Awake and Sing!, first produced in 1935, was Odets's first play. It is a more explicitly political play than Rocket to the Moon and is often considered to be Odets's best.

Odets's Waiting for Lefty is the playwright's most widely known play. Like Awake and Sing!, the play helped cement Odets's reputation as a political dramatist.

Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, produced in 1949, examines a number of similar themes to Rocket to the Moon.

The Fervent Years: The Story of the Group Theatre and the Thirties is Group Theatre founder Harold Clurman's memoir about his experiences in theatre during the 1930s.

Robert S. McElvaine's The Great Depression: America, 1929—1941 provides a historical overview of the social and economic conditions faced by many Americans during Odets's most productive years.

John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath is one of the most...