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In October 1936 the San Francisco News ran seven articles by a 34-year-old Californian on the families from the Dust Bowl camped in the state’s farm valleys. Three years later John Steinbeck turned what he had seen into The Grapes of Wrath (1939), the best-selling book of its year and the winner of the 1940 Pulitzer Prize. He was born in Salinas, California, in 1902, left Stanford without a degree, and worked on ranches and sugar-beet farms before his books sold. Most of his fiction stays in the valleys and on the coast he grew up with, from the ranch hands of Of Mice and Men (1937) to the Monterey waterfront of Cannery Row (1945) and the family saga of East of Eden (1952). He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962 and died in New York in 1968. This guide covers his fourteen key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 14 key books · 1929–1962 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
John Steinbeck’s best-known books are The Grapes of Wrath (1939), which won the Pulitzer Prize, Of Mice and Men (1937), Cannery Row (1945), The Pearl (1947) and East of Eden (1952). Start with Of Mice and Men, the novella about two ranch workers in Depression-era California; then read The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden, his two long California novels.
Where to Start with John Steinbeck
If you have never read him
→ Of Mice and Men (1937) — a short novella you can finish in an evening.
If you want his defining book
→ The Grapes of Wrath (1939) — the Dust Bowl novel that won the Pulitzer Prize.
If you want his biggest, most personal novel
→ East of Eden (1952) — the Salinas Valley saga he called his magnum opus.
If you want the warmer, funnier Steinbeck
→ Cannery Row (1945) — Doc, Mack and the boys on the Monterey waterfront.
14 John Steinbeck Books, in Order
Cup of Gold
His first novel, a romantic life of the Welsh privateer Henry Morgan that builds to his attack on Panama City, the “Cup of Gold” of the title. It has little in common with the California fiction that followed. The first edition sold 1,537 copies.
The Pastures of Heaven
Ten stories, framed by a prologue and an epilogue, about the farming families of a small valley modelled on Corral de Tierra, near Salinas. One family, the Munroes, appears in every story and, mostly without meaning to, unsettles the lives of their neighbours. Critics still disagree on whether it is a novel or a story collection.
To a God Unknown
Joseph Wayne homesteads in the valley of Nuestra Señora and comes to believe his dead father’s spirit lives in the great oak beside his house. When years of drought ruin the valley, his bond with the land turns into a kind of private religion. Steinbeck took about five years to finish it, and it is the most openly mythic of his early books.
Tortilla Flat
A comic novel about Danny, who comes home from the First World War to inherit two houses in the hills above Monterey, and the friends, led by the scheming Pilon, who move in with him. Steinbeck compares Danny’s house to King Arthur’s Round Table. It was his first clear critical and commercial success, won the Commonwealth Club of California’s gold medal and was filmed in 1942.
In Dubious Battle
A strike by fruit pickers in the fictional Torgas Valley, seen through two Communist Party organisers: the experienced Mac and his new recruit, Jim Nolan. A doctor, Doc Burton, keeps the strikers’ camp running while doubting their cause. The title comes from Milton’s Paradise Lost; the book won the Commonwealth Club gold medal for 1937, and James Franco later directed a film version.
Of Mice and Men
George Milton and the large, slow-witted Lennie Small find work on a ranch near Soledad and save towards a small farm of their own. Steinbeck first called it Something That Happened and took the final title from Robert Burns’s “To a Mouse”. He wrote it with the stage in mind: the Broadway version, directed by George S. Kaufman, opened in November 1937 and was named best play of the year by the New York Drama Critics’ Circle. It is also one of the most often challenged books in American schools.
The Long Valley
His main story collection, most of it set in the Salinas Valley. It includes “The Chrysanthemums”, about a rancher’s wife, Elisa Allen, and a passing tinker, along with “Flight”, “The Snake”, the three stories of The Red Pony and “The Leader of the People”, about the boy Jody’s grandfather, who once led a wagon train west.
The Grapes of Wrath
The Joad family lose their farm near Sallisaw, Oklahoma, and drive west on Route 66 to California, where they find too many workers, low wages and growers backed by the local authorities. Steinbeck drew on his 1936 newspaper series on the migrant camps and on reports from the camp manager Tom Collins. It was the best-selling book of 1939, with 430,000 copies printed by February 1940, and won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. John Ford’s 1940 film starred Henry Fonda as Tom Joad.
The Moon Is Down
An unnamed army occupies a small coastal town in Northern Europe to take its coal mine, and Colonel Lanser moves into the house of Mayor Orden. Written to encourage resistance in occupied countries, it was translated and printed in secret in France, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands, and after the war Norway gave Steinbeck the King Haakon VII Freedom Cross. In America, James Thurber wrote that it “needs more guts and less moon”.
Cannery Row
Life on the sardine-cannery street of Monterey, centred on Doc, who runs the Western Biological Laboratory, and Mack and the boys, who set out to throw him a party. Doc is based on Steinbeck’s close friend, the marine biologist Ed Ricketts, whose real laboratory stood on the street. Steinbeck wrote a sequel, Sweet Thursday (1954).
The Pearl
Kino, a poor pearl diver in La Paz, Mexico, finds a huge pearl, and instead of paying for a doctor for his baby son Coyotito it brings greed, violence and loss down on him and his wife Juana. Steinbeck based it on a folk tale he heard in La Paz in 1940; it first appeared as “The Pearl of the World” in Woman’s Home Companion in December 1945. A Mexican film, La perla, came out the same year as the book.
East of Eden
Two families in the Salinas Valley, the Trasks and the Hamiltons, from the Civil War to the end of the First World War; the Hamiltons are based on Steinbeck’s own grandfather, Samuel Hamilton. The story retells Cain and Abel through two generations of Trask brothers and turns on the Hebrew word timshel, “thou mayest”. Steinbeck said everything he had written before was in a sense “practice for this”. Elia Kazan filmed its final part in 1955 with James Dean, and a seven-part Netflix series with Florence Pugh followed in 2026.
The Winter of Our Discontent
His last novel and his only one set entirely on the East Coast. Ethan Allen Hawley, from an old Long Island family, works as a clerk in the grocery his family once owned, and starts to scheme his way back to money, down to rehearsing a bank robbery. The title comes from the opening line of Shakespeare’s Richard III. The Swedish Academy pointed to it the following year as proof that he still wrote at the level of The Grapes of Wrath.
Travels with Charley
In 1960 Steinbeck drove about 10,000 miles around the United States in a camper truck he called Rocinante, with his wife’s poodle, Charley. The book reached number one on the New York Times non-fiction list in October 1962, the month he won the Nobel Prize. Later research showed his wife Elaine travelled with him for much of the trip and that some scenes were reshaped or invented.
In What Order to Read John Steinbeck
Steinbeck wrote no series, so every book stands on its own. The one real sequel is Sweet Thursday (1954), which returns to Doc and the street of Cannery Row. The stories of The Red Pony also appear in The Long Valley, so you do not need both.
Publication order does show how he changed. The books of the early 1930s are local and experimental; from In Dubious Battle (1936) to The Grapes of Wrath (1939) he writes about labour and the Depression; after the war he moves between fables like The Pearl, comedy and the long family novel of East of Eden, and ends with Travels with Charley, a book about a country he felt he no longer knew.
A reading path
1. Of Mice and Men (1937)
2. The Pearl (1947)
3. The Grapes of Wrath (1939)
4. Cannery Row (1945)
5. East of Eden (1952)
Everything Else John Steinbeck Published
Beyond the 14 key books: 18 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Novels and novellas
6
6 books · 1937–1976
- 1937The Red Ponythree linked stories about the boy Jody Tiflin on a Salinas Valley ranch
- 1947The Wayward Buspassengers stranded on a California back road
- 1950Burning Brighta short novel written to be staged as a play
- 1954Sweet Thursdaythe sequel to Cannery Row
- 1957The Short Reign of Pippin IVa satire about an accidental king of France
- 1976The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knightshis unfinished retelling of Malory, published after his death
Non-fiction
8
8 books · 1938–1966
- 1938Their Blood Is Stronga pamphlet reprinting his 1936 newspaper articles on migrant workers
- 1941The Forgotten Villagethe book of his documentary film about a Mexican village
- 1941Sea of Cortezthe 1940 collecting trip in the Gulf of California
- 1942Bombs Awaythe training of an American bomber crew
- 1948A Russian Journalhis 1947 trip to the Soviet Union, with photographs by Robert Capa
- 1951The Log from the Sea of Cortezthe narrative part of Sea of Cortez, with a memoir of Ed Ricketts
- 1958Once There Was a Warhis 1943 war dispatches for the New York Herald Tribune
- 1966America and Americansessays on the national character, the last book of his lifetime
Journals and letters, published after his death
4
4 books · 1969–2012
- 1969Journal of a Novelthe letters he wrote while writing East of Eden
- 1975Steinbeck: A Life in Lettersedited by Elaine Steinbeck and Robert Wallsten
- 1989Working Dayshis journal while writing The Grapes of Wrath
- 2012Steinbeck in Vietnamhis Vietnam War dispatches for Newsday
The years · 1902–1968
Quick facts about John Steinbeck
- Known for
- Novels about the poor and the displaced of California, above all the Dust Bowl migrants of The Grapes of Wrath, written in plain language and with open sympathy for people on the margins.
- 1902
- Born in Salinas, California
- 1935
- Tortilla Flat, his first success
- 1952
- East of Eden
- 1968
- Dies in New York City
- Born
- 27 February 1902, Salinas, California
- Education
- Stanford University, on and off from 1919 to 1925; left without a degree
- Married
- Carol Henning (1930–1943); Gwyn Conger (1943–1948); Elaine Anderson Scott (1950 until his death)
- Worked
- War correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune (1943); reported from Vietnam for Newsday (1967)
- Honours
- Pulitzer Prize (1940); Nobel Prize in Literature (1962); Presidential Medal of Freedom (1964)
- Died
- 20 December 1968, New York City, of heart disease
The red mark is 1939: The Grapes of Wrath, the novel that won him the Pulitzer Prize.
How John Steinbeck Writes: Reporting, Biology and Plain Speech
Steinbeck’s best-known fiction starts as reporting. In October 1936 he wrote seven articles for the San Francisco News on the migrant camps, later reprinted as Their Blood Is Strong, and he toured the camps with Tom Collins, who managed a federal camp at Weedpatch. The Grapes of Wrath keeps that double view: chapters that follow the Joads alternate with short chapters about the migration as a whole — the used-car lots, the road, the banks and the land.
His closest influence was the marine biologist Ed Ricketts, whose laboratory on Cannery Row he helped rebuild after a fire in 1936. Ricketts argued for “non-teleological” thinking, looking at things as they are rather than at what they are for, and Steinbeck often watches his characters the way a biologist watches a tide pool, as a group shaped by its surroundings. Ricketts is behind Doc in Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday, and the two men wrote Sea of Cortez together after a collecting trip in 1940.
He also wrote for the stage. Of Mice and Men was planned as a play in novel form, mostly dialogue with short scene-setting passages, and was on Broadway nine months after publication; The Moon Is Down and Burning Bright followed the same pattern. The language stays plain, the settings local, and the sympathy openly with the poor. For writers who work the same ground, see Authors like John Steinbeck.
Listen
John Steinbeck's Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech, 1962
Recording of John Steinbeck’s Nobel Prize in Literature acceptance speech, delivered in Stockholm on 11 December 1962, about 24 minutes. From the archive of the Salinas Public Library, via California Revealed.
Frequently asked questions about John Steinbeck’s books
How many books did John Steinbeck write?
About thirty-three, depending on how you count film scripts and the journals and letters published after his death, including sixteen novels and novellas published in his lifetime. Fourteen are the key books on this page, from Cup of Gold (1929) to Travels with Charley (1962); eighteen more are listed under Everything Else John Steinbeck Published.
What are John Steinbeck’s books in order?
Cup of Gold (1929), The Pastures of Heaven (1932), To a God Unknown (1933), Tortilla Flat (1935), In Dubious Battle (1936), Of Mice and Men (1937), The Long Valley (1938), The Grapes of Wrath (1939), The Moon Is Down (1942), Cannery Row (1945), The Pearl (1947), East of Eden (1952), The Winter of Our Discontent (1961) and Travels with Charley (1962). His other books are listed above in order within each group.
Where should I start with John Steinbeck?
With Of Mice and Men (1937), a short novella about two ranch workers that shows his plain style in a single sitting. Then read The Grapes of Wrath (1939) or, if you want something lighter, Cannery Row (1945).
What is John Steinbeck’s most famous book?
The Grapes of Wrath (1939), his novel about the Joad family’s flight from the Dust Bowl to California. It was the best-selling book of 1939 and won the 1940 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Of Mice and Men (1937) and East of Eden (1952) are almost as widely read.
Who is John Steinbeck?
An American novelist and short-story writer, born in Salinas, California, in 1902 and best known for The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men and East of Eden. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1940 and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962.
When and where was John Steinbeck born?
On 27 February 1902, in Salinas, California.
When and how did John Steinbeck die?
On 20 December 1968 in New York City, of heart disease, at the age of 66. His ashes were buried in the Hamilton family plot in Salinas in March 1969.
What awards and prizes did John Steinbeck win?
The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (1940) for The Grapes of Wrath, which also won the National Book Award; the Nobel Prize in Literature (1962), awarded “for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social perception”; and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1964). The Nobel was criticised at the time: a New York Times editorial questioned it, and Swedish Academy records opened in 2012 show he was a compromise choice from a shortlist that also included Robert Graves, Lawrence Durrell, Jean Anouilh and Karen Blixen. Asked whether he deserved it, Steinbeck said, “Frankly, no.”
What was John Steinbeck’s first novel?
Cup of Gold (1929), a novel about the privateer Henry Morgan and his attack on Panama City. The first edition sold 1,537 copies.
What was John Steinbeck’s connection to the Salinas Valley?
He was born and raised in Salinas, and the valley is the setting of The Pastures of Heaven, much of The Long Valley, The Red Pony, Of Mice and Men (set near Soledad) and East of Eden, which opens with a description of the valley. The Grapes of Wrath is set elsewhere: in Oklahoma, on Route 66 and in California’s other farm valleys.
Why was The Grapes of Wrath banned?
On 21 August 1939 the Kern County Board of Supervisors in California voted 4–1 to remove it from the county’s schools and libraries, at the request of the growers’ group the Associated Farmers, who said it portrayed local people as “inhumane vigilantes” and objected to its language. The ban lasted until January 1941. Copies were also publicly burned, including twice in Salinas. Of Mice and Men has been challenged even more often: the American Library Association ranked it fifth among the most challenged books of 2000–2009.
Which John Steinbeck books have been made into films?
Many. John Ford’s The Grapes of Wrath (1940), with Henry Fonda, won Oscars for Ford and for Jane Darwell; Of Mice and Men was filmed in 1939 and in 1992, with Gary Sinise and John Malkovich; and Elia Kazan’s East of Eden (1955) starred James Dean. Tortilla Flat (1942), The Moon Is Down (1943) and The Pearl (1947) were filmed too, and a seven-part Netflix series of East of Eden, written by Kazan’s granddaughter Zoe Kazan with Florence Pugh as Cathy Ames, followed in 2026. Steinbeck himself was nominated for Oscars for the stories of Lifeboat and A Medal for Benny and the screenplay of Viva Zapata!.
Is Travels with Charley a true story?
Partly. The 1960 trip was real, but the journalist Bill Steigerwald, who retraced the route around its fiftieth anniversary, found that Steinbeck’s wife Elaine was with him for much of it, that he often stayed in hotels rather than his camper, and that some conversations probably never happened. The 2012 anniversary edition carries an introduction by Jay Parini warning readers not to take it too literally.
How many times was John Steinbeck married?
Three times: to Carol Henning from 1930 to 1943, to Gwyn Conger from 1943 to 1948, and to Elaine Anderson Scott from 1950 until his death in 1968. His two sons, Thom and John IV, were from his second marriage.
Did John Steinbeck graduate from Stanford?
No. He studied English literature at Stanford on and off from 1919 and left without a degree in 1925.
Was John Steinbeck a communist?
No. He never joined the Communist Party, although he joined the left-wing League of American Writers in 1935 and his books about strikes and migrant workers led critics to call him a radical. In 1942 he complained to the Attorney General that he was being harassed by “Edgar’s boys”, meaning J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI. Later in life he supported the Vietnam War and reported from it for Newsday in 1967.
What is The Pearl about?
Kino, a poor pearl diver in La Paz, Mexico, finds an enormous pearl that he hopes will change his family’s life. Instead it brings greed, violence and the death of the child, and in the end Kino throws the pearl back into the sea. The 1947 novella grew out of a folk tale Steinbeck heard in La Paz in 1940.
Why did John Steinbeck write Of Mice and Men?
He drew on his own work as a young man alongside migrant labourers on the Spreckels sugar-beet farms in the Salinas Valley, where he saw the harder side of itinerant life. He also designed the 1937 novella so that it could be staged almost unchanged, and it opened on Broadway the same year.
Footnotes
- John Steinbeck — Wikipedia
- Chronology — Martha Heasley Cox Center for Steinbeck Studies, San José State University
- Awards Won by Steinbeck — San José State University
- John Steinbeck: Banquet speech — NobelPrize.org
- Banning The Grapes of Wrath in 1939 California — JSTOR Daily
- Travels with Charley — Wikipedia
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“I hold that a writer who does not passionately believe in the perfectibility of man, has no dedication nor any membership in literature.”
— John Steinbeck, Nobel Prize banquet speech, Stockholm (10 December 1962)
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