“Like many of the other volumes in this useful series, this book explores a single work, one of John Steinbeck’s best-known fictional works, usually described as a novella. Twelve scholars present 16 studies of diverse aspects of this text: racism, feminism, international reception of the work (in Slovenia!), morality, and the work as novel, play and film, among others. Easily read and full of clear, insightful analysis, the essays will enlighten readers about the creation of a male community within the narrative, the function of the bunkhouse in the evolution of the story, as well as more general analyses of the world of Steinbeck. Useful chronologies of Steinbeck’s life and the publication of his works add to the value of this volume.