Everywhere he looked, he saw the growth of fast food, "packaged" living, and environmental destruction.
While Steinbeck set out to find the "real" America, he often found himself reflecting on the ways it was fading. Travels with Charley in Search of America
Beyond sociology, the book is an intimate self-portrait. Charley served as a "diplomat" to help him connect with strangers and a proxy for Steinbeck's own fears about aging and health. A Legacy of "Creative Nonfiction" Everywhere he looked, he saw the growth of
New Orleans, where he witnessed the "Cheerleaders"—a group of mothers protesting school integration—an experience that left him physically and spiritually revolted. Themes of a Changing Nation Charley served as a "diplomat" to help him
In 1960, John Steinbeck —famed chronicler of the Dust Bowl and Nobel laureate-to-be—realized he had lost the "pulse" of his own country. At 58 years old, after decades of living in New York and traveling Europe, he feared he was writing about an America that no longer existed. His solution was a 10,000-mile loop around the nation in a custom camper-truck named , accompanied only by a distinguished French poodle named Charley .
Montana, describing its people as kind and unaffected by the frantic bustle elsewhere. He visited
He observed that radio and television were standardizing American speech and culture, making Maine sound just like Montana.