In a timely piece of online journalism, New York Times film critic A.O. Scott reviews John Ford’s film “The Grapes of Wrath.” The film, adapted from John Steinbeck’s novel about the Great Depression, Scott says, “mede me think that’s it time for Hollywood to stand up again for the downtrodden and the dispossessed.”

The film, released in 1940, was nominated for seven Academy Awards, and it earned Mr. Ford his second of four directing Oscars.  Mr. Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962, and the committee cited this novel as one of the main reasons for awarding him the prize.

The book is certainly revelant in todays economic times.  The term depression commonly used by economic prognosticators and forecasters who frequent the cable news programs.   It is said that “The Grapes of Wrath” had a profound impact on President Roosevelt.  With his reading list growing, I wonder if it should be at the top of President-elect Obama’s stack.