Everyone today should read this book. It is so applicable to today's economy and to people's views toward anyone different than themselves. It shows man's inhumanity to man. The selfishness and greed of the haves contrasts brilliantly with the sharing and caring of the have-nots. You can observe this attitude throughout today's society. In addition, Steinbeck shows that whenever the haves or farmers or anyone of means felt threatened, they called their perceived enemies names. Back then, they used the term "reds" to describe the migrants who were trying to find jobs or trying to organize into unions for better pay. Today, we use the word "socialist" to try to demean others that we don't understand or agree with. I wish the book had ended on a more optimistic note, but I don't believe it did because Steinbeck knew that that would not be a realistic scenario. I had a greater understanding of the time period of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl.