John Steinbeck

Of Mice And Men And Cannery Row John Steinbeck

Marc Notes: Originally published: New York: Covici, Friede, 1937.; Story of a retarded man and the friend who loves and tries to protect him.;012 and up. Publisher Marketing: While the powerlessness of the laboring class is a recurring theme in Steinbeck's work of the late 1930s, he narrowed his focus when composing "Of Mice and Men" (1937), creating an intimate portrait of two men facing a world marked by petty tyranny, misunderstanding, jealousy, and callousness. But though the scope is narrow, the theme is universal; a friendship and a shared dream that makes an individual's existence meaningful. Publisher Marketing: A controversial tale of friendship and tragedy during the Great Depression They are an unlikely pair: George is "small and quick and dark of face"; Lennie, a man of tremendous size, has the mind of a young child. Yet they have formed a "family," clinging together in the face of loneliness and alienation. Laborers in California's dusty vegetable fields, they hustle work when they can, living a hand-to-mouth existence. For George and Lennie have a plan: to own an acre of land and a shack they can call their own. When they land jobs on a ranch in the Salinas Valley, the fulfillment of their dream seems to be within their grasp. But even George cannot guard Lennie from the provocations of a flirtatious woman, nor predict the consequences of Lennie's unswerving obedience to the things George taught him. "A thriller, a gripping tale . . . that you will not set down until it is finished. Steinbeck has touched the quick." --"The New York Times" Review Citations:

Wilson Senior High Core Col 01/01/2002 pg. 638 (EAN 9780140177398, Paperback)

Wilson Senior High Core Col 01/01/2011 pg. 1065 (EAN 9780142000670, Paperback)

Library Journal 02/15/2002 pg. 184 (EAN 9780142000670, Paperback) - *Starred Review

Wilson Fiction Catalog 01/01/2010 pg. 880 (EAN 9780140186420, Paperback)

Wilson Senior High Core Col 01/01/1997 pg. 664 (EAN 9780670520718, Paperback)

Wilson Senior High Core Col 01/01/2011 pg. 1065 (EAN 9780670520718, Paperback)

Wilson Senior High Core Col 01/01/1992 pg. 719 (EAN 9780394604725, Hardcover)

Contributor Bio:  Steinbeck, John No writer is more quintessentially American than John Steinbeck. Born in 1902 in Salinas, California, Steinbeck attended Stanford University before working at a series of mostly blue-collar jobs and embarking on his literary career. Profoundly committed to social progress, he used his writing to raise issues of labor exploitation and the plight of the common man, penning some of the greatest American novels of the twentieth century and winning such prestigious awards as the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. He received the Nobel Prize in 1962, "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception." Today, more than thirty years after his death, he remains one of America's greatest writers and cultural figures.