The days and the weeks dragged on and the months dragged on. . . . The people of the conquered country settled in a slow silent waiting revenge. The men who had been traitors who had helped the invaders and many of them believed it was for a better state and an ideal way of life found that the control they took was insecure that the people they had known looked at them coldly and never spoke. The outstanding quality of Steinbeck s writing is his feel for the lives thoughts and aspirations of ordinary people. Spectator A man whose work was equal to the vast social themes that drove him. Don DeLillo Like all great artists Steinbeck involved himself in the human condition . . . a writer of immense sensitivity. San Francisco Chronicle