Reading Steinbeck: 'of Mice and Men' and 'the Grapes of Wrath'

This is a generously contextualized and uncompromisingly objective commentary on two of Steinbeck's most widely read novels. Contemporary circumstance is particularly relevant to these classic books - Of Mice and Men is a timely warning about fascism, and The Grapes of Wrath is an emblem for the oppressed in Depression-era America - so a significant proportion of this study is given over to the framing of social, economic and political context. It includes a survey of the more prominent cri...