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To find information about John Steinbeck and his work,
try some of the following sources:
What is the Work
of Literary Merit (WOLM)?
Previous Semesters' WOLM
pages
-
Literature Resource Center
This online database includes biographical and critical information about
John
Steinbeck and
The
Grapes of Wrath, drawn from hundreds of literature reference books.
(SRJC User Name and PIN required for off-campus use.)
Much additional literary criticism can be found in the print volumes of
Twentieth Century Literary Criticism ( Ref PN 771 .G27) and
Contemporary Literary Criticism (Ref PN 771 .C59) which are
published by the same company. These sets of reference books are located in the
Plover Library reference collection. (Ask the reference librarian to show
you where they are.)
-
Twayne's
Authors Series
- This database offers biographical information on John Steinbeck as well as
detailed discussions of his works.
Chapter
Six deals with
The
Grapes of Wrath.
(SRJC User Name and PIN required for off-campus use.)
- InfoTrac Expanded Academic ASAP
- InfoTrac Expanded Academic ASAP contains citations to magazine and
journal articles on many topics. A search on "steinbeck john" (not
"john steinbeck") will locate
numerous articles in online magazines as well as magazines held in
the SRJC libraries. See
InfoTrac
search on steinbeck and "grapes of wrath"
(SRJC User Name and PIN required for off-campus use.)
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Books, Articles and Films on Library Reserve for the WOLM
A collection of books and
journal articles about
John Steinbeck and The Grapes of Wrath
have been placed on reserve in the SRJC libraries for student use in the
WOLM project.
In addition, several
films related to Steinbeck and his works may be be viewed in the
libraries. In the Plover Library, ask for books and articles at the Reserve
Books window; ask for films at the Media Services window. In the Mahoney
Library, ask for books, articles or films at the Circulation Desk.
Web Sites on Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath and Related Topics
- The Grapes of Web
- From the Librarians' Index to the Internet, this list links to many
websites on topics related to The Grapes of Wrath. Topics include:
John Steinbeck, the novel(Grapes of Wrath), the film, music, humor,
agricultural laborers, the Dust Bowl, the Great Depression and more. Also
included are links to samples of photos by Dorothea Lange and some of the
other famed photographers of the Dust Bowl and migrant experiences.
-
John Steinbeck: The
California Novels
- This website by university student Ed Stephan, offers brief study guides
on each of Steinbeck's novels, including
The Grapes
of Wrath. Guides contain lists of characters, chapter-by-chapter
summaries, maps of story locales and various other links related to the
stories.
- Pink
Monkey Literature Notes on The Grapes of Wrath.
- A brief study guide which offers discussion of the novel's themes,
characters, settings, background information etc. as well as chapter by
chapter summaries.
-
The
Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men and The Pearl by John
Steinbeck
- A brief discussion and some discussion
questions, from the Great Books Foundation
- The National Steinbeck Center
- in Salinas, California
- San Jose State
University Center for Steinbeck Studies
- This website offers information on Steinbeck's life and
work, his homes and the California areas in which his novels are set, and a
copy of his Nobel Prize acceptance speech. The Center itself houses
over 10,000 original manuscripts, letters, signed
first editions, books about Steinbeck and his work, photographs, films and
other materials.
Background Information
- American
Cultural History, 1930-1939
- From the Kingwood College Library in Texas, this excellent website
offers an overview of the 1930s in the United States. The page presents
statistics (population, life expectancy, average salary, unemployment,
etc.), as well as information on the art, architecture, popular books
and music, radio shows, fashions, fads, people and personalities, events,
education, science and technology of the decade in which The Grapes of
Wrath is set.
- The American Experience;
Surviving the Dust Bowl
- Background material for a PBS film on the great drought and the Dust
Bowl Experience. Includes an
overview,
a timeline of the
Dust Bowl, from 1931 through 1939, as well as information on several
notable people from the era, the Great Depression, the drought, New Deal
remedies, Black Sunday, and other related events.
- The Migrant
Experience
- The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress offers this
brief
discussion of the roots of the Dust Bowl migration to California and
presents
Voices from the
Dust Bowl, texts and
sound clips of songs sung by the migrants as well as copies of articles from
the era.
- The New Deal Network: The Great
Depression, the 1930s and the Roosevelt Administration
- An educational guide to the Great Depression of the 1930s, featuring a
document library with over 900 articles, speeches and other texts, a photo
gallery with over 5,000 Depression era images, writings from high school
students in the 1930s and more.
- Banned Books Week
- The Grapes of Wrath was controversial when it first came out, and
it was banned in certain places in the United States. This website from the
American Library Association is a good place to read about issues of
censorship--Why are books challenged? Who challenges them? What are the most
frequently challenged books? and so forth. NOTE: To locate book
reviews
which were written at the time The Grapes of Wrath was first
published, see the 1939 volume of the Book Review Digest in the
Plover Library reference collection. (Ref Z1219 .C95)
Photos and Drawings
- America from the
Great Depression to World War II; Photographs from the FSA-OWI,
1939-1945
-
The
Dust Bowl
-
Dust
storms
-
Dorothea
Lange, photographer
-
More photos
by Dorothea Lange,
-
Photos
by Walker Evans
-
More
Walker Evans Photographs
- New Deal Network Photo
Gallery
Music of the Dust Bowl
- Woody
Guthrie: Dust Bowl Balladeer
-
- Woody
Guthrie: Dust Bowl Ballads
- Song lyrics for a Woody Guthrie recording.
Songs include "Blowing Down the Old Dusty Road," "(If You Ain't Got the) Do Re Mi," "Dust
Bowl Blues," "Talking Dust Bowl," "Tom Joad," "So Long It's Been Good to
Know You," and others. (Sound clips are not
available here, but you can hear a few at
amazon.com)
The recording is available from the SRJC Library's Media Services
Department (Compact Disc 1148.).
- Voices from
the Dust Bowl
- Music and words which document the everyday life of residents of Farm
Security Administration (FSA) migrant work camps in Central California in
1940 and 1941. Includes recordings of songs and the texts of interviews as
well as photographs.
-
Manufacturing
Memory: American Popular Music in the 1930s
- Information on music from the Big Band sound, jazz and blues to the
later "race records," "hillbilly" and "ethnic" music. Some sound recordings
are included.
Farmworkers and Migrant Workers Today
- The Struggle in
California
- This page from
The Farmworkers'
Website gives a brief history of agricultural workers in California,
ending with the struggle to unionize.
- United Farm Workers
- The official website of an agricultural farm worker's union today. UFW
was started in California by Cesar Chavez.
-
Migrant
Laborers Face Daily Risk
- An August 29, 2002 article from the Orange County Register about the
problems faced by some of today's migrant workers in California.
- Pesticide
Illness in Farmworkers in the United States and California
- California is the top agricultural producing state in the U.S. Over 186
million pound of agricultural pesticides were reported used in 1999; 30% of
the pesticides were on California's list of checmicals known to cause cancer
or reproductive harm.
- Farmworkers:
Stories, Photographs
- From photographer David Bacon, a slide show with 41 photographs
depicting the conditions in the fields and the organizing activities of
farmworkers in the Salinas Valley, Coachella and Napa in the mid to late
1990s.
Events
- Family sing-along featuring songs by Woody Guthrie. With Jim Corbett
(aka Mr. Music) and assorted guest artists. Lyrics will be projected.
- Steele Lane Community Center. Saturday, October 5, 2002.
7:00 p.m. Tickets: Adults $8, Seniors 60+ $6,
Children 6 - 17 $4, under 5 free.
- Sonoma County Reads!
The Grapes of Wrath
- From the Sonoma County Library, information about a month-long program,
including a
schedule of
events occurring around the Sonoma County which pertain to the novel.
- Reading
The Grapes of Wrath
- From the California Council for the Humanities, a list of events
happening in other Northern California counties
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