BBC Documentaries

John Steinbeck - Voice of America (2011x200)

Air date: Nov 22, 2011

This one hour documentary, produced by Mentorn Media for BBC Four, follows Melvyn Bragg as he travels from Oklahoma to California to examine the enduring legacy of the Nobel Prize-winning author, John Steinbeck. In novels such as The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, and Cannery Row, Steinbeck gave voices to ordinary people who were battling poverty, drought and homelessness. Melvyn Bragg assesses why the work of one his favourite authors remains relevant in today's America, taking a fresh approach to John Steinbeck, his work and in particular Pulitzer Prize-winning The Grapes of Wrath, one of the epic American novels of the 20th century. Bragg visits the site of the Thirties dust bowl in Oklahoma; the California orchards where bloody political battles were fought between migrant labourers and growers; and the Monterey coastline where Steinbeck developed his ideas on ecology, and makes a case for Steinbeck as one of the great voices of American literature.