In Dubious Battle
Categories: Literature & Fiction
John Steinbeck's 1936 novel follows Jim Nolan, a young man who joins the Communist Party and is sent with the experienced organizer Mac to stir up a strike among migrant apple pickers in California's fictional Torgas Valley. As growers cut wages and the strike turns violent, Steinbeck examines both the ruthless landowners and the organizers who use the workers' suffering for their cause, and asks how individuals become part of a mob.