Obscene in the Extreme: The Burning and Banning of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath

by Rick Wartzman

0 ratings • 0 reviews • 0 shelved
Book cover for Obscene in the Extreme

Bookhype may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. Full disclosure.

Few books have caused as big a stir as John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, when it was published in April 1939. By May, it was the nation's No. 1 bestseller, flying off store shelves at a rate of 10,000 copies a week. But in Kern County, California the Joads' newfound home the book was burned publicly and banned from library shelves. Obscene in the Extreme tells the remarkable story behind that fit of censorship, a moment when several lives collided as part of a larger class struggle roiling the nation. It is a superb historical narrative that serves as an engaging window into an extraordinary time of upheaval in America, when as Steinbeck put it, "A revolution is going on."
  • ISBN10 0786726075
  • ISBN13 9780786726073
  • Publish Date 1 September 2009 (first published 2 September 2008)
  • Publish Status Active
  • Publish Country US
  • Publisher INGRAM PUBLISHER SERVICES US
  • Imprint PublicAffairs,U.S.
  • Format eBook
  • Pages 320
  • Language English