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May 9, 2009

In Tough Times, the Tale of One of Literature's Toughest Mothers Endures

Joseph H. Cooper finds lessons for these tough times in the Joad family saga from John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath."

Joseph H. Cooper

Joseph was editorial counsel at The New Yorker from 1976 to 1996, and now resides in Culver City. He is compiling his prison-related articles for publication as "Corrections - Essays from Inside: The In-Prison Education of Inmate-Students and Their Language-Arts Professor."

FORUM COLUMN

By Joseph H. Cooper

Seventy years ago, John Steinbeck paid tribute to mothers everywhere by publishing "The Grapes of Wrath" - and by introducing readers to Ma Joad.

That 1939 novel is rightly regarded as vividly and poignantly capturing the despair of families dislocated by the Dust Bowl winds and economic hard times of the Great Depression. And the novel should rightly resonate with readers today - especially those whose career...

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