Published in the US in 1937. This is a small, intense drama That places the bitter story of its two central characters against a background of social denunciation. Steinbeck's novel Confronts in a symbolic manner the problem of the peasant's migration to the West, a land of unfulfilled promises in the years Following the Depression: it is the tragic and violent story of two itinerant farm-workers finding work in a ranch in California - - Lennie and George, the first with the strength of two, but with the mind of a child, Whose whole world centers around the second, George, who steers him through life and protects him. They dream of a glorious, peaceful future in Which They Will settle together in a small cottage and live a life of happy self-sufficiency. For A While They just manage to stay employed and happy - but then things go horribly wrong. The 1962 Nobel prize author well Describes the social exploitation, the human injustice and suffering - all themes he will later expand upon in his impressive "The Grapes of Wrath" - Espressing them through a lyrical vein of commotion within a bare novel structure, Which indeed makes him one of the great American writers. John Schlesinger in his 1969 movie "Midnight Cowboy" with Hoffman and Voight, returned to Steinbeck's theme, creating a sad tale of friendship between a couple of losers lost in the big city, and with at ending no studio would approve today.