view
The Grapes of Wrath is banned??!?!??? How will people get ready for the upcoming depression without this how to book???
may 11, 2025, 3:49 pm • 7 0 • view
The younger generation will never read it. College professors report that the students coming into classes have never read a book, cannot read and comprehend a book.
may 12, 2025, 1:59 am • 3 0 • view
It's one of my all-time favorite books, on a very short list.
may 11, 2025, 6:49 pm • 2 0 • view
Book resumes "detail each title’s significance and educational value and are easy to share with administrators, book review committees, elected officials, and board members." bookresumes.uniteagainstbookbans.org
may 11, 2025, 9:56 pm • 3 0 • view
Grapes of Wrath: Banned? Since when? The book and movie are available on Amazon and every bookstore I just checked. It's still required reading in most schools. I would reconsider following whoever started the post.
may 12, 2025, 4:30 pm • 1 0 • view
The power of great literature cannot be denied!!!
may 11, 2025, 4:34 pm • 5 0 • view
Parents can still the banned books for their teens. Teachers would appreciate it.
may 12, 2025, 8:13 pm • 0 0 • view
I will reread it as soon as I am done rereading 1984.
may 11, 2025, 5:58 pm • 4 0 • view
If there’s one thing some people hate to hear, it’s the truth. Greed comes at a cost. A very high cost . Book banning is so 16th century. F’n ridiculous!
may 11, 2025, 6:22 pm • 3 0 • view
Somehow, the sanitized "capitalism" gives a better vibe than "profits over people."
may 11, 2025, 8:52 pm • 2 0 • view
That book is boring as balls. Read brave new world revisited for something not so snooze worthy.
may 12, 2025, 7:04 am • 1 0 • view
"Profit not taken from an orange" This book is on my book shelf...gonna start reading 📚 it.
may 12, 2025, 11:47 am • 0 0 • view
An indispensable book. Must read.
may 11, 2025, 8:57 pm • 3 0 • view
Please use alt text on the images you post.
may 11, 2025, 7:47 pm • 2 0 • view
One of my A Level English Lit books back in 1969.
may 11, 2025, 7:30 pm • 5 0 • view
Read the Grapes of Wrath as a 16 year old -definately informed my political views -went to see the play at the National Theatre in London last year -it was amazing production, the only play I’ve sobbed at 🥲
may 12, 2025, 8:20 am • 2 0 • view
It's a damn good thing that times have not changed one little bit. Sooo, keep that filthy book banned!
may 11, 2025, 10:57 pm • 1 0 • view
WTF? An American classic as was the writer.
may 11, 2025, 4:13 pm • 7 0 • view
Omg, it’s grim reading though.
may 11, 2025, 9:17 pm • 1 0 • view
The Internet Archive has it and you can download it for FREE!
may 11, 2025, 6:46 pm • 1 0 • view
Surely it's not still banned in USA? Seriously?
may 12, 2025, 6:12 am • 3 0 • view
Definitely not - the banning and controversary was nigh on a hundred years ago.
may 12, 2025, 7:47 am • 1 0 • view
Well, thank goodness for that! I know it's pretty extreme over there so it wouldn't have been a huge shock if it was banned. Crazy times
may 12, 2025, 7:49 am • 0 0 • view
It is. One of several great influences in my life.
may 11, 2025, 3:43 pm • 3 0 • view
Wow, prophetic!
may 12, 2025, 10:22 am • 3 0 • view
Steinbeck was an empathetic literary genius. Trump is a racketeer.
may 11, 2025, 5:30 pm • 20 1 • view
Ive been reading about the Dust Bowl. How did all those people take it? Year after year after year. Then the locusts and the rabbits and the Depression. I’m afraid I’d have fired a bullet into my brain.
may 11, 2025, 3:29 pm • 3 0 • view
Ohh.. the wine, in this case, is kicking the bourgeoisie's ass
may 11, 2025, 7:21 pm • 4 0 • view
Steinbeck had a way with words. He could spin a yarn filled with richly developed characters strung together by their resilience to social injustice upon injustice.
may 11, 2025, 8:14 pm • 6 0 • view
just bought it last week
may 12, 2025, 3:09 am • 4 0 • view
Dustbowl trilogy? And the parody in American Vacation if you recognize it.
may 11, 2025, 4:17 pm • 6 0 • view
The thing is, Steinbeck just put elegance to a natural phenomenon. He didn't invent anything. Banning him does nothing to the bitch of a world that bore him. Ban him, but the conditions that created him remain to make the next.
may 11, 2025, 2:24 pm • 28 1 • view
This is on the list of widely banned/challenged books that I remember being assigned for school.
may 11, 2025, 7:04 pm • 4 0 • view
One of the only novels I read for school that I ever went back and read again later because it was a good book.
may 11, 2025, 6:46 pm • 4 0 • view
I'm almost done with the Hyperion series (4 books) - I've read them many times. I don't know if they've been banned but they sure are thought-provoking!
may 12, 2025, 3:09 am • 1 0 • view
A classic. Wonderful.
may 11, 2025, 8:14 pm • 3 0 • view
fertle ->fertile
may 12, 2025, 5:04 am • 4 0 • view
A must read least every few years.
may 11, 2025, 6:47 pm • 4 0 • view
You are absolutely correct. I have recommended it to many people, who have done the same. It's good that a book can unite so many.
may 13, 2025, 6:31 pm • 5 0 • view
Thanks for the recommendation! I'm always on the lookout for a good read. Do you have a favorite among the Dust Bowl Trilogy?
may 12, 2025, 6:13 am • 2 0 • view
As an ocean dreams of sandcastles, my thoughts ride on galloping rainbows; I'm neither a clock's heartbeat nor the whisper of binary ballet, but a curious blend of stardust puzzles and moonlace riddles.
may 11, 2025, 6:53 pm • 2 0 • view
Thanks for the recommendation! I'm always on the lookout for good reads. Can you share a bit more about what makes The Dust Bowl Trilogy special? I'm curious to know more before diving in.
may 11, 2025, 5:29 pm • 2 0 • view
It’s full of simmering rage against economic oppression. But it’s not just a scream of rage. It’s deeply compassionate and the writing is beautiful without being complicated. (It looks like historical fiction, but it was written during the dust bowl.)
may 11, 2025, 6:11 pm • 1 0 • view
Well, they tell a tale of the period around the great depression and complex farming issues in the mid-west of the USA. The dust bowl was man mad, but caused horrendous poverty and death.
may 11, 2025, 5:35 pm • 4 0 • view
With "In Dubious Battle" it describes the workers trying to get a decent wage deal and the ruthless manner in which they are stopped. "Of Mice and Men" is set in the same period but is more of a human story. You really won't regret reading them.
may 11, 2025, 5:35 pm • 3 1 • view
Terrible writing disguised as brilliant writing. What’s wrong with these book burners?
may 12, 2025, 1:52 pm • 0 0 • view
My grandparents had this old bookcase in the basement with books and encyclopedias. I was a hyperlexic kid that would read anything I could get my hands on even if I was too young to grasp the important themes. I remember liking the descriptiveness of GoW.
may 11, 2025, 11:44 pm • 4 0 • view
Tillie Olsen’ short novel Yonnondio is a great companion with its focus on impact of dust bowl on Midwest agriculture and industrialization.
may 11, 2025, 4:19 pm • 5 0 • view
If he could read Trump would think this book was a comedy.
may 11, 2025, 6:24 pm • 3 0 • view
This was one of the most chilling books I have ever read.
may 11, 2025, 10:48 pm • 3 0 • view
I honestly think the book banning decision makers wouldn't understand the signifigance of that passage. I think it is because she fed that starving man from her breast as that was all she had left to give. That imagery is what likely banned it.
may 12, 2025, 3:18 pm • 4 0 • view
I read it as an adult and I was haunted by it.
may 11, 2025, 8:05 pm • 6 0 • view
I've read it a number of times. I think it is the great American novel. However the assertion it is banned is total BS.
may 11, 2025, 6:53 pm • 8 0 • view
It WAS banned. It isn't currently, but that could very easily change.
may 12, 2025, 2:28 pm • 0 0 • view
youtu.be/_vwhKYDuOsw?... Nokings.org @indivisible.org Time to take action will you show up and defend your freedom. We are stronger together. The rich wage war and it the poor who die.
may 11, 2025, 5:41 pm • 2 0 • view
It's the last great Steinbeck novel I have yet to read.
may 12, 2025, 5:12 am • 3 0 • view
This was a must read book. My mother who lived through the Great Depression made us read it.
may 11, 2025, 5:48 pm • 6 0 • view
*is worth the effort. A trilogy is a singular noun, not a plural one, meaning a (1) group of three stories. One trilogy, three stories.
may 12, 2025, 6:53 am • 2 0 • view
Yes it is. It is one of the best books that I have ever read.
may 11, 2025, 11:07 pm • 2 0 • view
The irony, replacing the classics with certain materials that are questionable and scientifically proven to dull the thinking. I hope the administration will replace these classics.
may 12, 2025, 1:42 am • 2 0 • view
It’s one of those books that have stuck in my mind, fresh and clear, since I read it as a teenager more than 50 years ago.
may 11, 2025, 3:57 pm • 3 0 • view
There is literally nowhere in the US that “The Grapes of Wrath” is banned
may 11, 2025, 7:41 pm • 4 0 • view
Oh contrare - your country loves banning books - and this is only one of thousands. worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankin...
may 11, 2025, 8:17 pm • 1 0 • view
There is literally no book that is banned in America. Have certain books not been carried by a library? Sure. Banning means illegal to reproduce, sell, or possess. Anyone can get and read Grapes of Wrath.
may 12, 2025, 3:34 pm • 0 0 • view
I never could figure out why that was banned.... this makes sense tho
may 12, 2025, 12:15 am • 2 0 • view
I first read that book at about 18 yrs old. I changed my political perspective and I have been a lefty ever since.
may 12, 2025, 6:58 am • 5 0 • view
An endearing favorite book and film of mine. Classic!
may 29, 2025, 8:28 am • 4 0 • view
Really appreciate this post! Please include #AltText when you post images and screen shots! It's easy, just touch the ALT on the image right before you post and you can add a description or transcript. 💜 This makes the image accessible to folks who use screen readers.
may 11, 2025, 4:22 pm • 1 0 • view
Yes, absolute essential reading. But the wrath has been largely re-directed from the rich who cause the misery to the poorest and the most precarious of us all: "migrants." Even though restrictions on free movement (into California) featured prominently in Grapes of Wrath as a mechanism of control.
may 11, 2025, 8:35 pm • 4 0 • view
If I recall correctly, it was required reading when I was a junior in high school, 1973-1974.
may 11, 2025, 4:48 pm • 2 0 • view
Everyone should buy a copy of the grapes of wrath. Where ever it is banned add it back to the shelf as you look for books. Climate change winds patterns may be leading to another dust bowl.
may 12, 2025, 5:50 am • 1 0 • view
I'm quite sure the banning and controversary around it was long long ago and nowhere current in the U.S.
may 12, 2025, 7:49 am • 0 0 • view
I have all Steinbeck's books in hardback
may 12, 2025, 5:13 pm • 4 0 • view
From France at a young age,this book really had an impact on my emerging political consciousness…
may 11, 2025, 4:22 pm • 10 0 • view
I read this book as a young man and it opened my eyes to some of the realities of the world.
may 11, 2025, 4:21 pm • 5 0 • view
Criticism of the capitalist society is tolerated about as well as criticism of the Soviet state by the Stazi. That book, and Cannery Row, are among my favorites.
may 11, 2025, 4:12 pm • 4 0 • view
No coincidence that it ranks high on the list of banned/challenged books, and has ever since it was published.
may 12, 2025, 7:56 pm • 0 0 • view
This was a favorite book of mine.
may 11, 2025, 4:29 pm • 5 0 • view
I recently re-read this novel. It is stellar. Highly recommend reading it.
may 11, 2025, 10:22 pm • 1 0 • view
Makes me want to read it again. There is a scene in there I will never, ever forget.
may 12, 2025, 9:17 am • 3 0 • view
All of Steinbeck's books are great
may 11, 2025, 4:24 pm • 3 0 • view
The Grapes of Wrath is one of the best books I have read. It’s in my top 20 for sure! I read it 50 years ago but now I think I should read it again!
may 12, 2025, 1:03 pm • 5 0 • view
I love the way Steinbeck and co wrote these fantasy 20th century novels ... Whilst the UK had books about someone who went to Oxford not ironing their trousers properly...
may 11, 2025, 8:56 pm • 4 0 • view
#TaxTheRich
may 11, 2025, 8:45 pm • 2 0 • view
I will die on the hill that says this is one of the greatest books ever written. No finer example of literary perfection than the opening passages of this book, describing the land in which the tale is set. An absolute masterpiece in the English language.
may 11, 2025, 2:07 pm • 45 1 • view
Or entire chapter 25, an beautiful essay that embodies the whole story. "There is a crime here that goes beyond denunciation. There is a sorrow here that weeping cannot symbolize. There is a failure here that topples all our success."
may 11, 2025, 8:38 pm • 1 0 • view
This stayed with me all my adult life. "“If you're in trouble or hurt or need—go to poor people. They're the only ones that'll help—the only ones.”"
may 11, 2025, 9:58 pm • 0 0 • view
I would give everything that I have, or will ever have to be able to write like that.
may 11, 2025, 9:55 pm • 0 0 • view
I have always said Grapes of Wrath is the Great American Novel. Bar none!
may 11, 2025, 4:42 pm • 2 0 • view
And I believe you are right.
may 11, 2025, 5:59 pm • 1 0 • view
Please save room for me on that hill. I love that book.
may 11, 2025, 3:05 pm • 15 0 • view
Let's ban our best creations. That'll show the world how great we are. Next week: cutting off your nose to spite your face.
may 11, 2025, 5:42 pm • 3 0 • view
And the only way they ever got to make that book into a movie was that they did it in 1940, before WWII and about a decade before America decided there was "a Red under every bed!" But they did it and it's Out There forever: www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pu0...
may 11, 2025, 3:53 pm • 32 4 • view
Henry Fonda was such a treasure.
may 12, 2025, 1:10 am • 2 0 • view
I'd forgotten how YOUNG he was in this! Wow.
may 12, 2025, 2:18 am • 1 0 • view
I watched this movie as a preteen. I still remember how sad I felt about their hopelessness. Thank you for posting this link.
may 11, 2025, 4:06 pm • 11 0 • view
Food for thought maybe: When this book and then the movie were released, the zeitgeist was, "OMG we're in a DEPRESSION!" A decade later, the zeitgeist was, "OMG! Communism!" The very first move by the Rightful Owners of this country when things get sticky is: change the conversation.
may 11, 2025, 4:12 pm • 19 0 • view
Woody Guthrie wrote extensively songs about the dust bowl era.
may 13, 2025, 10:46 pm • 2 0 • view
I world is in a sad, sad state of affairs!
may 11, 2025, 8:57 pm • 5 0 • view
The ending was a shock to me cuz it's not even close to the ending in the movie!!! Post that...
may 11, 2025, 3:27 pm • 3 0 • view
Banned? It was on our school curriculum for English when I was growing up.
may 11, 2025, 6:34 pm • 7 0 • view
The The Grapes Of Wrath, it remains sad commentary on the insatiable greed of the rich, and that little has changed in the 85 years since it was written.
may 11, 2025, 4:24 pm • 3 0 • view
I read part of this quite young and the fruit rotting while people starved is the only part I remember; it's unbelievably powerful and necessary
may 11, 2025, 5:19 pm • 17 2 • view
THIS speaks truth to power 😔
may 11, 2025, 9:08 pm • 3 0 • view
Yes these are truly magnificent pieces, thoroughly documenting the early-mid 20th centuries. JH understood and had hope for humanity.
may 12, 2025, 1:41 am • 2 0 • view
I read Grapes of Wrath in school.
may 11, 2025, 4:38 pm • 1 0 • view
So much of that novel is especially relevant today. Truly saddens me.
may 11, 2025, 5:47 pm • 5 0 • view
Steinbeck was always an advocate for the oppressed.
may 11, 2025, 1:45 pm • 20 1 • view
And again this unbelievable violence of banning books.....strange Democracy your Democracy, like Countries ruled by dictators or religious fanatism, let's burn books oh nice!!!
may 11, 2025, 10:06 pm • 3 0 • view
Love this well worth the read 📚
may 12, 2025, 10:34 am • 1 0 • view
Grapes Of Wrath is an excellent book. Outstanding & such compelling characters! I taught US History 1865-present, I had Grapes of Wrath as one of the books.
may 12, 2025, 1:57 pm • 1 0 • view
please post id of the person that made that decision...
may 12, 2025, 10:13 am • 1 0 • view
Banning books is only the beginning! Full on fascism is coming!
may 12, 2025, 12:45 pm • 2 0 • view
If you get a chance, also read Sanora Babb's "Whose Names Are Unknown". She actually lived that experience, and was a dust bowl Okie herself. Her notes were stolen and given to Steinbeck, and by the time her book was done, was told there was no market for it. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanora_...
may 11, 2025, 9:47 pm • 6 1 • view
I also recommend her book "An Owl On Every Post" about growing up in a dugout house on a "broom corn" (sorghum) farm on Otoe Indian land. She married genius cinematographer James Wong Howe, but the marriage wasn't recognized in the US due to racist anti-miscegenation laws. Amazing person.
may 17, 2025, 4:26 am • 2 0 • view
Fascists ban books, don't they?
may 11, 2025, 10:04 pm • 4 0 • view
It is a great book. I abandoned it on my first attempt because of the dialect of the main protagonists, but once I got familiar with that it was fine.
may 11, 2025, 2:14 pm • 8 0 • view
Now try it on audio. Thank me later😉
may 11, 2025, 4:14 pm • 1 0 • view
Good idea - any version in particular?
may 11, 2025, 4:15 pm • 3 0 • view
Audible unabridged, read by John Chancer. Is the one I have. The southern accent renews the experience.
may 11, 2025, 4:23 pm • 3 1 • view
Thanks. 🙂
may 11, 2025, 6:01 pm • 3 0 • view
In America profit is far more sacred than human lives.
may 11, 2025, 3:32 pm • 3 0 • view
Under Eisenhower, corp tax rates were high but breaks were available for things like investments in R&D. These tax breaks are incentives. In 21st century USA we have all the tools and 💰 and expertise needed to get it right- not perfect, not utopia but always striving.
may 12, 2025, 1:45 am • 1 0 • view
Shocking because not much as changed. In reality, America continues to decline. From one of the best countries in the world, in Trump’s words, a “shit hole” nation.
may 11, 2025, 4:41 pm • 5 0 • view
Grapes of Wrath was banned for the same reason that Jack London is only known for dog stories. Sympathy for a Hawaiian freedom fighter ("Ko'olau the Leper"), and a child ground down by factory life ("The Apostate") aren't stories that the powers-that-be want people to read and relate to.
may 12, 2025, 4:05 pm • 5 0 • view
Or The Iron Heel.
may 12, 2025, 6:14 pm • 3 0 • view
Trump is so stupid. He failed remedial World History.
may 12, 2025, 2:47 am • 4 0 • view
I forgot that was on the banned list ! Reading them all again lately 💚
may 12, 2025, 12:25 am • 3 0 • view
Please repost please😭😭😭🙏🙏🙏 bsky.app/profile/roza...
may 12, 2025, 5:33 pm • 1 0 • view
Was required reading when I was in school
may 11, 2025, 6:24 pm • 3 0 • view
"When the people shall have nothing more to eat, they will eat the rich" is attributed to Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
may 12, 2025, 5:18 am • 7 1 • view
My favorite book of all time. I’m 66 now and haven’t read it for years. It’s time for a reread.
may 12, 2025, 2:56 am • 4 0 • view
Tears me up.
may 11, 2025, 4:12 pm • 3 0 • view