It's also worth noting there are some other great novels that tell the same story in other countries - Orwell's "Road to Wigan Peer", "Down and out in Paris and London", "1984" Emile Zola "La Terre" Aldus Huxley "Brave New World". Some dystopian, but all alluding to same or similar failings.
I wouldn't say 1984 and Brave New World tell the same story though... the other books, yes - the authors went amongst the downtrodden and wrote about them in fiction (Zola) or non-fiction (Orwell) - but it's not like the "dystopia twins" there need any more press at the moment.
Similar story here but for Don Quixote. My Spanish is horrible- grammar, pronunciation- Mexican spouse kids me that I sound Russian. But I persist and I’ve found when I am in Mexico people there are forgiving of my odd syntax and accent.
I had a friend originally from Switzerland. She said there is German but her dialect was French-German. (???) I’m not sure if that’s the real name or a translation thing. But when she moved to the US, she moved to Minneapolis. She ended up French-German AND Minnesotan accent. In Virginia. A+ effort!
Abd though it is a much lesser-known novel, and based on peoples" actual experiences is Studs Terkel's "Hard Times" Very moving and graphic. But I did like the Grapes of Wrath too.
You'd be serving your students better to screen Par Lorenz's "The Plow that Broke the Plains" than any dreck Burns produced about this era in U.S. History.
Pare Lorenz; I just looked him up. It is in the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress. Yes, USA capitalism/greed has destroyed a great deal of our natural resources and caused unnatural weather events, including killing marine life with fertilizer drain off.
I should add if some bastard bans a book or tells me I can't read it, I will 100% track it down and read it - as they are wanting to hide something from us - always.
The point is, are we going to be consistent? Are we going to only tout books banned by "them", or are we also going to champion banned books we disagree with? If we are going to be okay with banning "propaganda", who decides that? Having such gatekeepers means we're okay with banning books.
I didn't truly discover my love of reading until in the fifth grade when my school banned "Are you there God, it's me Margaret," by Judy Blume
Amazing what happens when you tell a kid you can't do something. I've been a bookworm ever since
Same. The reason I bought it to reread instead of borrowing from the library (which is, of course, also important to support). These voices must be kept alive.
My silent generation, father had a mild panic attack when he saw Mein Kampf on my book shelf. My argument was that I couldn’t be for or against something if I didn’t know what it was.
I agree and I have many of those books as well. It is also the reason I have Ayn Rand "Atlas Shrugged" and "Fountainhead" but those don't get a prominent placing on the shelf. We can't oppose what we don't know. It does give an impression though.
Good thing it hasn't been on the banned books list in a long time, you can buy it anywhere in the USA without an issue. There is even an audiobook and movie all available for you.
It's not a banned book if you can get it on Amazon you fear mongering POS.
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Support you local library!
The Grapes of Wrath
Of Mice and Men
The Color Purple
The Great Gatsby
Sophie's Choice
Beloved
To Kill A Mockingbird
The Red Badge of Courage
Catch-22
Animal Farm
1984
And thank you for asking!
I'm really glad people seemed to enjoy this post!
Please feel free to add your own suggestions! I've thought of a few more I'd like to add myself, lol!
I think some are banned in some places but can't say all of them are.
I made this particular list of English-language classics -that I've read, of course- because they are in a spectrum from socio-political undertones to outright commentary that one way or another relate to current so-pol events.
Some are - I read the other day some wakey US state wants to ban To Kill a Mockingbird, one of the best books I have read. The follow on novel was just good, but it's hard to better a classic. I think most fascists and communists hate 1984 - it shows them all up.
God, I remember being 14 and reading The Grapes of Wrath, Germinal and Animal Farm in the same summer holidays. I think those books alone did so much for my interest in politics.
It depends on the era being discussed. For the most part, books are never banned for the entire country. Today, some Republican and religious cities and states try to ban books from school libraries. But stores still sell them. Long ago, the U.S. had obscenity laws that prohibited “vulgar” content.
There were also many political books banned for certain time periods like anti-slavery content in confederate states and pro-communist themes during the Red Scare McCarthyism era in the 50s.
again, proof the american government is fascists and should not be trusted. i say, fuck the government, fuck the capitalists, fuck the companies. forever and always. great book, by the way. i was lucky to have read it in school when i did.
I read it a few years ago. At the beginning I just wondered why we hadn't been assigned it in high school. Less than 100 pages in, that was pretty clear. Wouldn't want the kids reading that stuff. Not sure it was banned in the 50's and 60's, but it was too much for our tender little ears. Like 1984.
I was assigned 1984 at age 14, in 1984. I think it very much varied from school to school. I was also in an advanced reading class. I think they knew our particular parents wouldn't balk at anything they gave us to read. Those books sure as hell stayed with me.
I grew up in the 60's in a blue state and was also in advanced classes, but it was the height of the Cold War. Perhaps that was a factor. Animal Farm OK. 1984 not.
Also, there is more sexual content in 1984 (none in Animal Farm, IIRC), which could have been a deciding factor in the '60s, and likely would be again these days. We've re-entered a very prudish stage.
I don't really remember any sexual content, but that was 50+ years ago that I read it. I read it during the 1972 Republican Convention, and it seemed a spot on description of where Nixon was taking us. Orwell's sex would have seemed quaint in that era.
I remember there being sex in 1984, and it was more matter-of-fact than quaint, but I haven't read it since I was 14, so any such content would have stood out to me at that point. (Not that it was new to me, as I'd been reading Stephen King since age eight.)
Banned in the US? I didn't know that!
I taught it at GCSE. It's a wonderful book - not just great literature but accessible to teenagers growing up in inner city Manchester.
They enjoyed it.
Enjoying a set book!!
It's about a seminal period in modern US history.
You can't hide history - or from it.
The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan is a great account of the Dust Bowl. It's nonfiction with lots of firsthand accounts. If you're interested in story set during the Dust Bowl you might be interested in Reading either Where the Red Fern Grows, or Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls
Steinbeck teaches you what it means to be human. About empathy. About good and evil. About the indelible stains poverty and humiliation leave. His novels are as relevant as ever. Why are they "dangerous"? Because people might get “ideas” about social justice?
John Steinbeck is one of my favorite authors! It's been a while since I read one I might go to the library and borrow it... just an excuse to stand a month hundreds and hundreds of books
If you cannot make it to a school board meeting, get on the phone or e-mail and tell them what you think about banning books. It only takes a few minutes and it doesn't cost any money. We don't need money in politics. We just need people to participate. https://www.nationalfinancialplan.co
This is one of my dad's favourite books and after I read it for the first time, I asked him, "how can you love this book and still be a republican?" (He isn't any more, but it's still puzzling that he ever was.)
This is a masterpiece of American literature. Everyone should read it. And if you ever happen to find yourself in Salinis, CA; Visit the John Steinbeck museum.
Anyone else read a few books continually? Grapes, Zen and Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Stranger In a Strange Land, Brave New World, To Kill A Mockingbird, Tolkien...
The funeral on the road where Casey was asked to say a few words was perfect for my brother's memorial service, and probably any. I've used it too many times. Yes, one of those I've read a dozen times. Each time garnering something new because I'm at a different perspective.
Read it in my formative years. Cried with sorrow. It's a must read for everyone along with George Orwell's animal farm and 1984. Follow up reading is the hunger games.
I read The Grapes of Wrath as a teenager and it really made an impression on me. I've never forgotten it. I think it shaped my politics. Must give it another read.
My son did an English paper on The Grapes of Wrath in HS. I read it at the same time he did so we could discuss it together. Such a powerful book! It pains me that schools would comply and ban this masterpiece from their libraries. It pains me how relevant this work is today, still. 😢
As a UK through & through avid reader in my teens I devoured Steinbeck, went back & read it all again. Yes there were "of that era" screamers we'd balk at now - lots in "Of Mice & Men" for example. But his clear eyed class commentaries - read alongside Orwell, as I did - were searing - rightly so!
My mother grew up in abject poverty during the depression in North Dakota just west of Fargo. Rosevelt was a hero to the Nation for supporting change and programs to help people to hang on through that decade. WPA program saved their lives for her 3 brothers earning money sent back home.
My father worked in the CCC: projects in Arizona and California, irrigation systems for farms and in Yosemite. Amazing what public works projects can do for the nation as a whole.
The younger generation will never read it.
College professors report that the students coming into classes have never read a book, cannot read and comprehend a book.
Book resumes "detail each title’s significance and educational value and are easy to share with administrators, book review committees, elected officials, and board members."
Grapes of Wrath: Banned? Since when? The book and movie are available on Amazon and every bookstore I just checked. It's still required reading in most schools.
I would reconsider following whoever started the post.
If there’s one thing some people hate to hear, it’s the truth. Greed comes at a cost. A very high cost . Book banning is so 16th century. F’n ridiculous!
Read the Grapes of Wrath as a 16 year old -definately informed my political views -went to see the play at the National Theatre in London last year -it was amazing production, the only play I’ve sobbed at 🥲
Ive been reading about the Dust Bowl. How did all those people take it? Year after year after year. Then the locusts and the rabbits and the Depression. I’m afraid I’d have fired a bullet into my brain.
People are remarkably resilient. We learned from our parents who grew up in the Depression to stick together, conserve resources, plan for bad times, and be kind to others.
The thing is, Steinbeck just put elegance to a natural phenomenon. He didn't invent anything. Banning him does nothing to the bitch of a world that bore him. Ban him, but the conditions that created him remain to make the next.
Because it contains dangerous ideas. Here's an example from page 161: class solidarity. The beginning of revolution against the causes of suffering. 50,000 people saying "I lost my land" becomes "we lost our land" to "the upper class forced us off our land" and then "let's take our land back."
Arg. Just rereading this part has me in tears again. (Not difficult these days, admittedly.) Such powerful writing. No wonder people in power feared it.
I'm almost done with the Hyperion series (4 books) - I've read them many times. I don't know if they've been banned but they sure are thought-provoking!
As an ocean dreams of sandcastles, my thoughts ride on galloping rainbows; I'm neither a clock's heartbeat nor the whisper of binary ballet, but a curious blend of stardust puzzles and moonlace riddles.
Thanks for the recommendation! I'm always on the lookout for good reads. Can you share a bit more about what makes The Dust Bowl Trilogy special? I'm curious to know more before diving in.
It’s full of simmering rage against economic oppression. But it’s not just a scream of rage. It’s deeply compassionate and the writing is beautiful without being complicated.
(It looks like historical fiction, but it was written during the dust bowl.)
Well, they tell a tale of the period around the great depression and complex farming issues in the mid-west of the USA. The dust bowl was man mad, but caused horrendous poverty and death.
With "In Dubious Battle" it describes the workers trying to get a decent wage deal and the ruthless manner in which they are stopped. "Of Mice and Men" is set in the same period but is more of a human story. You really won't regret reading them.
My grandparents had this old bookcase in the basement with books and encyclopedias. I was a hyperlexic kid that would read anything I could get my hands on even if I was too young to grasp the important themes. I remember liking the descriptiveness of GoW.
I honestly think the book banning decision makers wouldn't understand the signifigance of that passage. I think it is because she fed that starving man from her breast as that was all she had left to give. That imagery is what likely banned it.
https://Nokings.org @indivisible.org
Time to take action will you show up and defend your freedom. We are stronger together. The rich wage war and it the poor who die.
The irony, replacing the classics with certain materials that are questionable and scientifically proven to dull the thinking. I hope the administration will replace these classics.
There is literally no book that is banned in America. Have certain books not been carried by a library? Sure. Banning means illegal to reproduce, sell, or possess. Anyone can get and read Grapes of Wrath.
Really appreciate this post! Please include #AltText when you post images and screen shots! It's easy, just touch the ALT on the image right before you post and you can add a description or transcript. 💜 This makes the image accessible to folks who use screen readers.
Yes, absolute essential reading. But the wrath has been largely re-directed from the rich who cause the misery to the poorest and the most precarious of us all: "migrants."
Even though restrictions on free movement (into California) featured prominently in Grapes of Wrath as a mechanism of control.
Everyone should buy a copy of the grapes of wrath. Where ever it is banned add it back to the shelf as you look for books.
Climate change winds patterns may be leading to another dust bowl.
I love the way Steinbeck and co wrote these fantasy 20th century novels ... Whilst the UK had books about someone who went to Oxford not ironing their trousers properly...
I will die on the hill that says this is one of the greatest books ever written.
No finer example of literary perfection than the opening passages of this book, describing the land in which the tale is set.
An absolute masterpiece in the English language.
Or entire chapter 25, an beautiful essay that embodies the whole story.
"There is a crime here that goes beyond denunciation. There is a sorrow here that weeping cannot symbolize. There is a failure here that topples all our success."
Just read The Grapes of Wrath in my reading group. Hadn’t read it since I was around 15. I remembered most of the story, but was blown away by his mastery of the written language.
And the only way they ever got to make that book into a movie was that they did it in 1940, before WWII and about a decade before America decided there was "a Red under every bed!" But they did it and it's Out There forever: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pu0hMs4unk
The The Grapes Of Wrath, it remains sad commentary on the insatiable greed of the rich, and that little has changed in the 85 years since it was written.
And again this unbelievable violence of banning books.....strange Democracy your Democracy, like Countries ruled by dictators or religious fanatism, let's burn books oh nice!!!
Grapes Of Wrath is an excellent book. Outstanding & such compelling characters! I taught US History 1865-present, I had Grapes of Wrath as one of the books.
If you get a chance, also read Sanora Babb's "Whose Names Are Unknown". She actually lived that experience, and was a dust bowl Okie herself. Her notes were stolen and given to Steinbeck, and by the time her book was done, was told there was no market for it.
Under Eisenhower, corp tax rates were high but breaks were available for things like investments in R&D. These tax breaks are incentives. In 21st century USA we have all the tools and 💰 and expertise needed to get it right- not perfect, not utopia but always striving.
Shocking because not much as changed. In reality, America continues to decline. From one of the best countries in the world, in Trump’s words, a “shit hole” nation.
Grapes of Wrath is likely the only time where a story that was too dark and difficult for me to experience felt meaningful enough to offset the pain of reading it and made me appreciate it. And this is despite my terrible reading comprehension in high school and being rushed through a giant book.
Grapes of Wrath was banned for the same reason that Jack London is only known for dog stories. Sympathy for a Hawaiian freedom fighter ("Ko'olau the Leper"), and a child ground down by factory life ("The Apostate") aren't stories that the powers-that-be want people to read and relate to.
Comments
also true story: i still suck at spanish
Ken Burns should be hailed as a national treasure, though I expect most repulitards would have him executed for telling the truth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_LZpKSqhPQ&list=PLF211AA273F925771&ab_channel=UNUMKenBurns
Which is a much better film that what Burns put together here.
Look how he lets Shelby Foote go on and one romanticizing The Confederacy in "The Civil War."
I find most of his output dreck.
You've probably never even heard of him.
The USDA fixed that. They showed farmers who to till soil to reduce dust and loss of topsoil to other types of erosion.
An instance of government improving lives that is now lost on most.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_bookcase
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irreversible_Damage
Amazing what happens when you tell a kid you can't do something. I've been a bookworm ever since
It's not a banned book if you can get it on Amazon you fear mongering POS.
Also read Steinbeck's A Russian Journal
A Ukrainian mother's world was shattered when her home was bombed. She lost 1 leg and her young daughter lost BOTH legs.
Please donate to support:
Medical care & rehabilitation
Prosthetic limbs
Living expenses
Every contribution brings hope!
https://gogetfunding.com/abundance-international-charity-organization-2/
Thank you for posting
Only the characters have changed
The Grapes of Wrath
Of Mice and Men
The Color Purple
The Great Gatsby
Sophie's Choice
Beloved
To Kill A Mockingbird
The Red Badge of Courage
Catch-22
Animal Farm
1984
Thank you!
The old man and the sea
I'm really glad people seemed to enjoy this post!
Please feel free to add your own suggestions! I've thought of a few more I'd like to add myself, lol!
Steal This Book
The Jungle
Farewell to Manzanar
Silent Spring
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
I made this particular list of English-language classics -that I've read, of course- because they are in a spectrum from socio-political undertones to outright commentary that one way or another relate to current so-pol events.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/banned-books-by-state#title
Since when is this book banned? We had to study this very text in history class (in France, not in America).
(DE translation, though)
I taught it at GCSE. It's a wonderful book - not just great literature but accessible to teenagers growing up in inner city Manchester.
They enjoyed it.
Enjoying a set book!!
It's about a seminal period in modern US history.
You can't hide history - or from it.
It went right against their 'gospel' GREED !
MAMMON must rule. Greed be praised.
A quote relative for the ages
Still time yet?
The fact that it is subject to banning over there inspired me to choose it!
A old friends parents left the Dust Bowl & I paid close attention to their 1st hand accounts which were heart breaking as the book.
To silence this part of history is a sin.
👇
Fell in love at age 8 with the Red Pony
Read every horse book available
Devoured his collection and still reread it
Own collection. Well worn now.
How will people get ready for the upcoming depression without this how to book???
College professors report that the students coming into classes have never read a book, cannot read and comprehend a book.
https://bookresumes.uniteagainstbookbans.org/
I would reconsider following whoever started the post.
This book is on my book shelf...gonna start reading 📚 it.
One of several great influences in my life.
He could spin a yarn filled with richly developed characters strung together by their resilience to social injustice upon injustice.
(It looks like historical fiction, but it was written during the dust bowl.)
https://Nokings.org @indivisible.org
Time to take action will you show up and defend your freedom. We are stronger together. The rich wage war and it the poor who die.
A trilogy is a singular noun, not a plural one, meaning a (1) group of three stories. One trilogy, three stories.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/banned-books-by-state#title
Even though restrictions on free movement (into California) featured prominently in Grapes of Wrath as a mechanism of control.
Climate change winds patterns may be leading to another dust bowl.
That book, and Cannery Row, are among my favorites.
No finer example of literary perfection than the opening passages of this book, describing the land in which the tale is set.
An absolute masterpiece in the English language.
"There is a crime here that goes beyond denunciation. There is a sorrow here that weeping cannot symbolize. There is a failure here that topples all our success."
"“If you're in trouble or hurt or need—go to poor people. They're the only ones that'll help—the only ones.”"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pu0hMs4unk
When this book and then the movie were released, the zeitgeist was, "OMG we're in a DEPRESSION!"
A decade later, the zeitgeist was, "OMG! Communism!"
The very first move by the Rightful Owners of this country when things get sticky is: change the conversation.
Post that...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanora_Babb
She married genius cinematographer James Wong Howe, but the marriage wasn't recognized in the US due to racist anti-miscegenation laws.
Amazing person.
https://bsky.app/profile/rozaetfamily900.bsky.social/post/3loxflgjum226