Obscene in the Extreme: The Burning and Banning of John Steinbeck's the Grapes of Wrath (Hardcover)

by Rick Wartzman (Author)
Key Phrases: cotton strike, big growers, book ban, The Grapes of Wrath, Kern County, Associated Farmers (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
During May of 1939, as the Nazis were burning books throughout Germany, the people of Bakersfield Calif., did exactly the same thing with John Steinbeck's new bestseller, The Grapes of Wrath. As Wartzman (The King of California) shows in this intriguing account, the banning of Steinbeck's masterpiece throughout California's Kern County was orchestrated by rich local growers: men who were busy exploiting scores of Joad families, the very men Steinbeck exposed in his novel. As a pretext, the growers cited, among other things, Steinbeck's use of foul language (bastard, bitch) and vivid scenes such as Rose of Sharon, having lost her baby, offering her milk-filled breast to a starving man. One lone librarian, Gretchen Knief, led the charge against the censors, but the book—by then a Pulitzer Prize winner—remained banned a year later. While all this was happening, Steinbeck was suffering the strains of his collapsing first marriage. In telling this unique tale, Wartzman artfully weaves the personal and the political in a book that readers will find engaging on more than one level. (Sept.)
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From School Library Journal
On August 21, 1939, the Kern County (CA) Board of Supervisors voted to ban The Grapes of Wrath from its schools and libraries to the chagrin of librarian Gretchen Knief. Wartzman (The King of California: J.G. Boswell and the Making of a Secret American Empire) uses the ban of Steinbeck's best-selling novel as a springboard to discuss the forces that led to it—forces that had more to do with politics than morality. He uses the censorship case as an opportunity to shine a wider light on the political and economic climate of south central California in the wake of the 1930s dust bowl migration, exploring the larger issues that divided radicals and reactionaries, labor and management, social reformers and anticommunists. Detailed portraits of the local businessmen, politicians, and labor leaders caught up in the struggle enliven the text. Recommended for research libraries, especially those with strong collections in labor history and American studies.—William Gargan, Brooklyn Coll. Lib., CUNY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: PublicAffairs; First Edition edition (September 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1586483315
• ISBN-13: 978-1586483319
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #486,037 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Likely to Become the Defining Work on the History of Labor and Farming in the Valley in the 1930s, September 7, 2008

By	Frederick S. Goethel "wildcatcreekbooks" (Central Valley, CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Was the "Grapes of Wrath" a nonfiction work disguised as a novel? Apparently, the County Board of Supervisors in Kern County California thought just that. The book, and Steinbeck, irritated them to the point that they decided to ban the work and prohibit its sale from bookstores (not that there were many in Bakersfield then) and distribution of the work from the library system.

Why, however, did the book cause such irritation amongst the county supervisors and why were they in such an immense hurry to get it away from the public? The answers to those questions are the backbone of this wonderful work on a shameful chapter in American history.

The author examines, in totality, the world of the San Joaquin Valley in the late 1930s and how a single novel could turn much of the State of California into a battleground for workers and farmers alike. From the Okies pouring into the Valley by the car load and trying to survive by any means possible to the farmers fighting to keep prices high and labor costs low, the complex story of this war in the Valley is told in a wonderful manner that makes the book extremely readable while documenting history in detail.

I could write about the debates that raged in the Valley (and the state) about communism, socialism, fascism and other "isms", but that would be a spoiler to this wonderful book. In many ways the message in this work of history is as applicable today as it was 80 years ago.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough and think it may be one of the best non fiction works published in 2008. Buy it, explore it and enjoy it. I know the teachers at my local high school are already in a frenzy to read this and they won't be disappointed.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great, but I wish it were longer, September 21, 2008

By	James Seger (The Woodlands, TX United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Obscene in the Extreme was a natural for me. Steinbeck is my very favorite writer. I remember being shocked the first time I saw that image of farmers burning a copy of The Grapes of Wrath.

Obscene in the Extreme details Kern County's ban on The Grapes of Wrath. A book that was a lightning rod on its' publication. Praised as a masterpiece and banned in some rural locations for the coarse language it contained. Kern County used this same reasoning when banning the book, though it was obvious to all that it was the politics of the book that were the real problem.

The problem I had with the book is that it is either too short or casts too wide a net. Rick Wartzman uses the banning of The Grapes of Wrath to examine state and national politics of the time and it was a valid approach but too many names were thrown at me too quickly in the 280 or so pages the book ran.

The book is worth reading and there is a lot of fascinating details in it. But if you don't already know a bit about the political scene of the late thirties/early forties you may find yourself flailing a bit.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Read, November 20, 2008

By	Ryan Ritchie (Simi Valley, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Obscene in the Extreme: The Burning and Banning of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath

by Rick Wartzman


Obscene in the Extreme, goes into depth concerning the mass burning and banning of the epic chronicle "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck. The most intense attacks came from the Associated Farmers of California. They were in uproar about the depictions of themselves and their actions in the novel.They denounced it as untruthful and even went as far as labeling it communist propaganda.

"The Story is not laid in war-torn Spain, nor in Nazi Germany-but in the United States".This effected Steinbeck profoundly and "It was this nexus-linking one man's profit to another's privation-that would become a primary theme in The Grapes of Wrath".

This is a well written, informative read on a dark time in Californian and American history. It reminds us how a herd mentality can negatively react to something they know little about. Many of the participants of the burning and banning had not even read the book. This should be used as a companion book to "The Grapes of Wrath" as it makes the understanding of a time and class system much more realistic; it did for me. A time that many of us have forgotten or knew nothing of, revisited. A great book