When first published in 1939, John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath" was shocking and controversial. The Pulitzer Prize-winning book remains the author's unsurpassed masterpiece. Set against the backdrop of Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl and the lives of immigrants in California, it tells the story of the Joad family. Like thousands of others, they are forced to journey west in search of the promised land. Theirs is a story of false hopes, thwarted desires, and shattered dreams, but from their suffering, Steinbeck has created a drama that is intensely human yet majestic in its scale and moral vision; an eloquent tribute to the endurance and dignity of the human spirit.