"Ugly, coarse, and brutal": James M. Buchanan on The Grapes of Wrath and the Political Economy of Farm Labor Migration

Abstract:In 1940 James M. Buchanan, a future Nobel laureate in economics, wrote a book review of The Grapes of Wrath for his college newspaper in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Buchanan's review of the work of his fellow future laureate, John Steinbeck, provides a unique case study of how Steinbeck influenced young readers. This article describes Buchanan's review The Grapes of Wrath and contrasts the experiences of the Joads with Buchanan's own experience farming in central Tennessee. It then moves to Buchanan's analysis of the political economy of farm labor migration during his doctoral studies at the University of Chicago, which both echoes and contrasts with Steinbeck's work. While Steinbeck focused on the treatment of migrant farm workers who had already made their journey to California, Buchanan analyzed the barriers that prevented successful migration for poor farmers in the South.