Check nearby libraries
Buy this book
Few books have caused as big a stir as John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. A month after it was published in April 1939, it stood as the nation's No. 1 best seller. And by summer in Kern County, California -- the Joads' newfound home -- the book was burned publicly and banned from local schools and library shelves. Obscene in the Extreme tells the remarkable story behind this fit of censorship. It all begins as Kern County librarian Gretchen Knief returns home from vacation to discover the Board of Supervisors voting to suppress Steinbeck's novel. When agribusiness titan W.B. "Bill" Camp presides over the book's torching in downtown Bakersfield a few days later, he declares, "We are angry, not because we were attacked, but because we were attacked by a book obscene in the extreme sense of the word." Yet Knief bravely fights back: "If that book is banned today, what book will be banned tomorrow?" Obscene in the Extreme is fast-paced and sharply focused, with a narrative that unfolds over the course of a single week. But its backdrop is monumental. The backlash to the publication of The Grapes of Wrath -- a book praised by Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and seared into the public's consciousness by the lyrics of Woody Guthrie and the on-screen performance of Henry Fonda -- serves as a window into an extraordinary time of upheaval in America. - Jacket flap.
Check nearby libraries
Buy this book
Previews available in: English
Showing 6 featured editions. View all 6 editions?
Edition | Availability |
---|---|
1
Obscene in the Extreme: The Burning and Banning of John Steinbeck's the Grapes of Wrath
2010, ReadHowYouWant.com, Limited
in English
1458759520 9781458759528
|
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
2
Obscene in the Extreme: The Burning and Banning of John Steinbeck's the Grapes of Wrath
2009, PublicAffairs
in English
0786726075 9780786726073
|
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
3
Obscene in the Extreme: The Burning and Banning of John Steinbeck's the Grapes of Wrath
2009, PublicAffairs
in English
128244977X 9781282449770
|
aaaa
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
4 |
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
5
Obscene in the extreme: the burning and banning of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath
2008, PublicAffairs
Hardcover
in English
- 1st ed.
1586483315 9781586483319
|
eeee
|
6
Obscene in the Extreme: The Burning and Banning of John Steinbeck's the Grapes of Wrath
2008-09-02, PublicAffairs
|
zzzz
|
Community Reviews (0)
Feedback?History
- Created October 5, 2021
- 1 revision
Wikipedia citation
×CloseCopy and paste this code into your Wikipedia page. Need help?
October 5, 2021 | Created by ImportBot | Imported from Better World Books record |