3.5
In Dubious Battle
ByPublisher Description
A riveting novel of labor strife and apocalyptic violence, now a major motion picture starring James Franco, Bryan Cranston, Selena Gomez, and Zach Braff
A Penguin Classic
At once a relentlessly fast-paced, admirably observed novel of social unrest and the story of a young man's struggle for identity, In Dubious Battle is set in the California apple country, where a strike by migrant workers against rapacious landowners spirals out of control, as a principled defiance metamorphoses into blind fanaticism. Caught in the upheaval is Jim Nolan, a once aimless man who find himself in the course of the strike, briefly becomes its leader, and is ultimately crushed in its service.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
A Penguin Classic
At once a relentlessly fast-paced, admirably observed novel of social unrest and the story of a young man's struggle for identity, In Dubious Battle is set in the California apple country, where a strike by migrant workers against rapacious landowners spirals out of control, as a principled defiance metamorphoses into blind fanaticism. Caught in the upheaval is Jim Nolan, a once aimless man who find himself in the course of the strike, briefly becomes its leader, and is ultimately crushed in its service.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesIn Dubious Battle Reviews
3.5
“I’ve read most of Steinbeck’s library, and In Dubious Battle cracks my top 5. Boy does he love a Jesus figure in his writing.
I get the feeling that Doc is supposed to be a mirror of Steinbeck himself in this, a silent observer and lover of man, testing out the waters. Steinbeck does a great job at writing working class folks. IDB sticks out in the same way Grapes of Wrath does for me, in how it humanizes the struggle of people just trying to make a good living for their families.
It’s crazy to me how applicable this is to our current world. The adage “no one wants to work anymore” is loud as ever in the mouths of those who live to protect their property, while the poor can’t make a living wage while working more than full time. And why would people want to work for poverty wages? Except now the fat cats are even fatter, they own news media, social media, they control thought and sway public opinion. They lobby the political machine to keep the poor from basic rights of healthcare and human needs of clean water and food. They protect their cabal at the expense of everyone else. In many ways, the equitable world Jim and Mac dreamed of is further away than it was at the time of publishing.”
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