I have gone back to reading William Souder's Mad at the World: A Biography of John Steinbeck. I had to put it down earlier in the year when it got up to the part where the author describes In Dubious Battle, a novel I had not read. I should have known that would happen (how do you write a book about Steinbeck without including information on his novels? Duh!). Anyhow, I read the books in question and have gone back to Souder's very readable biography.
Steinbeck of course describes in literary form one of America's most significant and terrible events of the 20th century: the Great Depression. Despite not being an historian, Steinbeck's works such as Grapes of Wrath are pretty much right on the money - much to the annoyance of US agribusiness at the time of publication. The Pulitzer Prize and Nobel Prize were both awarded to Steinbeck which must have been even more enraging for the land barons. They tried to discredit him but his description of corporate greed and rural poverty on a mass scale are a matter of record.
Steinbeck of course describes in literary form one of America's most significant and terrible events of the 20th century: the Great Depression. Despite not being an historian, Steinbeck's works such as Grapes of Wrath are pretty much right on the money - much to the annoyance of US agribusiness at the time of publication. The Pulitzer Prize and Nobel Prize were both awarded to Steinbeck which must have been even more enraging for the land barons. They tried to discredit him but his description of corporate greed and rural poverty on a mass scale are a matter of record.
