In Dubious Battle (Penguin Classics) [Paperback]

John Steinbeck (Author), Warren French (Editor, Introduction)

Book Description

Release date: May 30, 2006 | Series: Penguin Classics

This 1936 novel—set in the California apple country—portrays a strike by migrant workers that metamorphoses from principled defiance into blind fanaticism.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A man whose work was equal to the vast social themes that drove him. -- Don DeLillo

John Steinbeck knew and understood America and Americans better than any other writer of the twentieth century. -- The Dallas Morning News

About the Author

JOHN STEINBECK (1902–1968) was born in Salinas, California. He worked as a laborer and a journalist, and in 1935, when he published Tortilla Flat, he achieved popular success and financial security. Steinbeck wrote more than twenty-five novels and won the Nobel Prize in 1962. Nearly all of his books are available in Penguin Classics.

Product Details

• Paperback: 274 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (May 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0143039636
• ISBN-13: 978-0143039631
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (61 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #132,064 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John Steinbeck (1902-1968), winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, achieved popular success in 1935 when he published Tortilla Flat. He went on to write more than twenty-five novels, including The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men.

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

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#4 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Classics

#25 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Literary

#40 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Literary Fiction

#4 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Classics

#25 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Literary

#40 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Literary Fiction

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

71 of 72 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Realistic account of orchard strike March 13, 2001

By Edward Bosnar

Format:Paperback

"In Dubious Battle" is basically the first of Steinbeck's socially-engaged novels, in which he portrays a strike staged by itinerant fruit-pickers against price-cutting orchard owners. This is hardly a pamphlet for the labor movement or the Communist Party, though, as Steinbeck is less interested in pontificating than showing the frustations of the workers and the toll that their resistence actually takes on them and the local community. It also shows the organizational difficulties involved in getting a diverse group of dissatisfied workers to work for a common cause. The characterization is vivid and brilliant. Aside from its obvious literary value, this novel also has historical value, for like Sinclair's "The Jungle" (although with greater realism and much less pathos) it provides a powerful description of the plight of working people in America earlier in the 20th century. "In Dubious Battle" gives readers a good idea of the type of courage it took, and still does take, to fight for positive change and social justice.

41 of 44 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars There's more here than a surface read may suggest March 11, 2000

By Robert A. Giacobbe

Format:Paperback

Steinbeck masters several different purposes with this book. First, he provides us with, in typical Steinbeck fashion, an in-depth character study of several figures worthy of discussion. The characters are intriguing, life-like and hold our attention as they move through their existence.

Second, he weaves a picturesque and spellbinding story with this ability to animate scenes with his words. He truly captures the idea of "suspension of disbelief;" the reader has no doubt he/she is reading about real places and people.

Last and most important, Steinbeck turns the tables on the reader in the last paragraph of the book. While this book may superficially appear to be a scathing commentary on the ruthlessness of unchecked capitalism, its really a singular question on human nature, regardless of the dominant socio-economic system, be it capitalism or communism. The reader must make up his/her mind at the end on which is the worse crime: exploitation of the masses for profit or exploitation of the masses for personal power and position, especially at the expense of a friend and allie.

One of the most powerful books I have read in such a few number of pages.

28 of 31 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The best of Steinbeck's Career July 21, 2000

By Joe

Format:Paperback

By far, Steinbeck had his finest moments writing this story. That says a lot about a man who did such great character studies as Of Mice And Men, The Grapes Of Wrath, The Winter Of Our Discontent, and The Pearl. In this story, Steinbeck hits a raw note rarely reached in American Literature. Few people would have it in them to write a story about the "Reds" in the 1930s. Steinbeck not only wrote the story, he made it his masterpiece. The story alone is the best he ever published. A story about a migrant worker strike in California and the effects of an ununionized strike unfold in the novel. The more important part of the novel is the humanist views Steinbeck took. Every man can feel the hate of the system tearing you apart. He captures that hate in all 300 pages of this story. In every aspect, he captured people who have been pushed too far in In Dubious Battle. He told the story of men who had nothing to lose and in the end lost anyway. This is not another story of the underdog. This is the story of the American Dream being left unfulfilled.