Eighty years ago this month, John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men was first published. Based on Steinbeck’s own experiences as a bindlestiff – an impoverished migratory worker – in California during the 1920s, Of Mice and Men tells the story of George Milton and Lennie Small, best friends and migrant farm workers who dream of one day owning a ranch together, but whose circumstances make it impossible. One of the most censored books of the twentieth century due to profanity, racist slurs, and violence, Of Mice and Mend addresses themes such as economic injustice, dreams, power,  loneliness, and oppression. Most folks who attend secondary school in the United States will be assigned the novel. That is, unless they live in a backward school district with a reactionary school board. If you find a copy that still has Ross MacDonald’s iconic cover art showing George and Lennie, hold onto it.