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

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

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.

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.

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.