Most Popular Books by John Steinbeck

The second book in John Steinbeck’s labor trilogy, Of Mice and Men is a touching tale of two migrant laborers in search of work and eventual liberation from their social circumstances. Fiercely devoted to one another, George and Lennie plan to save up to finance their dream of someday owning a small piece of land. The pair seems unstoppable until tragedy strikes and their hopes come crashing down, forcing George to make a difficult decision regarding the welfare of his best friend. The novel is set on a ranch in Soledad, CA. Author Frank Bergon recalls reading Of Mice and Men for the first time as a teenager living in the San Joaquin Valley and remembers how he saw “as if in a jolt of light the ordinary surroundings of [his] life become worthy of literature.” Steinbeck works to propagate the notion that meaningful stories emerge from the marginalized; that even those on the fringes of society can make deserving contributions to the literary canon. Source: http://www.steinbeck.org/about-john/his-works/

Steinbeck’s classic novel of the Great Depression is as vivid now as ever. The story focuses on a family of Oklahoma sharecroppers, farmers who work another man’s land for a share of the crops. Driven from their home by drought and poverty they take to the road in a battered old truck and make their way to California to look for work. When they arrive they find hundreds of others like them being forced to work for breadline wages. they begin working as fruit pickers, strike-breakers replacing the people who have been trying to establish a union but their consciences force them to leave.

Full maroon leather with gilt lettering and design work. Raised bands on spine, all edges gilt, silk end papers, attached page marker and illustrated with lithographs by Thomas Hart Benton.

Steinbeck considered East of Eden to be his masterpiece. In his journal, Journal of a Novel (often read as a companion to the novel) he notes that “this is the book I have always wanted and have worked and prayed to be able to write Set primarily in the Salinas Valley in the early twentieth century, the novel traces three generations of two families – the Trasks and the Hamiltons – as they grapple with the ever-present forces of good and evil. From this plot emerged some of Steinbeck’s most fascinating characters – many of whom are modeled after people in his own life. Part allegory, part autobiography, and part epic, East of Eden was an ambitious project from the start – a gift to Steinbeck’s sons that was meant to teach them about identity, grief, and what it means to be human. Tinged with biblical echoes of the fall of Adam and Eve and the rivalry of Cain and Abel, this sprawling saga has captivated audiences everywhere for generations. It is through the popularization of East of Eden that the Salinas Valley was truly transformed into “the valley of the world”; a place where everyone is able to find a piece of themselves in the golden, rolling hills. ([source](http://www.steinbeck.org/about-john/his-works/)) --- Contains: - [East of Eden 1/2](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL17811975W/East_of_Eden_1_2) - [East of Eden 2/2](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL18023025W/East_of_Eden_2_2) --- Also contained in: - [East of Eden / The Wayward Bus](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15138391W/East_of_Eden_The_Wayward_Bus) - [The Grapes of Wrath / The Moon is Down / Cannery Row / East of Eden / Of Mice and Men](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL23165W/The_Grapes_of_Wrath_The_Moon_is_Down_Cannery_Row_East_of_Eden_Of_Mice_and_Men) - [Novels 1942-1952](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15334093W/Novels_1942-1952) - [Reader's Digest Condensed Books: Spring 1953 Selections](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15158232W)

“There it lay, the great pearl, perfect as the moon.”
 
Like his father and grandfather before him, Kino is a poor diver, gathering pearls from the gulf beds that once brought great wealth to the Kings of Spain and now provide Kino, Juana, and their infant son with meager subsistence. Then, on a day like any other, Kino emerges from the sea with a pearl as large as a sea gull's egg, as "perfect as the moon." With the pearl comes hope, the promise of comfort and of security....

A story of classic simplicity, based on a Mexican folk tale, The Pearl explores the secrets of man's nature, the darkest depths of evil, and the luminous possibilities of love.

Cannery Row is a novel by American author John Steinbeck, published in 1945. It is set during the Great Depression in Monterey, California, on a street lined with sardine canneries that is known as Cannery Row. The story revolves around the people living there. Steinbeck revisited these characters and this milieu nine years later in his novel Sweet Thursday.

Also contained in: - [The Grapes of Wrath / The Moon is Down / Cannery Row / East of Eden / Of Mice and Men](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL23165W/The_Grapes_of_Wrath_The_Moon_is_Down_Cannery_Row_East_of_Eden_Of_Mice_and_Men)

Tells story of a young boy and his life on his father's ranch. Ownership of a red pony teaches ten-year-old Jody about life and death.