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

Few books have caused as big a stir as John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, when it was published in April 1939. By May, it was the nation’s No. 1 bestseller, flying off store shelves at a rate of 10,000 copies a week. But