I used to read L'amour in 6th grade, that is until I realized that each one was a formulated repeat of the one before. Unfortunately his last & best book, "Last of the Breed" was a dated cold war turd that "could've been" had it not been so indicative of that late 80's coldwar propaganda idiocy--a "Red Dawn" for wilderness fans if you will.
Steinbeck, in my honest opinion is one of the great American Socialist Writers and he runs right up there with Upton Sinclair, but just doesn't quite make the top five.