In Dubious Battle. by Steinbeck, John

NY, Covici Friede, 1936, first edition, dust jacket. Hardcover.. Perhaps the best strike novel of the 20th Century, Steinbeck's best friend and philosophical mentor, Ed Ricketts, makes his first of many appearances in a Steinbeck novel, he appears as Doc Burton, Steinbeck would use Ricketts and their shared philosophy in many other novels, this was also Steinbeck's first foray into agricultural politics through his literature which ultimately led to his writing The Grapes of Wrath, the use of another character, a communist, would lead to the untrue allegation that Steinbeck was a communist, that allegation would have negative effects on Steinbeck's life from then to the end of his life in 1968, it is also his first book to explore his literary theory he termed "phalanx" in which a group of animals (or men) act differently than individuals which is something he learned from his study of marine biology and his association with Ricketts, Goldstone & Payne A5b, see Morrow 45. Very good in a good jacket.