The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, was first published in 1939 and would achieve both the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize that same year. When Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962 the novel was referenced frequently.

TIME magazine lists it as one of the 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005. In 2009 The Daily Telegraph included it as one of the 100 novels everyone should read and in 1998 the Modern Library ranked The Grapes of Wrath tenth on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.

Despite its critical and popular acclaim, upon its release there were very heated outcries against the novel and its author spanning the entire social and political spectrum of the United States. At times the novel literally fuelled the fires of public debate as local communities burned copies in protest.

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