What are your thoughts of this author and his books?

Aside from being a racist, I have nothing against him~

What makes you think he was a racist?

I have read many of his books and think he is rightly acclaimed as a great writer.

I think your reasoning for saying that he is a racist is because he uses historically accurate verbiage relating to race. Too often in our society people are quick to be offended by the truth.

Nah it was from a segment in a Ken Burns documentary on Jack Johnson. Steinbeck was a reporter at ringside.

So what was the evidence for racism in the character of John Steinbeck?

From Wikipedia:

"During the war, he continued to work in film, writing Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat (1944), and the film A Medal for Benny (1945), about paisanos from Tortilla Flat going to war. John Steinbeck later requested that his name be removed from the credits of Lifeboat, because he believed the final version of the film had racist undertones."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_steinbeck

This would imply that John Steinbeck was sensitive to the undesirable aspects of racism, something that is not the usual case with racists.