Travels With Charley In Search Of America ◉

While Steinbeck set out to find the "real" America, he often found himself reflecting on the ways it was fading.

Montana, describing its people as kind and unaffected by the frantic bustle elsewhere. He visited

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 . Travels with Charley in Search of America

Maine, where he famously shared wine with Canadian potato pickers. Crossing the Midwest through

Chicago, he moved into the northern plains. He notably "fell in love" with While Steinbeck set out to find the "real"

Seattle—lamenting that progress looked like destruction—before driving down the coast to his birthplace, The final leg took him through

The Road Back to Rocinante: Rediscovering Steinbeck’s America At 58 years old, after decades of living

He observed that radio and television were standardizing American speech and culture, making Maine sound just like Montana.