America and Americans

by Steinbeck, John; Benson, Jackson J.; Shillinglaw, Susan

• ISBN13: 9780142437414
• ISBN10: 0142437417
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-04-29
• Publisher: Penguin Classics

Summary

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.

Author Biography

John Steinbeck (1902-1968) was born in Salinas, California. Universally recognized as one of the greatest American writers, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1962.

Susan Shillinglaw is director of the Center for Steinbeck Studies at San Jose State University.

Jackson J. Benson is the author of the acclaimed biography John Steinbeck, Writer, winner of the PEN-West USA award for nonfiction.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. ix
Places of the Heart	p. 1
Always Something to Do in Salinas	p. 4
The Golden Handcuff	p. 13
A Primer on the '30s	p. 17
Making of a New Yorker	p. 32
My War with the Ospreys	p. 41
Conversation at Sag Harbor	p. 50
Engaged Artist	p. 65
Dubious Battle in California	p. 71
The Harvest Gypsies: Squatters' Camps	p. 78
Starvation Under the Orange Trees	p. 83
From Writers Take Sides	p. 88
I Am a Revolutionary	p. 89
Duel Without Pistols	p. 91
The Trial of Arthur Miller	p. 101
Atque Vale	p. 105
Dear Adlai	p. 108
G.O.P. Delegates Have Bigger, Better Badges	p. 110
L'Envoi	p. 112
Occasional Pieces	p. 117
Then My Arm Glassed Up	p. 125
On Fishing	p. 132
Circus	p. 136
Random Thoughts on Random Dogs	p. 139
...like captured fireflies	p. 142
The Joan in All of Us	p. 144
A Model T Named "It"	p. 147
On Writing	p. 151
The Play-Novelette	p. 155
My Short Novels	p. 158
Rationale	p. 161
Critics-from a Writer's Viewpoint	p. 163
Some Random and Randy Thoughts on Books	p. 167
Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech	p. 172
Friends	p. 175
from About Ed Ricketts	p. 179
Ernie Pyle	p. 213
Tom Collins	p. 215
Robert Capa	p. 217
Adlai Stevenson	p. 219
Henry Fonda	p. 223
Woody Guthrie	p. 225
Journalist Abroad	p. 227
The Soul and Guts of France	p. 233
One American in Paris (fourth piece)	p. 246
One American in Paris (thirteenth piece)	p. 248
Positano	p. 251
Florence: The Explosion of the Chariot	p. 259
I Go Back to Ireland	p. 262
The Ghost of Anthony Daly	p. 270
War Correspondent	p. 275
Troopship	p. 282
Waiting	p. 285
Stories of the Blitz	p. 288
Lilli Marlene	p. 291
Bob Hope	p. 293
Vietnam War: No Front, No Rear	p. 296
Action in the Delta	p. 299
Terrorism	p. 304
Puff, the Magic Dragon	p. 307
An Open Letter to Poet Yevtushenko	p. 311
America and Americans	p. 313
Foreword	p. 317
E Pluribus Unum	p. 319
Paradox and Dream	p. 330
Government of the People	p. 339
Created Equal	p. 346
Genus Americanus	p. 354
The Pursuit of Happiness	p. 369
Americans and the Land	p. 377
Americans and the World	p. 383
Americans and the Future	p. 392
Afterword	p. 403
Works Cited	p. 405
Selected Bibliography of Steinbeck's Nonfiction	p. 407
Index	p. 417
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