Paris Bound (1927) is one of Barry's most successful comedy of manners. It concerns the fashionable and rich Jim and Mary Hutton. On their wedding day, the couple decides that they will be tolerant of extramarital affairs. Their bohemian ideals come under pressure when Mary learns that Jim has visited an old sweetheart when traveling abroad.

Barry's Holiday (1928) is an enjoyable comedy that depicts the relationship between Julia Seton, a millionaire's daughter, and Johnny Case, a hardworking young man. The Seton family cannot tolerate Case's determination to enjoy life when young and try to force him to join the family firm.

John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath (1939) displays Steinbeck's characteristic social realism and his determination to depict the lives of rural people with sympathy and understanding. He won the Pulitzer Prize for his epic novel about the struggles of an emigrant...