In Dubious Battle (Penguin Classics)

This is my all time favorite book.

This book was really good. It's about Communists trying to start a strike in the apple orchards in 1920's or 30's California. Steinbeck usually takes me a while to get into, and this is one of his minor works, but it's great. It's so harsh and ruthless... it sets up a contrast between good ideas and the people who follow those ideas.

Although "Grapes of Wrath" and "East of Eden" are better known, this shorter novel about the battle for decent wages and working conditions between itinerant farm workers and orchard owners in California during the depression has a sense of intimacy and immediacy that is unforgettable. Steinbeck's prose puts the reader around the campfire with men of many races all...more

Although "Grapes of Wrath" and "East of Eden" are better known, this shorter novel about the battle for decent wages and working conditions between itinerant farm workers and orchard owners in California during the depression has a sense of intimacy and immediacy that is unforgettable. Steinbeck's prose puts the reader around the campfire with men of many races all desperate to feed their families and in search of a life of economic dignity. While it is fashionable among many talking (and mostly empty) heads to foist blame on unions for the current crisis in the automobile industry, this book is a useful reminder of what a nation without unions might have looked like. Living in the south for the past decade where unions have always been weak, one comes to have a greater appreciation for the importance they have played (despite their many faults) in creating a competent and educated middle class. Even if you don't agree with my politics, this is still a great work of literature.   hide

This is my favorite Steinbeck book of all time. Unashamedly leftist and stunningly brutal/beautiful. Fabulous.