John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath: the effects of the novel

When John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath was published in 1939, it caused an uproar in this nation. The inside cover of the novel states, "It electrified an America still convalescing ideas that many people were, at the least, uncomfortable with this electlicity caused the Kern County Board of Supervisors to ban the book in the county's public schools and libraries on August 22, 1939. The Grapes of Wrath was mostly set in Kern County, California and …

…once strong protests of the landowners. Steinbeck did us all a great favor by communicating the truth. The Grapes of Wrath has come a long way in Kern County. It is now ironic to think what once left a bitter taste in California's mouth, became "the most popular book in America."(l6) Some critics call it "...the greatest fictional work of a generation."(l7) It just goes to show, censorship can't stop an "electrifying" novel.