1. F. Scott Fitzgerald and John Steinbeck

2. Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896, in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Fitzgerald's mother, Mary McQuillan, was from a family that had made a small fortune in Minnesota as wholesale grocers.
His father, Edward Fitzgerald, had opened a wicker furniture business in St. Paul, and, when it failed, he took a job as a salesman. However, Edward Fitzgerald lost his job with in 1908, when F. Scott Fitzgerald was 12, and the family moved back to St. Paul to live off of his mother's inheritance.

3. Fitzgerald Dropped out of Princeton in 1917 and joined the Army.
Fell in love with Zelda, an Alabama debutante, who would not marry him until he made his fortune.
They married after his first novel made him famous.
He later descended into drinking and his wife had a mental breakdown. Following the unsuccessful Tender is the Night, Fitzgerald moved to Hollywood and became a scriptwriter. He died of a heart attack in 1940, at age 44, his final novel only half completed.

4. Fitzgerald and Zelda

5. Steinbeck Born on February 27, 1902
Born and raised in Salinas, California
Worked summers as a hired hand on a ranch
Attended Stanford University
Left in 1925 to pursue a career in writing in New York.
Unsuccessful at this and returned to California.

6. Steinbeck
Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in for “his realistic as well as imaginative writings, distinguished by a sympathetic humor and keen social perception.”
Died on December 20, 1968 in New York City.
His ashes were returned to Salinas, California.

7. Of Mice and Men – Historical Influences
After World War I, many poor rural farmers from Great Plains States such as Oklahoma and Texas moved to California to find work in the fields.
A recession following WWI led to a drop in the price of crops, so farmers had to produce more crops to earn the same amount of money.

8. Of Mice and Men – Historical Influences
As a result of the need to produce more, many farmers bought more land, and subsequently invested in machinery to work that land.
To make matters worse, the stock market crashed in 1929.
Many farmers were unable to pay their debts and lost their property, forcing them to find other ways to support their families.

9. Of Mice and Men – Historical Influences
Dust Bowl in the Plains States. The land was dry and unproductive. Farming was no longer a dependable way to support a family.
Many families from these states packed up and moved to California.
Known as Okies.
Okies were often met with scorn from the California natives, which made their dislocation even more unpleasant.

10. Of Mice and Men – Historical Influences
Of Mice and Men focuses on the plight of migrant workers such as those coming to California in the 1920s and 1930s.