John Ernst Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California on February 27, 1902.He was the third of four children and the only son of John Ernst II and Olive Hamilton Steinbeck. He spent his childhood and adolescence in the Salinas Valley, later called "the salad bowl of the nation." This area would become the setting of many of Steinbeck's stories, and the most famous area associated with him. Steinbeck's father was a county treasurer and his mother …showed first 75 words of 442 total…

…showed last 75 words of 442 total…about his impressions during a three-month tour in a truck that led him through forty American states in 1962. He died in New York City on December 20, 1968 of arteriosclerosis. Steinbeck has been remembered in many ways by his fans since his death. Several books have been published about him, and a U.S. commemorative stamp was issued on what would have been his seventy-seventh birthday. The works of John Steinbeck will be remembered and cherished forever.