Fun Fact Friday: April 14th-The Grapes of Wrath

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The Grapes of Wrath, authored by John Stienbeck in 1939, has become a traditional topic of conversion in American high school and college classrooms. Due to its historical context and enduring legacy, it may even be the most discussed novel of 20th Century American Literature.

A true Great American Novel, The Grapes of Wrath highlights the struggle and hopelessness Americans faced during the Great Depression and surrounding it are several, you guessed it…. Fun and interesting facts!

  • The book was published on Friday April 14th, 1939
  • Steinbeck became the first writer to refer to Route 66 – the two-lane, 2,448-mile-road that connects Chicago to Los Angeles its nickname the “Mother Road”
  • The book was banned in many libraries and copies were symbolically burned in towns across America
  • It originally sold for $2.75, today a mint condition first edition is worth around $16,000. There were around 50,000 first editions printed.
  • Of the film adaption, Steinbeck said Henry Fonda’s performance as Tom Joad made him “believe my own words.” Steinbeck and Fonda remained friends and the actor read a poem at Steinbeck’s funeral in 1968
  • The book was cited prominently when Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1962.
  • Many artist, including Bruce Springsteen, Pink Floyd, Rage Against the Machine, Mumford & Sons’, and several more have written songs based on, or derived from the novel

Source: The Telegraph,  photograph by Ryan McGuire

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