Books by Frank Norris and Kevin Starr

The Octopus(Reprint)$$$$
A Story of California (Penguin Classic)

Paperback, 688 Pages, Published 1986 by Penguin Classics
ISBN-13: 978-0-14-039040-7, ISBN: 0-14-039040-5

"This is a turn-of-the-century epic of California wheat farmers struggling against the rapacity of the Pacific and Southwestern Railroad, which will stop at nothing to extend its domination. The company controls the local paper, the land, the legislature and, when the farmers organize to protect themselves, even manages to control their representative on the state rate-fixing commission. An unremitting tale of greed and betrayal, origina ..."

McTeague(Reprint)$$$$
A Story of San Francisco (Twentieth Century Classics)

Paperback, 496 Pages, Published 1994 by Penguin Classics
ISBN-13: 978-0-14-018769-4, ISBN: 0-14-018769-3

"McTeague created a literary sensation when it first appeared in 1899. Critics hailed Frank Norris as the "American Zola" for his gritty tale of greed and violence set in turn-of-the-century San Francisco. Yet the novel's ultrarealistic portrayal of the rise and fall of a simpleminded dentist and his grasping wife shocked many readers with its candid depiction of sordid behavior right at the edge of insanity. It remains a searing indictm ..."