Book Review: Travels with Charley

In Search of America by John Steinbeck

“When the virus of restlessness begins to take possession of a wayward man, and the road away from Here seems broad and straight and sweet, the victim must first find in himself a good and sufficient reason for going.” - John Steinbeck.

Born in Salinas, California in 1902, John Steinbeck is known as a “giant of American letters.” The beloved author of The Red Pony, Of Mice and Men, The Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden, and more, Steinbeck’s non-fiction ‘travel’ and social commentary book, Travels with Charley is both a self-portrait of the man and a hard look at the turmoil of 1960’s America and civil rights tensions in the south.

In September of 1960, Steinbeck, converted an old pickup truck he named “Rocinante” (after Don Quixote’s horse, meaning ‘old nag’ or ‘substandard’) into a camper and set out to journey across America. At almost 60 years old, Steinbeck sought to re-connect with his country and the American people…