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John Steinbeck

Challenging Ourselves to Live Inside a Book

Pat LaMarche | Posted 05.06.2013 | Media
Pat LaMarche

Steinbeck's 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath spoke as prophetically then as it does narratively now to the issue of homelessness in 2013. And it's a sad thing to witness in all those states, this fact that nothing's changed -- or if it changed, it's changed right back.

The Grapes of Ross

Peter Dreier | Posted 04.27.2013 | Politics
Peter Dreier

Many Americans know that Barack Obama spent three years as a community organizer in Chicago, but hardly any Americans know about Fred Ross Sr., perhaps the most influential community organizer in American history.

Let Us Show You What Pres. Obama Was Talking About

Pat LaMarche | Posted 03.24.2013 | Politics
Pat LaMarche

One thing is certain. When anyone -- even the president -- speaks to "you" about being poor, at least 1 in 6 of "you" in this wealthy nation already know what he's talking about, because "you" are the poor. And if we are the nation our ancestors fought a civil war to ensure then you is we and we are the poor.

Authors Amid the Rock Bands on YouTube

Dave Astor | Posted 11.07.2012 | Books
Dave Astor

Some people (like me!) are so busy reading books that they don't bother much with moving-image media such as films and TV. But what about watching YouTube videos relating to ... authors!

Why Mumford & Sons Should Have Written The Grapes Of Wrath

AnnaKate Pitts | Posted 11.07.2012 | Teen
AnnaKate Pitts

I love classic literary works, and I have a huge amount of respect for John Steinbeck. I don't think he is a bad writer; anyone who can write three pages about dust deserves mad props.

PHOTOS: John Steinbeck's Route 66

Posted 09.04.2012 | Books

The following is an excerpt from "Route 66 Still Kicks" [Skyhorse Publishing, $16.95]: It was near here in the 1930s that a thirty-four-year-old wr...

An Appreciation of John Steinbeck

Dave Astor | Posted 10.24.2012 | Books
Dave Astor

With Labor Day approaching, a reader's thoughts might turn to an author with an immense sympathy for the working class. That author is John Steinbeck, and this post is an appreciation of his work.

Live At Billy Bob's Texas: A Conversation With Billy Joe Shaver

Mike Ragogna | Posted 09.25.2012 | Entertainment
Mike Ragogna

2012-07-27-ragogna.jpg

The Seen and Unseen Consequences of This Summer's Weather Assault

Pearl Korn | Posted 09.24.2012 | Politics
Pearl Korn

Each year in the United States, 3.5 million people are homeless, with 100,000 homeless vets. If you are homeless, you are also hungry, and you likely don't know where your next meal will come from. Is this really America?

When Literary Characters Aren't Stereotypical

Dave Astor | Posted 08.07.2012 | Books
Dave Astor

Who are your favorite non-stereotypical literary characters?

Where's Tom Joad Anyway?

Craig Werner | Posted 06.25.2012 | College
Craig Werner

This idea that the American Dream involves making as much cash as possible for yourself is well out of date, and the time has come for a change.

Novelists Who Were More Enlightened Than Their Era

Dave Astor | Posted 06.19.2012 | Books
Dave Astor

The 1800s were of course a time of blatant racism, and many authors reflected that by depicting fictional characters of color in horribly stereotyped ways. Or they omitted those characters entirely, as if the world was populated by whites only.

You Can't Fix Stupid

George Heymont | Posted 06.16.2012 | Arts
George Heymont

One of the most memorable characters in American literature is stupid in the oldest and truest sense of the word. Although he appears to be warm, human, and inhabits the body of a man, his mind and personality never progressed past childhood.

First Nighter: Encores! Series' Pipe Dream Almost a Dream Come True

David Finkle | Posted 05.29.2012 | Entertainment
David Finkle

Of course, when songs so ebullient and/or passionate are this good, who's going to complain? Although a number of the Encores! dust-offs have moved to Broadway, this one certainly won't. Never mind, since it has enough going for it right where it is.

The Undergraduate Visitor to the Harry Ransom Center

Elana Estrin | Posted 05.27.2012 | Home
Elana Estrin

Since its founding, the Harry Ransom Center, a humanities research library and museum at The University of Texas at Austin, has been an important re...

Springsteen, Glenn Beck and Tom Joad

Craig Werner | Posted 05.23.2012 | College
Craig Werner

With "Born in the U.S.A." Springsteen is entering into a dialogue with the American public, asking them about Vietnam, "Is this what you want our country to be associated with? Is this really the America we live in? Can we do better?"

John Steinbeck's Letter From Vietnam

Posted 03.21.2012 | Books

Madeleine Crum, The Huffington Post: Though John Steinbeck is best known for chronicling the woes of The Great Depression, his raw, journalistic acco...

PHOTOS: How Kodachrome Changed Our View Of America

Eric Sandweiss | Posted 05.16.2012 | Books
Eric Sandweiss

Scientists had experimented with the possibility of showing the world in color since even before the late 1800s, but it was the invention known as Kodachrome that delivered "the colors the human eye perceives" not just to obsessive eccentrics but to housewives, Boy Scouts and Rotarians.

Expecting Presidents

Christopher Holshek | Posted 04.23.2012 | Books
Christopher Holshek

Whether Barack Obama is re-elected or replaced is overwhelmingly hinged on jobs and the economy. There's more than this to being president.

The New Walter Cronkite?

Posted 02.06.2012 | Media

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow was announced the winner of the prestigious John Steinbeck Award on Monday. In addition to being honored with the award, Maddow ...

Serious Novelists Are Sometimes Surprisingly Funny

Dave Astor | Posted 03.06.2012 | Books
Dave Astor

Herman Melville's Moby-Dick is an epic tragedy that leaves readers shocked and awed. But, along the way, there are some delightfully funny interludes -- most notably the pre-voyage scene in which Ishmael and Queequeg end up in the same bedroom.

Giving Thanks for Putting Away Childish Literary Things

Dave Astor | Posted 01.25.2012 | Books
Dave Astor

As I write this on Thanksgiving weekend, I give thanks to the books that turn adolescent readers into adult readers. For me, it was one 19th-century novel by a woman, and one 20th-century novel by a man.

Anna Bahr

SLIDESHOW: Etsy Artist Paints Colbert, Fey, Angelou, Other Inspring People For Charity

HuffingtonPost.com | Anna Bahr | Posted 11.19.2011 | Impact

Last April, artist Ryan Wollard was fed up. Programs for the arts and teaching programs were being cut left and right, and labor unions were under att...

The Pleasures of Rereading

Dave Astor | Posted 11.19.2011 | Books
Dave Astor

Reading a beloved book twice, thrice, or more is a craving that can't be denied. It's pleasurable, comforting, and relaxing -- partly because you don't have to figure out what the author is doing from scratch.

The Most Novels You've Read By an Author

Dave Astor | Posted 11.14.2011 | Books
Dave Astor

My list includes the authors' names, the number of novels I've read by each of them, and my three favorite novels (in rank order) by each of them. If you have different favorites by those authors, I'd like to hear about that.