timeless - The Grapes of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

TheGrapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck is one of the most powerful books i've read. It affected me on many levels, some of which i'll mention in this review. Despite having heard about this story since high school, loving the song  "The Ghost of Tom Joad" by Bruce Springsteen, and having seen the HenryFonda movie several times, this is my first reading of this novel. It has certainly earned its place in the top novels of American Literature, and, for reasons both good and bad, is a timeless story that should be read by every generation as time goes on.

The Grapes of Wrath is the elegantly told story of the Joad family, poor sharecroppers, forced from their farm in Oklahoma during the GreatDepression and Dust Bowl era, and their subsequent migration to the "promised land" of California.

Much of their journey and experiences are told in their own words, in the vernacular of the "Okies", as they were derogatorily referred to. Interspersed through the story is Steinbeck's commentary on the reasons for the sharecroppers dire situation and some of the systemic disfunction that left hard working people fighting for their very survival in a nation of wealth, abundance, and power. This is a story of desperation and hope, failure and hopelessness in the face of a financial, political, and social system in the U.S., that dehumanizes and destroys the bodies and spirits of good hard working people.

One of the levels on which this story moved me was related to my own family's history. My father and his siblings grew up during this same time period, across the state line, in the Ozarks of Missouri. Unlike the fertile river bottom farm land of the Missouri River and Mississippi River valleys in northern and eastern Missouri, the Ozark mountains are a rocky, unfriendly place to scratch out a living by farming. This was especially true in during the Great Depression. I think that one of the few ironic advantages the poor farmers of the Ozarks had over the sharecroppers of Oklahoma during the Depression was that the Ozark land was so poor that no large farming companies or banks wanted it, and therefore the farmers were not forced off. This at least saved the dirt poor farmers like my grandpa from having their land taken from them and turned into large commercial farms. In spite of being able to keep their land, my father and most of my uncles and aunts moved from the Ozarks to California during this period of history (during the 1930's). Altho the specific reasons were different, i believe the reasons were similar (economic collapse of small farming economy) and i felt like i was reading some of my own family history in this novel.

Unfortunately, the timelessness of this story is in part due to the fact that the same humiliation and dehumanization of marginalized groups in the U.S. is still going on today, and is caused by the same systemic disfunction that existed in the Depression years. Corporate and personal greed and the valuation of profits over people in the U.S. society is stronger than ever today. The timeless story of The Grapes of Wrath needs to be told today more than ever. As i think back in the history of my own family, my parents and my siblings, and the struggles they faced during the 1960's and 70's to put food on our table and clothes in our closets, i see that the hardship and struggle was in a large part due to the same systemic disfunction that existed in the Depression years. Our national priorities are political and economic power rather than the health and welfare of our citizens and immigrants. Our society is only as strong as our weakest member, not the strongest. We would be wise to learn from our mistakes, and help create a society that values all people, not just those living in privilege.

Six stars for this one!
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refired forever

"And here's a story you can hardly believe, but it's true, and it's funny and it's beautiful. There was a family of twelve and they were forced off the land. They had no car. They built a trailer out of junk and loaded it with their possessions. They pulled it to the side of 66 and waited. And pretty soon a sedan picked them up. Five of them rode in the sedan and seven in the trailer, and a dog on the trailer. They got to California in two jumps. The man who pulled them fed them. And that's true. But how can such courage be, and such faith in their own species? Very few things would teach such faith.

 The people in flight from the terror behind - strange things happen to them, some bitterly cruel and some so beautiful that the faith is refired forever."

John Steinbeck - The Grapes of Wrath - p. 122

It's the monster.

"We're sorry. It's not us. It's the monster. The bank isn't like a man."

"Yes, but the bank is only made of men."

"No, you're wrong there - quite wrong there. The bank is something else than men. It happens that every man in a bank hates what the bank does, and yet the bank does it. The bank is something more than men, I tell you. It's the monster. Men made it, but they can't control it."

John Steinbeck - The Grapes of Wrath - p.33

Gather at the River

Gather at the River: Notes from the Post-Millennial South by Hal Crowther
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is another fantastic collection of essays from Hal Crowther. Great insights, wisdom, knowledge, and views expressed in excellent writing. Mr. Crowther is becoming one of my favorite authors :)

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Wildflower

Wildflower: An Extraordinary Life and Untimely Death in Africa by Mark Seal
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This is an interesting story about Joan Root and the contributions she made, with her husband Alan Root, and on her own to the cause of conservation and wildlife preservation, primarily in Africa and Kenya, but also around the world. It also chronicles her contribution to pioneering work in documentation of nature and wildlife in both motion picture and photography. Combining their excellence and passion for both film making and wildlife, they were able to be among the first to document nature as unseen by western peoples before, and to provide evidence for the tragic destruction of both wildlife and environment in Africa by business and government policy. Insight is given into the complicated, messy, and violent sociology and politics related to the environment and wildlife in Kenya, specifically around Lake Naivasha. It should serve as a warning for us, that no matter how wild and unspoiled a place may be, humankind can completely destroy it, without conscience. We have witnessed that all too often in the U.S. and North America. Joan Root paid dearly for being the conscience of nature in Kenya and Lake Naivasha.

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a hope in hell

Alan Root comments at the 1967 premier of The Enchanted Isles for the British series Survival

Q: "Are you trying to save wildlife or merely film it?"

 A: "My job is to show what is there, and not to spoil it by having a presenter for the last five minutes. If we had a film about North America before the white man came... would you want to hear an Indian chief or white man talking, or would you just want to have an hour to see what it was like?" 

"I don't think our environment has a hope in hell. I don't think mankind is smart enough to do anything about it. And Africa is going faster than anything."

from the book: Wildflower: An Extraordinary Life and Untimely Death in Africa by Mark Seal

Dr. Sagan - I miss you

The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Finishing this book leaves me with a profound sense of loss realizing that Dr. Sagan is no longer with us. His voice is needed more than ever today in all areas of our society and lives. He lends such great knowledge and especially wisdom to all the subjects covered in this book. Our world would be a better place if more people had access to this book. I heartily recommend it as required reading. Spend some time learning at the feet of a true master. He was a prophet to our world, and i'm grateful he has left some of his wisdom and knowledge behind to be taken to heart.

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ps. apparently, i've set my goal too low!!!

compassionate skepticism

Timeless wisdom:

And yet, the chief deficiency I see in the skeptical movement is in its polarization: Us vs. Them - the sense that we have a monopoly on the truth; that those other people who believe in all these stupid doctrines are morons; that if you're sensible, you'll listen to us; and if not, you're beyond redemption. This is unconstructive. It does not get the message across. It condemns the skeptics to permanent minority status; whereas, a compassionate approach that from the beginning acknowledges the human roots of pseudoscience and superstition might be much more widely accepted.

If we understand this, then of course we feel the uncertainty and pain of the abductees, or those who dare not leave home without consulting their horoscopes, or those who pin their hopes on crystals from Atlantis. And such compassion for kindred spirits in a common quest also works to make science and the scientific method less off-putting, especially to the young.

 p. 300,  "The Demon-Haunted World", Carl Sagan, (c) 1996