Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck291 Pages
This was the last novel of John Steinbeck and the one that won him a Nobel Prize for Literature. Ethan Allen Hawley is a store clerk with a wife and two children. His family was once prominent and rich but Ethan's father lost the family fortune. Despite this Ethan is happy but his wife and children want more, they want the material wealth that everyone else is enjoying and this pressures Ethan to concoct a plan to put aside the morals he follows to gain wealth and power.
The book is moral of American society losing its way in the 50's and 60's as its populace becomes materialistic. The constant refrain throughout the book is others urging Ethan to not be so honest, to get ahead by taking advantage of others, after all everyone is doing it. While some of the language and idioms used in the book are dated, it still is an accurate portrayal of the honorable everyman striving to succeed in a corrupt society and still hold on to basic decentness.
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