John Steinbeck: Social Critic and Ecologist

This Summer Institute for 5-12 Humanities and Science teachers will be held at Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove, CA. The three-week Institute will consider the continuing relevance of Steinbeck’s sense of place, his great labor trilogy, his ecological and scientific perspectives (shared with his close friend, marine biologist Edward F. Ricketts), his treatment of race and ethnicity, and his probing commentaries on Cold War America. This holistic approach to Steinbeck’s work will help bridge divides between humanities and sciences, between literary analysis and historical contexts, between historical and contemporary perspectives, and between his fiction and nonfiction.