John Steinbeck · 1939 · road

John Steinbeck's 1939 novel. Driven off their dust-choked Oklahoma farm, the Joad family loads a battered truck and follows Route 66 west - Sallisaw to Oklahoma City, Amarillo, Albuquerque, across the desert to Needles and over the mountains to California's Central Valley - chasing handbills promising work, and finding hunger, exploitation and a hard, stubborn dignity instead.

1. 1
   Sallisaw

   Dust and foreclosure drive the Joads from their Oklahoma farm.

2. 2
   Oklahoma City

   They load the truck and join Route 66 with thousands of others.

3. 3
   Amarillo

   Across the Panhandle the old and frail begin to fall away.

4. 4
   Albuquerque

   Breakdowns and dwindling cash test the family's resolve.

5. 5
   Flagstaff

   Through the high desert the promise of California keeps them moving.

6. 6
   Needles

   At the Colorado River they glimpse the green land beyond.

7. 7
   Bakersfield

   In the California valley they find not plenty but hunger and scorn.