The Grapes of Wrath
NPR Summary
A migrant family seeks a better life in California during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.
Genres:
NPR stories about The Grapes of Wrath
Father and sons walk through a dust storm in Cimarron County, Okla. (1936) Steinbeck writes: "The dust was evenly mixed with the air, an emulsion of dust and air. Houses were shut tight, and cloth wedged around doors and windows, but the dust came in so thinly that it could not be seen in the air, and it settled like pollen on the chairs and tables, on the dishes." Arthur Rothstein/Library of Congress hide caption
Dust Bowl farmer drives a tractor with his son near Cland, N.M. (1938). Steinbeck writes: "The tractors came over the roads and into the fields, great crawlers moving like insects, having the incredible strength of insects ... monsters raising the dust and sticking their snouts into it, straight down the country ... through fences, through dooryards, in and out of gullies in straight lines." Dorothea Lange/Library of Congress hide caption
'Grapes Of Wrath' Is 75, But Its Depictions Of Poverty Are Timeless
A family prepares to leave Oklahoma for California in 1939, just as the Joads did in John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. Russell Lee/Library of Congress hide caption
The Grapes Of Wrath opens in Dust Bowl Oklahoma. AP hide caption
These Grapes Of Wrath copies may look well-loved, but don't be fooled. At lot of us are opening them up for the first time. Jim Tuttle/NPR hide caption