When THE GRAPES OF WRATH first appeared in 1939, it electrified an America still recovering from the Great Depression. Driven from their Oklahoma farm by the encroachment of large agricultural interests, the Joad family sets out, like generations before them, to the promised land of California. As they travel across the country, joined by countless other unwilling migrants, the Joads confront the naked realities of an America divided into Haves and Have-Nots.

Written with passionate conviction, THE GRAPES OF WRATH is an unforgettable panorama of an era and a bold dramatization of the plight of the dispossessed everywhere.

Some people, I've heard, hate this book. I'm sure they're still nice people in many other ways. If you haven't read this book, read it. That's all I can say about it. No one should *not* have read this. Trust me. For raw, simple human emotion, for astonishing examples of the ability of human beings to be both heartbreakingly heroic and inexplicably monstrous toward each other, this is the book.

RELEASE NOTES:

The bench is about halfway between Williamson Rd. and Queen St. E.

Found on the bench while walking down to the LCBO to get some beer. :) Strangely enough I have been thinking recently about reading this very book--must be a sign.

CAUGHT IN TORONTO ONTARIO CANADA

RELEASE NOTES:

Released on the second floor of Robarts Library at the University of Toronto's St. George campus.

The last Steinbeck I read was "Of Mice and Men" in a high school English class--"The Grapes of Wrath" is a significantly greater work in scope and skill, at least compared to my admittedly hazy memory of "Of Mice and Men". Remarkable modern resonances to current debates about immigration and the various fears and prejudices towards the "foreign" (especially the foreign poor), whether they arrive from inside or outside the country. Also simply a great, human and humane story.