John+Steinbeck+by+Nick+Sprouse

He wrote a total of twenty-seven books, including sixteen novels, six non-fiction books, and five collections of short stories. Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962.
 * John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr.[[image:http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/americanstudies/lavender/graphics/steinbeck.jpg width="264" height="296"]]**
 * Born on February 27th, 1902
 * Died on December 20th, 1968

His most famous writings: [|Source 1]
 * //The Grapes of Wrath// (1939)
 * //East of Eden// (1952)
 * //Of Mice and Men// (1937)

John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California, and came from a family of moderate means. He began to work his way through college at Stanford University but he never graduated. In 1952, Steinbeck made his way to New York where he tried his odds at being a free-lance writer. He failed at that and ended up returning to California. [|Source 2]

Early life: Steinbeck was of German-Irish ancestry. His father, John Ernst Steinbeck, was a county treasurer and his mother, Olivia Hamilton, was a teacher. He was a major in marine biology while in college. He had many odd jobs including hod carrier, apprentice painter, caretaker, surveyor, and fruit picker. He won the Pulitzer Prize for the novel //The Grapes of Wrath//. During World War Two, Steinbeck became a war correspondent. Steinbeck was controversial for his support of underprivileged and did not receive much claim for his later novels. [|Source 3]

After returning from California, Steinbeck began writing serious fiction. A collection of short stories, //The Pastures of Heaven// (1932), contained vivid descriptions of rural (farm) life among the "unfinished children of nature" in his native California valley. His second novel, //To a God Unknown// (1933), was his strongest statement about man's relationship to the land. With //Tortilla Flat// (1935), Steinbeck then received critical and popular success; there are many critics who consider it his most artistically satisfying work. [|Source 4]