Novels 1942-1952 (Cannery Row / East of Eden / Moon is Down / Pearl)

the long version

John Steinbeck has earned a place as one of America's most enduringly popular writers. Here, in the third volume of The Library of America's authoritative edition of his writings, are four novels that give ample evidence of his remarkable range and unique accessibility. The Moon is Down, inspired by refugees from Nazi-occupied Europe and widely circulated among resistance fighters during the war, vividly dramatizes the transformation of ordinary life under totalitarianism. Cannery Row's comic and bawdy evocation of the sardine-canning district of Montery has made it one of Steinbeck's best-loved books. The Pearl--is a haunting parables one that distills Steinbeck's long involvement with the people and culture of Mexico. [East of Eden](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL23166W/East_of_Eden), perhaps Steinbeck's most ambitious work, is an epic exploration of his most anguished concerns, drawing on the Bible and a rich archive of local and family history spanning many generations.