The Winter of Our Discontent

John Steinbeck · 1902–1968 · United States

Why it matters

A New England grocery clerk descended from old money lets ambition talk him into betrayal, fraud, and a slow moral collapse. Steinbeck's last novel, cited by the Nobel committee, trades Dust Bowl grandeur for suburban American corruption.

At a glance

Interior moral reasoning and irony carry a plot that is otherwise straightforward.