Which 1939 John Steinbeck novel helped make Route 66 a symbol of Dust Bowl migration?

The Grapes of Wrath is the 1939 John Steinbeck novel that helped make Route 66 a symbol of Dust Bowl migration.

The novel follows the Joad family after economic pressure and environmental disaster force them from Oklahoma toward California. Their journey uses Route 66 as a shared path for thousands of migrants seeking work and a more secure future. Steinbeck presents the road as both a physical route and a social corridor filled with camps, service businesses, and travelers.

The novel’s success gave Route 66 an importance beyond transportation. Its description of the highway helped establish the “Mother Road” image that later shaped museums, preservation campaigns, and popular culture.

Of Mice and Men and East of Eden are also Steinbeck novels, but they do not provide the Route 66 migration narrative. The Grapes of Wrath won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1940.