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

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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.

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.

The Depression hit our country swiftly and mercilessly, making for thousands of dramatic stories--many of which would remain unbelievable were it not for the personal testimonies of those who lived through those brutal years. Some of the most heart-wrenching of those tales come from the Dust Bowl, both from those who chose to stay with their farms and those who migrated to California in search of a better life. Steinbeck's brilliant prose in "The Grapes of Wrath" profoundly tapped into the soul of these plucky, proud migrants. This immensely controversial and powerful book shook the political and social beliefs of all who read it at the time, and even shaped the views of those who never dared to crack its cover. With a definite "Communist slant" and shockingly realistic language, "The Grapes of Wrath", written in 1939, exposed the alleged bigotry the "Okies" faced in their quest for work in California, and the fear that simmered just beneath the surface of every agricultural elitist out West: host to the hundreds of thousands of Dust Bowl migrants. As much as things change, political rhetoric remains as pathetically similiar today for the Liberals and the Conservatives as it did in the early-1940's.

Rick Wartzman examines a particularly tumultuous week in Kern County, California's history--August 21 - 28, 1939. Kern County, and its county seat, Bakersfield, were the real-life backdrop in Steinbeck's fiction work "The Grapes of Wrath". And during this historical week, the Kern County Board of Supervisors voted, and re-voted, on the public banning of "The Grapes of Wrath". Wartzman covers this explosive civil rights event with the skill of a master story-teller and historian in "Obscene in the Extreme: The Burning and Banning of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath".

He masterfully weaves--going systematically back and forth in time--all the threads surrounding this socially complex period into a well-balanced, multi-perspective tapestry. Wartzman, in perfect hindsight, tends to sympathize and side with the migrants of the time, but also delivers a comprehensive, in-depth understanding of those who felt threatened by Steinbeck's work, especially the leaders of Kern County whom Steinbeck portrayed as abusive, merciless slave-owners. Surprisingly, however, not only businessmen, bankers, and land-owners were offended by "The Grapes of Wrath". Wartzman also fairly assesses the migrants' own justified resentments against their portrayal in the famous book, highlighting how Steinbeck painted a picture of an uneducated, immoral class in the story of the Joad family and their companions.

"Obscene in the Extreme" is sprinkled with engaging side stories and pictures, particularly of those who were intimately involved in the controversy in Kern County: reporters, librarians, Steinbeck, politicians, famous celebrities and most delightfully, the migrant workers themselves. It is an enlightening historical account, righting some misconceptions and exposing some bitter truths, around one of America's most poignant pieces of classic literature, "The Grapes of Wrath".

And with this quote author Rick Wartsman begins his examination of the attempted and actual banning of John Steinbeck's novel, The Grapes of Wrath by the Kern County Board of Supervisors, Bakersfield, California. This was on August 21, 1939 on a Monday night. The central and primary reason, according to the banning document, was that this work by Steinbeck was "Grapes of Wrath is filled with profanity, lewd, foul and obscene language unfit for use in American homes." The board then ordered it removed from the local library. Keep in mind that this work had already been banned in a number of major cities in the United States, not just small towns as portrayed here. And trust me, it was not because of filthy language!

Now this may seem at first glance to be the actions of a small group of small town folks objecting to a certain book and having that book removed from the local library due to the fact they did not want their children exposed to some of the lewd, found and obscene language found in the pages of this work. But that is far, far from the truth as the author uses this small incident to hang a very well done history of the labor movement, local government, the immigration problem, and politics of not only Kern County, but all of the state of California, and indeed, the United States at that time.

As Kern County was more or less the epicenter of the fictional story told by Steinbeck of the problems and tragedy faced by the Joad family during the height of the great depression, and the history changing dust bowl of that time, a book containing mere dirty words was hardly the primary cause of this particular book banning. No, this is actually a very complicated and complex history of labor verses the large growers who controlled a great portion of that western state at that time. It is the story of politics run amok, greed, misunderstanding and to a certain extent, a clash of cultures.

In this work we have a wonderfully written account of one of America's darkest points in here history. We have a history of events that changed not only the face of America, but how different political and industrial entities are perceived. On one side you had the displaced farmers and poor from the mid west trying to literally survive. On the other you had a group of individuals, extremely wealth individuals who controlled the agribusiness in the state of California. Throw in a bunch of union organizers, Communists, Socialists, extreme right wingers and extreme left wingers, the common citizen of Kern County and the rest of California, who were actually footing most of the bill, and a federal government that really had little grasp of the problems occurring, and were either unable or unwilling to correct what little they did understand, and the reader can quickly see why there were major problems and why this situation was so typical of what was going on across the face of this country at that time and not just on the West Coast.

Along the way, this book also gives us a brief look into the thought process of Steinbeck as this work developed. We also take a look into the mind and attitude of a large cross section of people involved in this saga, which includes the members of the Growers Association, local law enforcement, social workers, library workers, movie stars, government workers, the actual immigrant workers and the simple man on the street.

I will say that it is obvious that the author sides with the anti-banning point of view and certainly has little sympathy for the mega growers and right-wing politicians of the time, but I have to say that the author does make a great attempt to show both sides of the story and does this quite well. The simple fact though is that some of the actions taken, which were probably under reported by Steinbeck, via his fictional work, simply cannot be justified by any civilized standard. It is also a simply fact that some organizations used this work and the entire situation, as a tool to meet there specific political needs and wants.

I truly feel that a grasp of the political situation and a good working knowledge of depression era history will make this a much smoother read and so much more will be gotten with that knowledge. While this of course is not necessary, it is certainly desirable. The workings of the New Deal are complicated as is the simple definition of all of the" isms" who had a hand in this story and era. As one worker at the time put it, "they say you are a communist if you ask for a nickel raise."

These were very difficult times and there were many, many factors involved here; there were indeed two sides to the story...well, actually there were many sides involved in this case. It is quite easy for an individual to look upon those times with the satisfaction that "those sorts of things could never happen to day...we have evolved socially as a society, blah, blah, blah." But the reader of this work needs to keep a few things in mind before judgments of the people who lived then are passed. At present, each year in this country there are over 2,000 challenges to various books (remember the book burnings of Harry Potter?), and that, as the author points out, in one of the richest civilizations in history, nearly 40 million people actually suffer from hunger, about a third of the population does not earn an adequate salary to cover basic needs and where income inequality is wider now than that at anytime since before the Great Depression...sort of makes you stop and think, doesn't it?

I very much recommend this highly readable, educational and thought provoking work. I must warn you though that much of what you will read can be listened to each night of the evening news programs.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

With so many best sellers out there that are poorly crafted and sloppily researched, I sometimes forget just how good a really good book can be. "Obscene in the Extreme" by Rick Wartzman is such a book. I recommend it without any reservation to anyone who appreciates beautifully wrought English and/or is interested in understanding the perspectives and experiences of other lives in other times (and how these might relate to our own lives in our own times, although the author leaves it to us to make these connections).

Rick Wartzman tells the story of the banning of The Grapes of Wrath, in the California county that Steinbeck's novel depicted most, with such eloquence, artistry, clarity and (from my perspective) compassionate objectivity for all the players involved, it is just a joy to read. He has obviously done extensive and meticulous research, which enables him to flesh out the full emotional tone and context of the people and events he describes, making this book of history read far more engagingly than many novels.

I want to express my gratitude to the author for this wonderful gift to all of us, and to his family, friends and colleagues for supporting him in his endeavors. More! More! Encore!

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

Author Rick Wartzman provides the historical context for the burning and banning of John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath" as well as a history of censorship and organized labor in "Obscene in the Extreme."

The Board of Supervisors of Kern County voted to ban "The Grapes of Wrath" in its schools and libraries in the summer of 1939. The book had been banned in other schools and libraries across the country. Some residents of Kern County, where much of "The Grapes of Wrath" took place, were particularly offended because Steinbeck painted a picture of the area as "a land of squalor, starvation and despair." Bill Camp, head of the Associated Farmers chapter of Kern County, said, "We were attacked by a book obscene in the extreme sense of the word."

The book was criticized for advocating Socialism, "breathing class hatred and the idea of class war." Other critics cited the book's sex scenes and lewd, foul and obscene language. Others said it was "violently revolutionary and profane."

Many people thought Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath," was untrue. They treated it as a work of non-fiction or documentary history. Although it was fiction, Steinbeck based most of it on the people and events he had witnessed while touring migrant camps in preparation for writing a seven-part series for the San Francisco News in October 1936. He wrote "The Grapes of Wrath" in 1938 and it was published in April 1939.

The influx of migrant workers to California stressed the state's infrastructure and public welfare system. Most were meagerly paid, poorly treated and highly resented. Steinbeck believed there was a connection between poverty and the level of aggression that the big growers were willing to let loose to maintain their income. He labeled the big growers as a "gang of bandits, men who treated their workers like dogs and hogs." Steinbeck also advocated for the unionization of agricultural workers, an unpopular position with big growers.

Steinbeck admired the migrant workers and their traits. "The Grapes of Wrath" gave a voice to workers' concerns. The book is the quintessential story of dignity in the face of adversity.

Wartzman's book is a scholarly effort that crams a lot of information and names into 230 pages (there are 60 pages of notes). And, it may be more than many readers want. I was more interested in the specific reactions to "The Grapes of Wrath" rather than the history of censorship or the labor movement. This book, however, helps you to understand the negative reactions.

Rick Wartzman has penned a wonderful accounting of the ban of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath by the very California community about which it was written. Not only did the Board of Supervisors of Kern County ban it, the book was symbolically burned by representatives of the farming community depicted by Steinbeck.

I'm a lifelong resident of Kern County. I knew a little about the occurrence but dismissed it as another light wind of discord that wafts through this world on a regular basis. Wartzman has portrayed the incident as having the potential of growing into a storm from which both literary convention and agricultural tradition might never have recovered. On the one hand a governmental body dictated an abominable order to one of its agencies; a mandate that threatened the very concept of free speech and promoted the banning of books, a practice that could grow into the fascism so prevalent in 1939 Europe. On the other, the book had, according to the agricultural bigwigs of the huge farming area, denigrated the policies and working conditions as applied to the workers to such a degree that the image of Kern County was one of "squalor, starvation and despair" according to some journalists. The harvesting of abundant crops would suffer if the flow of workers slowed down because of the fear of inhumane working conditions.

Steinbeck's book, the purveyor of the offensive image, was fiction, of course. And it contained some coarse images and language that dissenters seized upon to present the book as obscene, vulgar and profane. That became the basis for the banning, although it was widely accepted that the main reason was possible economic havoc for the community.

Mr. Wartzman has meticulously researched his book and presented an even-handed accounting. Both sides of the battle have been presented with strong ideas and arguments attributed to each. I would have liked a glossary of the alphabet agencies to help keep them straight. And I would have liked more information about what criteria libraries use to decide on which books to shelve. But I can highly recommend this as one of the great books you are likely to read.