The Grapes of Wrath (Paperback)

John Steinbeck's masterpiece in paperback. "The Grapes of Wrath" is the classic that earned John Steinbeck the Pulitzer Prize and remains one of the archetypes of American culture. Also honored with the Nobel Prize for Literature, the author portrayed modern man facing hardship, poverty, and deprivation in a hostile world dominated by victims of competition and social outcasts. The book is strongly marked by its form, realistic descriptions, and reflection on the myth of the American paradise.

The Grapes of Wrath represents the confrontation between individual and society through the epic story of the Joad family, driven from the cotton fields of Oklahoma by drought to try to survive as seasonal workers on the fruit plantations of California's Salinas Valley. While denouncing the tragedies and scourges of a country weakened by the Great Depression of the 1930s, Steinbeck defends the concept that the isolated individual is worthless, and survival is only possible when there is solidarity among fellow human beings. Winner of two Oscars, the film adaptation was directed by John Ford in 1940, starring Henry Fonda as Tom Joad.