America and Americans and Selected Nonfiction
- ISBN13: 9780142437414
- Condition: New
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Product Description
More than three decades after his death, John Steinbeck remains one of the nation’s most beloved authors. Yet few know of his career as a journalist who covered world events from the Great Depression to Vietnam. Now, this original collection offers a portrait of the artist as citizen, deeply engaged in the world around him. In addition to the complete text of Steinbeck’s last published book, America and Americans, this volume brings together for the first time more than fifty of Steinbeck’s finest essays and jouralistic pieces.Amazon.com Review
America and Americans is a representative, noteworthy collection of John Steinbeck’s journalism, including the title piece, actually his last book. Editors Sus… More >>
There are people who truly reflect their time, or at least a period within their life, and what they believed about it. Steinbeck is one of those people. This book presents some of his best work. It also shows a change in the times and the man. Steinbeck’s time, at least the time he addressed in his best writing was the depression, World War II, and some of the fifties. Unfortunately, he did not quit then, and some of his later work is the writing of a man grown disillusioned and sad.
This book takes us through many years, and many places. Much of it is well known. It’s really great when the topic is a personal friend, or an unsuspecting stranger (the article written after the death of Ed Ricketts, or the article about a French village in the Alps shortly after World War II). It gives a consistent voice to the views of one man and his reaction to the world around him. Much of it has been popular from time to time, and much of it has always been unpopular with a certain group of people. It would be easier to pick out the `good’ from the `bad’ is they were arranged chronologically, but they are not. If you are a fan of good writing, the whole book is `good.’ If you want to admire what Lee (in East of Eden) called `clean thinking’ skip the end. By the time I got to the middle of `America and Americans’ (about the last quarter of the book) it was getting old, and frankly I love Steinbeck’s fiction so much that I could not finish it. By that time, it had become a litany of the complaints of my father, and the music was gone.
Critics argue about how great a writer Steinbeck was. One of their greatest criticisms was that he was too popular, or that he wrote for a popular following. That may be a valid criticism, and it may be one of the best reasons for reading his work. Which ever it is for you, it is here in abundance. The intimate details, the exacting prose, and the popular viewpoint. Whatever else we think, there is a Steinbeck voice that is unique, and worthy.
The strongest point in Steinbeck’s writing is the sense of place. This book of non-fiction presents the land and the people. The real people and places who became Joad’s, or Trask’s, or sheriff’s, are here in vivid detail. The Salinas of his youth, New York, France, Italy, traffic in Rome, and seaside villages are all vivid and inviting.
If you have read “The Harvest Gypsies” “The Log From the Sea of Cortez” “The Grapes of Wrath” or “East of Eden” many of the things in here will be familiar. If you have not, read this book. It may make them more appealing.
Rating: 4 / 5
Penguin has published this delightful book of articles, essays and correspondent reports from the pen of John Steinbeck who won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Steinbeck who died in 1968 is best known for his fiction including such great novels as “The Grapes of Wrath”; “The Winter of our Discontent”; “East of Eden” Tortilla Flat”
and many others.
Included in this book are Steinbeck’s thoughts on such diverse subjects as:
a. Migrant workers in California.
b. Articles on his friends including Ed Ricketts, Henry Fonda, Woody Guthrie, Robert Capa and Adlai Stevenson.
c. Several late life ruminations on America culutre and the decline in morality in the national character.
d. Travel reports from his time in Paris and London. We learn about his life in New York and he shares memories of his youth in Salinas, California the source of much of his best fiction.
e. World War II and Vietnam combat correspondent reports.
f. A good article on his life in Sag Harbor as he interacts with his two sons; fights with Ospreys in the tree and discuss suburban life in the 1950s.
g. Several literary articles are inculded on the art of writing and dealing with critics.
Some of the articles were dull but others caught my interest. This is a good resource on the life and character of one of America’s greatest authors. The articles are the American way of life are the best ones in the book. A good read for fans of Steinbeck, students of American literature and general readers.
Rating: 5 / 5
Although overall this book is clearly inferior to some of Steinbeck’s other works of nonfiction, it has its high points and is worthwhile for big fans. If you are not already familiar with Steinbeck’s nonfiction, I suggest you read A Russian Journal, Travels with Charley in Search of America and Once There Was A War before buying this book.
Among the best pieces in this book are “I Am A Revolutionary,” “The Soul and Guts of France” and “Terrorism.” Aside from these three pieces – and a paragraph or two scattered here and there among some of the others – this book consists of fairly slow, relatively uninteresting and disappointingly uninsightful text. Still, it’s Steinbeck, and if you’ve a big fan, then reading even his mediocre work is more fun than most things you could be doing with your time. Otherwise though, if you have a mere passing interest in Steinbeck or have not read the other works mentioned above, then either read his other material first or just forget about this book altogether.
Rating: 3 / 5
AMERICA AND AMERICANS AND SELECTED NONFICTION is a compilation of articles that John Steinbeck wrote during his journalism days from 1936-1966 and one of his last novels, AMERICA AND AMERICANS. With Susan Shillinglaw and Jackson J. Benson’s helpful introductions for each short essay, readers can see how his real life observations and experiences resonate within his fictional works.
Steinbeck’s writings are distinct and unique as a result of the deep connection he had with the people he encountered and the respective landscape in which they lived. The most compelling aspect about these articles and essays are the periods in which they were written — from Great Depression to the War in Vietnam. These previously published nonfiction articles possess a part of Steinbeck’s personal life that was poignant at times: “Indeed, the “Steinbeck” tone and “unmistakably American” approach could be the stamp on all his writing, whether about growing up in a California town or about French fishing habits in Paris — it was American in spirit” (xv).
AMERICA AND AMERICANS AND SELECTED NONFICTION is a treasure to own. This is a great example of John Steinbeck’s versatile style of writing that was historical and political as well as ironic. And with this in mind, Steinbeck aficionados or curious readers will find this book insightful.
Rating: 4 / 5
Steinbeck, as he and the annotator in this book repeatedly declare, let his interests range freely in his choice of nonfiction subjects. The whimsical pieces darn near steal the show. There’s an affectionate account of his old Model T, and how its radiator happened one day to spew hot oatmeal all over his mother while riding in downtown L.A. There’s a self-deprecating sports article, in which he proposes the sport of oak tree racing. There are some quite funny and surprisingly touching dog stories. The man could make *anything* a joy to read!
But the meat of the “selected nonfiction” section is the 1930s reportage of the California migrants, which would later become the basis of his Depression novels. It is a searing experience even seventy years later, being made to watch formerly solid American citizens being ground into the mire by poverty, malnutrition, and hopelessness.
Even his much-denounced Vietnam coverage has unmistakably Steinbeckian passages of humanity. He goes for a combat patrol in an AC-47, a “Magic Dragon”, and frankly confesses his fear. He flashes back to conversations with combat journalists and ordinary soldiers, who were killed very shortly thereafter. He accurately contrasts the omnipresent threat of guerrilla attacks with the more formal setpiece battles of previous wars–and portrays the confusion this arouses in the public back home.
The final bit is the republished _America and Americans_, which is one long cry of “Where are we going, and why are we in this handbasket?” Perfectly understandable for someone of his age and background encountering the Sixties for the first time… But even here his native American optimism refuses to let him despair. He concludes, “We have failed sometimes, taken wrong paths, paused for renewal, filled our bellies and licked our wounds; but we have never slipped back–never.”
Rating: 5 / 5