When the Grapes of Wrath, first appeared in 1939, it electrifield an American still recovering from the Great Depression. Driven from their Oklahoma farm by the encroachment of large agricultural interests, the Joad family sets out, like generatiions before them, to the promises land of California. as they travel across the country, joined by countless other unwilling migrants, the Joads confront the naked realities of an america divided into haves and have nots.