We follow the displaced Joad family as they make the trek west in search of work and a new home during the Great Depression. Published in 1939, the book feels eerily familiar today - roiling social divisions, vast gaps in wealth/opportunity between rich and poor, the anger hurled at the migrants. Heartbreaking, yes. But the Joads are rendered with such dignity and tenderness that you want to see them through all the hardships you know are coming.