John Steinbeck

Born

in Salinas Valley, California, The United States

February 27, 1902

Died

December 20, 1968

Website

http://www.steinbeck.org/

Genre

Literature & Fiction

Influences

Ed Ricketts, Will Lang, Socrates, Emiliano Zapata, Lincoln Steffens, ...more

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John Steinbeck III was an American writer. He wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath, published in 1939 and the novella Of Mice and Men, published in 1937. In all, he wrote twenty-five books, including sixteen novels, six non-fiction books and several collections of short stories.

In 1962 Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Steinbeck grew up in the Salinas Valley region of California, a culturally diverse place of rich migratory and immigrant history. This upbringing imparted a regionalistic flavor to his writing, giving many of his works a distinct sense of place.

Steinbeck moved briefly to New York City, but soon returned home to California to begin his career as a writer. Most of his earlier work dealt w John Steinbeck III was an American writer. He wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath, published in 1939 and the novella Of Mice and Men, published in 1937. In all, he wrote twenty-five books, including sixteen novels, six non-fiction books and several collections of short stories.

In 1962 Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Steinbeck grew up in the Salinas Valley region of California, a culturally diverse place of rich migratory and immigrant history. This upbringing imparted a regionalistic flavor to his writing, giving many of his works a distinct sense of place.

Steinbeck moved briefly to New York City, but soon returned home to California to begin his career as a writer. Most of his earlier work dealt with subjects familiar to him from his formative years. An exception was his first novel Cup of Gold which concerns the pirate Henry Morgan, whose adventures had captured Steinbeck's imagination as a child.

In his subsequent novels, Steinbeck found a more authentic voice by drawing upon direct memories of his life in California. Later he used real historical conditions and events in the first half of 20th century America, which he had experienced first-hand as a reporter.

Steinbeck often populated his stories with struggling characters; his works examined the lives of the working class and migrant workers during the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. His later body of work reflected his wide range of interests, including marine biology, politics, religion, history, and mythology.

One of his last published works was Travels with Charley, a travelogue of a road trip he took in 1960 to rediscover America. He died in 1968 in New York of a heart attack and his ashes are interred in Salinas.

Seventeen of his works, including The Grapes of Wrath (1940), Cannery Row (1945), The Pearl (1947), and East of Eden (1952), went on to become Hollywood films, and Steinbeck also achieved success as a Hollywood writer, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Story in 1944 for Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat. ...more

Combine Editions
John Steinbeck's Books

Average rating: 3.89 · 2,714,762 ratings · 71,522 reviews · 179 distinct works · Similar authors

	Of Mice and Men 3.83 avg rating — 1,431,009 ratings — published 1937 — 339 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	East of Eden 4.34 avg rating — 317,289 ratings — published 1952 — 207 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Grapes of Wrath 3.91 avg rating — 511,684 ratings — published 1939 — 359 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Pearl 3.38 avg rating — 134,377 ratings — published 1947 — 219 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Cannery Row 4.01 avg rating — 81,694 ratings — published 1945 — 142 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Travels with Charley: In Search of America 4.06 avg rating — 48,015 ratings — published 1962 — 118 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Red Pony 3.42 avg rating — 38,918 ratings — published 1933 — 95 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Tortilla Flat 3.82 avg rating — 32,402 ratings — published 1935 — 133 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck, Susan Shillinglaw (Annotations) 3.99 avg rating — 29,113 ratings — published 1961 — 123 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Moon Is Down 3.86 avg rating — 13,459 ratings — published 1942 — 104 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by John Steinbeck…

Series by John Steinbeck

Cannery Row (2 books)
by John Steinbeck, Robert DeMott (Annotations)
4.01 avg rating — 90,791 ratings

Избрани творби (3 books)
by John Steinbeck, Джон Стайнбек
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 7 ratings

Quotes by John Steinbeck

“I wonder how many people I've looked at all my life and never seen.”
― John Steinbeck, The Winter of Our Discontent

5899 likes

“Maybe ever’body in the whole damn world is scared of each other.”
― John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men

tags: loneliness, people, scared, world

3447 likes

“There ain't no sin and there ain't no virtue. There's just stuff people do.”
― John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

3117 likes

See all John Steinbeck's quotes »

Polls

What author would you like to read in June?
(If you are writing in an answer, please make sure that the author's first or last name starts with an J.)

Julie Kagawa

5 votes 16.1%

Jennifer L. Armentrout

5 votes 16.1%

J.K. Rowling

4 votes 12.9%

James Joyce

2 votes 6.5%

John Irving (write-in)

2 votes 6.5%

Jenny Han

2 votes 6.5%

J.R.R. Tolkien

2 votes 6.5%

Jodi Picoult

1 vote 3.2%

John Steinbeck

1 vote 3.2%

John Green

1 vote 3.2%

Jeffrey Eugenides

1 vote 3.2%

John Corey Whaley (write-in)

1 vote 3.2%

Maureen Johnson

1 vote 3.2%

Erika Johansen

1 vote 3.2%

J.D. Salinger

1 vote 3.2%

Jules Verne

1 vote 3.2%

James Frey

0 votes 0.0%

Jamie McGuire

0 votes 0.0%

James Patterson

0 votes 0.0%

Henry James

0 votes 0.0%

31 total votes

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