In Dubious Battle Resources

Check out our awesome pages on John Steinbeck.

Yep, Steinbeck won the big one.

The National Steinbeck Center in Salinas, California (Steinbeck's birthplace) boasts a museum with exhibits dedicated to art, literature, agriculture, and history. The website provides biographical information and synopses of Steinbeck's major works.

In Dubious Battle's on the silver screen, directed by James Franco (who also plays Mac), with Nat Wolff as Jim, Robert Duvall as Bolter, Ed Harris as Joy, and Selena Gomez as Lisa.

You know you're curious about the Wobblies.

Writers at The Paris Review really wanted to interview Steinbeck, who wasn't too keen on the idea—until the end of his life. By that time, Steinbeck was too sick to participate in an interview, so the editors of the literary magazine pieced together Steinbeck's thoughts on writing from his diaries and other works.

Here are six writing tips straight from Pulitzer and Nobel Prize-winner John Steinbeck. They seem completely reasonable, even though Steinbeck doesn't really think that writing advice amounts to anything.

A contract signed by Steinbeck that gives the rights to The Grapes of Wrath to 20th Century Fox goes for a tidy sum at auction.

The BBC takes us on a road trip across Steinbeck country in this documentary, which focuses primarily on the Grapes of Wrath. But don't lose heart: In Dubious Battle has a cameo, and there's a lot of info here that will help you envision the landscape and hardships that shaped Steinbeck's writing.

BBC Radio presents a short biography on John Steinbeck, including interviews with those who knew him well.

Steinbeck speaks briefly about the anger that motivated him to write about the plight of poor workers during the Depression.

British trade unionist Sir Brendan Barber chooses John Steinbeck as his "Great Life" and chats about his encounters with Steinbeck's work in his life and career. The interview begins at the 1:15 marker.

Steinbeck answers questions from eager reporters right after he's won the Nobel Prize.

Here's a PBS slideshow of images of the Salinas Valley, the geographical model for Steinbeck's Torgas Valley. You'll find pictures of the fields and workers that Steinbeck would have seen himself alongside images of migrant workers in the Valley today.

This collection of photos taken by Dorothea Lange of migrant workers in Imperial Valley, California will give you sense of the living conditions of the workers we see in In Dubious Battle.