The Harvest Gypsies: On the Road to the Grapes of Wrath

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars | 337 ratings

Price: 9.21

Last update: 09-18-2024


About this item

A collection of newspaper articles about Dust Bowl migrants in California’s Central Valley by the author of The Grapes of Wrath, accompanied by photos.
 
Three years before his triumphant novel The Grapes of Wrath—a fictional portrayal of a Depression-era family fleeing Oklahoma during a disastrous period of drought and dust storms—John Steinbeck wrote seven articles for the San Francisco News about these history-making events and the hundreds of thousands who made their way west to work as farm laborers.
 
With the inquisitiveness of an investigative reporter and the emotional power of a novelist in his prime, Steinbeck toured the squatters’ camps and Hoovervilles of rural California. The Harvest Gypsies gives us an eyewitness account of the horrendous Dust Bowl migration, and provides the factual foundation for Steinbeck’s masterpiece. Included are twenty-two photographs by Dorothea Lange and others, many of which accompanied Steinbeck’s original articles.
 
'”Steinbeck’s potent blend of empathy and moral outrage was perfectly matched by the photographs of Dorothea Lange, who had caught the whole saga with her camera—the tents, the jalopies, the bindlestiffs, the pathos and courage of uprooted mothers and children.”—San Francisco Review of Books
 
“Steinbeck’s journalism shares the enduring quality of his famous novel…Certain to engage students of both American literature and labor history.”—Publishers Weekly

Top reviews from the United States

Rosalie Sanderson
5.0 out of 5 stars Steinbeck’s news previews of migrant life in 1930s California preceded novel Grapes of Wrath
Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2021
95 highlights (Private)

Fascinating collection of articles about Okies and migrant workers in California in the early 1930s written by Steinbeck for the San Francisco News. He gathered information about migrant workers, their work, their camps, and the much well run federal government camps where they lived. Steinbeck used much of what he learned writing these articles as background for his PULITZER prize winning novel Grapes of Wrath (1939). The lengthy introduction by Charles Wollenberg provides historical context for the articles. Well worth reading.
Ned C. Holt
5.0 out of 5 stars An easy, but powerful, read. Perfect illustration of the horrible effects of capitalism run wild
Reviewed in the United States on February 6, 2020
You can read this book in an hour. It's only 61 pages, with the introduction. It's a powerful, up-close and personal, depiction of life in the tenement migrant farmer camps in California during the US depression of the 1930s. It's also the backdrop of Mr. Steinbeck's excellent work, "The Grapes of Wrath". If you ever wondered what life would be like under unchecked capitalism, look no farther. This books lays it out.
Eric F.
4.0 out of 5 stars Great book
Reviewed in the United States on November 22, 2021
Everything arrived on time and as advertised
Patricia A. McKnight
5.0 out of 5 stars Source material which inspired Steinbeck's masterpiece, The Grapes of Wrath
Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2018
These seven essays were written as articles for the San Francisco News in the heart of the Great Depression about the displaced farm families who had been kicked off their land due to bank foreclosures in the midst of the Dustbowl. Their land literally blew away after some drought stricken years. The appalling response of the whole nation was to stigmatize them as "lazy," which they were not - and as "dirty," without helping them to have access to water in which to bathe. First they were beaten down by nature -- and then by the banks, the agribusinesses in California and most of their fellow Americans. Steinbeck thought they would do better than had previous foreign born pickers because they had families. He was wrong. Their families became hostages to fortune and many many died of starvation. Not our finest hour!
Shawn Compton
5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Story
Reviewed in the United States on September 9, 2020
They way the migrant workers were treated in California was horrible. This was a fascinating story about the hardships people had to endure during this era to simply live. This book is a must read.
graham keet
5.0 out of 5 stars Could not put the book down, read in one sitting .
Reviewed in the United States on December 14, 2022
Having read Grapes of Wrath, you cannot afford to miss this. Brilliant.
Kindle Customer
3.0 out of 5 stars To short
Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2017
Good couple of articles but not enough to really dig into the heart of the matter. Wish it was more thorough
Jon rosa
5.0 out of 5 stars Short but sweet (and SAD!)
Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2021
Very short book by Steinbeck from notes he took while travelling the country during the Great depression working on 'The Grapes of Wrath". Not long, but very well written and tragic.

Best Sellers in

 
 

Livesuit (The Captive's War)

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 844
2.99
 
 

January is for Jackson: A brother's best friend, grumpy mountain man, curvy girl romance (Mountain Men of Mustang Mountain)

4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 220
2.99
 
 

Peter Diamond (Mysterious Profiles)

0 0 out of 5 stars 0
2.99
 
 

Birds of Prey (2023-) #13

5 5 out of 5 stars 64
3.99
 
 

Plastic Man No More! (2024) #1

4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 11
4.99
 
 

Justice Society of America (2022-) #11

4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 40
3.99
 
 

Before Then Now: A Novella

3.8 3.8 out of 5 stars 30
2.99
 
 

The Tycoon's Pet : Grumpy Billionaire Romance (Emerald City Billionaires Book 4)

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 200
2.99