John Steinbeck hated critics. More precisely he had a fierce resentment toward the indivduals who wanted to tear apart his life. As with most successful writers, their work is their life, and in my opinion no one described the lives and ways of the American people better than Steinbeck. Writing is ultimately about the chosen word, and for him ideas often become deep, describing a story within a story. Steinbeck won the Nobel prize for literature in 1962 along with James Watson, Francis Crick, and Maurice Wilkins for their work on DNA. He won the award "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social perception." This particular volume contains his strongest work. I think that critics of his work were envious of Steinbeck's ability to entrance his readers, as only master storytellers are capable of. The Library of America bindings are wonderful and are the perfect size for a hardback of fiction. The best thing about LOA editions is that they hold up. The pages do not seem to yellow and the binding is strong. I have 10 copies and they are my favoite books. To me, reading Steinbeck is reading the best of American literature, and the LOA editions are great little books you can enjoy for years.

grapes of wrath is a great book. it is about a family that goes through ups and downs every chapter. and a man who wats to get his family back on track, cause his father lost his farm land in Oklahoma. So they head to California to find new jobs but there new jobs arn't the same as having there own land, cause when they had there own land they had no boss but when they head to Cali. they are not happy cause they are bossed around.

It is surely a shame that Mr. Steinbeck forever will be confined to the archipelago of socio-economico-political literature. Too often a smug reviewer writes of Steinbeck's "moving" portrayal of the Joad family and their struggle against a growing America. "Oh, how I can 'identify' with the Preacher!" HUMBUG. Mr. Steinbeck wrote words, not ideas. His art is exquisite and melodious and stock-full of imagery. His structure, even in the volumunious Grapes, is compact and economical. His style, even in the scientific Log, is artistic and exact. And his ideas, even in the idea-ed Harvest, are irrelevant. Buy this book. But don't buy it because the blurb on the back says something about the Joads being an American archetype of the twentieth century; instead, buy it because it is literature - American literature - at its finest. Every sentence. Every word.

This is a great road trip story . . . that just happens to be set in Russia (and elsewhere in the Soviet Union). It is an amusing and thoughtful account of Steinbeck's travels with his good friend Robert Capa. As Steinbeck often noted in his works of nonfiction, he recounts merely what he saw, which may or may not be reflective of the experiences of others. Thus this is far more a narrative about two men traveling together than it is a book about Russia. Steinbeck does not seek to unravel the mysteries of Russia; he merely wishes to take a peek behind the curtain to get a glimpse of how its inhabitants live.

This is a very amusing, thoughtful and readable book - the best Steinbeck I've read.

This wonderfully written book takes you through post-war Soviet Union, to farms and cities devastated by war but struggling to return to normalcy. Robert Capa not only adds wonderful photos but his role in this story is both funny and illuminating for any Capa fans. Written in the late 1940s, the story provides us with a very human side of the Russian people. The openness and friendliness of everyone they meet contrasts with the paranoia and hatred so present in the US at that time.

I read this as both a photographer and one who was recently in Russia and the insight provided was very enjoyable and educating. Capa's mannerisms and method of photography allowed his subjects to open up and feel comfortable in his lens -- not an easy thing since so many of the people had lost family and suffered terribly. Steinbeck's writing is honest, funny and his skills as a non-partisan reporter really shine in this work.

Three years after the end of the War, John Steinbeck and photographer Robert Capa made a sweeping journey through the USSR. The countryside and cities were still ravaged by the war, transportation difficult over devastated roads and rails. Shattered tanks and warplanes still littered the landscape. Every family had been touched by the conflict and their everyday life recorded in this memoir was adversely affected by the years of occupation and struggle. But the resilient Soviet people were rebuilding, and in the midst of hardship they welcomed the Western journalists into their homes and lives. This is not a book about political ideology. Steinbeck's elegant writing and Capa's brilliant photography capture the spirit of a people working heroically to restore their homeland but still taking a little time out to have fun. For anyone interested in the human dimension of the War on the Eastern Front, "A Russian Journal" will give an unforgetable impression of its recent aftermath.

If you appreciate the art of letter writing, you'll be delighted with this collection of letters from John Steinbeck.

Wow! can this man, write. But perhaps "write" is the wrong term - "think" is better. Wow! can this man think. And then he is able to express those thoughts in a clear, eloquent and, most of all, honest way that is a treat to read.

The book begins with a letter from the young, penniless author to a friend. At the time, Steinbeck was in isolation when he took a job as the winter caretaker of a lodge in Lake Tahoe. From there, he takes us along on a life journey through three marriages, financial success that always made him uncomfortable, fame that he often detested, Pulitzer and Nobel prizes, adventure in settings from the Sea of Cortez to Saigon.

The insights are astounding. His lack of pretension in the midst of his success amazes.

Here was a sensitive, often gruff but completely honest man who was not afraid to reveal himself in total to the friends he cherished.

An unbelievable recount of a man's life through his own eyes. I didn't think that a collection of letters would amount into a good read, but I was blown away by Steinbecks determinedly honest prose. The candor and focus that Steinbeck displays in his interaction with friends, family, and associates is outstanding. Steinbeck once again wields his magical touch and inspires thought and introspection without preaching. A truly great writer, and a truly great book. This collection takes you through Steinbecks journey from college dropout, to published author, to two time divorcee, to Pulitzer Prize winner. My only criticism is that there were too few moments of rage, anger and outburst, which is difficult to capture in letter form. However, it is a raw, honest, and unforgiving account of a man's walk through life, as it serves as inspiration for any aspiring writer out there. The ending letters are excellent, and it is definitely worth your time.

John Steinbeck wrote his own autobiography without intending to. He left us richer with his novels .... but getting to know him through his letters should be required reading. What an insight into someone who was following his passion. I could not put the book down. It's one of my most treasured and recommended.

Classic characters and plot. More of how the more things change the more they stay the same.

This is a harsh, clear, brilliant book. There are flaws - it isn't a perfect book - but the arid setting and brutal beauty of the land and people are fiercely and wonderfully drawn. It is the characters that drive the passions of the book - characters that are so deeply written you come back to many modern bestsellers with a sense of something missing - where are the PEOPLE? This is an intense, haunting read that will stay with you.

It was gewtting towards the end of my senior year in high school. My teacher assighed this very thick book to read.Her reason, she said, was this is the only book that a student with senioritis would take to the beach. I quickly agreed with her. I just always wanted to know what the dominatrix Cathy/Kate was going to do next. But the other characters are just as fascinating. Cal and Aron are as different as night and day. Tom and Dessie Hamilton are brother and sister who are toucingly close. To make a long story short, this is a book that I would definitely recommend to anyone

Readers seeking a full experience of John Steinbeck's literary style won't want to miss Harvest Gypsies, a selection of seven articles that Steinbeck wrote in 1936 about the plight of migrant farmworkers during the Dust Bowl migration. Black and white photos accompany his report on conditions and experiences, weaving a masterful selection of insights which go beyond history into personal observation.

Were the "Grapes of Wrath" published today, it may like other recent books, have been classified as historical fiction as opposed to a novel. I am thinking specifically of "Artemisia" that was published as both in different countries. How the work is classified is not critical, as either way it is one of the finest pieces of literature that has been written, and for many people, Steinbeck's finest work.

"The Harvest Gypsies" is a collection of 7 articles that Mr. Steinbeck wrote as a journalist. All were concerned with the issues he dealt with in the resulting book. This small volume is greatly enhanced by the photographs of Dorothea Lange, and the introduction of Charles Wollenberg.

One of the people the book was dedicated to was "Tom", actually Tom Collins, who was a manager of a federal migrant labor camp in California. The lines of fact and fiction are eventually blurred with him, as Tom Collins was the model for the character of "Jim Rawley" manager of "The Wheatpatch Camp" in "The Grapes Of Wrath". Ms. Lange's photographs could have been illustrations for Mr. Steinbeck's book, for when viewing them you can pick out the faces that could have accounted for the members of Steinbeck's epic.

This is a very brief book, but it portrays the migratory farm workers lives, as being even worse, if that can be imagined. A novel always offers the ultimate refuge of being fiction; these 7 articles and their photographs take away that solace. The brutality, random murder, and disease that was rampant, and the State of California that allowed the behaviors, are atrocious. In the context of one of the writings, one of the large growers who sanctioned the killing and starvation that was part of the agriculture industry stated that, "without a peon population the economy of California could not function". Steinbeck takes this statement of arrogance and ignorance, that is routinely spoken by any exploiter, and logically demonstrates that were this indeed the case, the state could no longer exist. For were it to continue to exist with its fascist policies, the most basic of Democratic rights would have to be absented.

Milk, that played so prominent a role in the book is spoken of extensively in the articles. Many of the most painful parts of the book were so common in reality, that the book may seem mild at times.

No matter how many times you have read the book, once this collection of articles are read, the experience of the book will not only change, I believe it will be enhanced.

Three of Steinbeck's social novels--In Dubious Battle, The Grapes of Wrath, and Of Mice and Men--are enhanced after reading this work. This work is the prelude to three of Steinbeck's most socially poweful novels. To fully understand what Steinbeck is striving to accomplish with Battle and Wrath, and to fully round out your history/literature lesson, it is essential to understand something about the socialist movement--birth of communisim--and the general exploitation of the fruit-pickers of California. The big businesses of that day, not much different from various big businesses of today, treated employees like machines--replacing them as needed--after being hurt on unsafe equipment, etc.--without regarding their well-being, or considering the hungry mouths of their families. The Harvest Gypsies is a crutial text in the study of California before uniouns began revolting against the machine.

This was a great read! I have been to many of the places in the late 1960s and early 1970s that Romano-Lax visited, and I can vouch for the accuracy of her descriptions. I admire her courage (or possibly foolhardiness) in going on such an odyssey with her husband, two young children and a mentally questionable captain who also happened to be her brother-in-law. Oddly, I can identify with being with a mentally deranged person in Baja California. I was also in that same fix in 1968 when I joined a zoology field trip to San Felipe, Baja California Norte, only to find that one of my companions was seriously depressed to the point of being suicidal (it later turned out that he was on drugs). Travel to the Sea of Cortez seems to result in such strange associations.

I used to own an old copy of Steinbeck and Ricketts that I had been given for cleaning up a storage shed. It was the only book in the shed and I was surprised to find it. I fingered through Ed Ricketts' descriptions and photographs of porcelain crabs and murex shells. I read the text and pondered Steinbeck's philosophical diatribes. But most of all it made me want to go to Baja. Within a few years of my discovery of the book I traveled to northern Baja three times and later made an extensive trip as far south as La Paz in Baja Sur. Despite the problems, Baja left its mark on me and I never regretted any time that I spent there. My main grief is that I missed a trip to Cabo San Lucas in 1971 that I had an opportunity to take.

The mangroves, the beauties and problems of Bahia Concepción, Mullegé, La Paz, Loreto, the Colorado River delta and Golfo de Santa Clara are well known to me and Romano-Lax has described each of these so well that I almost felt that I was back on the beach smelling the salt air and watching v-shaped formations of pelicans as they seemed to float almost effortlessly over the surging tide.

Ed Ricketts would have approved of this book. Although he never liked to get his head wet, he was apparently most alive when wading in the surf and tidepools. In some ways this book is more a tribute to him than to John Steinbeck, but in this case you really can't separate them.

If you are at all interested in the sea and/or Baja California, you need to read "Searching for Steinbeck's Sea of Cortez: A Makeshift Expedition along Baja's Desert Coast." It is the next best thing to going there yourself!

.

This is an ambitious book, well done. Its special beauty comes from Romano-Lax's ability to weave together so many elements into an enticing, captivating whole. There's the travel narrative, of course, with a string of adventures (and misadventures) involving her family -- including 5-year-old son Aryeh and 2-year-old daughter Tziporah -- and the challenges presented by an increasingly unstable brother-in-law who's also their boat's captain. There's the literary element, presenting new perspectives on John Steinbeck's Sea of Cortez explorations with buddy Ed Ricketts and fresh insights into their relationship. Toss in science, natural history, environmental issues, glimpses of Baja California's rich culture, and marvelous descriptions that give a strong sense of place. Then add in Romano-Lax's search for answers, her desire to understand how the Sea of Cortez has changed since Steinbeck's time, and, finally, her own shifting perspectives on what it means to know a place (or "know" anything) -- and the many ways of knowing. In the end, Romano-Lax's travels are multi-dimensional: across the Sea of Cortez, through time, and -- perhaps most important of all -- internally. The trip was well worth taking and I savored it from start to finish.

As a person who finds travel narratives relatively dull and often self-indulgent, this book stunned me in its lyric (and plot-based) grace. What a delight to read!

Sure, you've probably seen the movie or had to read the book for a class. But you never really understood what the uproar was about - a relatively simple story, right?

This book helps you place the book in the perspective of whrn it was first published and why John Steinbeck's work has survived the test of time.

The book is divided into 3 parts - the first part deals with "The Grapes of Wrath" as a social document and the efforts to suppress or censor the book out of existence. The second part, much longer, deals with the book as a work of art and how the various elements in the book work together. The third part of the book offer an assessment of John Steinbeck's career and his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1962.

If you want to delve into the classic piece of work known as "The Grapes of Wrath", this book gives you some excellent insight how the world was when this book was first published. I recommend this book highly.

Sure, you've probably seen the movie or had to read the book for a class. But you never really understood what the uproar was about - a relatively simple story, right?

This book helps you place the book in the perspective of when it was first published and why John Steinbeck's work has survived the test of time.

The book is divided into 3 parts - the first part deals with "The Grapes of Wrath" as a social document and the efforts to suppress or censor the book out of existence. The second part, much longer, deals with the book as a work of art and how the various elements in the book work together. The third part of the book offer an assessment of John Steinbeck's career and his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1962.

If you want to delve into the classic piece of work known as "The Grapes of Wrath", this book gives you some excellent insight how the world was when this book was first published. I recommend this book highly.

Frankly, it just got a little long for me. Steinbeck was---and probably still is---my favorite American writer. This book reminded me why: Not only for the beauty of his prose and amazing powers of description, but for his uncompromising integrity, loyalty and devotion to his craft. I learned a lot about this man, but also about the book publishing business and the literary world.

One has to tip his hat to the author for the level of detail and the research performed, especially his good fortune in being able to interview all three of his wives. Reading this after reading most of Steinbeck's major works, gave insight into what drove JS to write each one of his works and helped dispel any misconceptions about his political tendencies and whether he was trying to write "political message" books or not.

Most appalling was to find out how little regarded Steinbeck was among the literary critics in the last 25-30 years of his life, to the point that they questioned the Nobel Prize Committee's decision-making process once JS was honored with the award.

There is a lot to learn in this book. I wouldn't have minded reading a little less detail on some of the progress (or lack of) on some of his lesser works and some of his travels. But for the Steinbeck fan, this is a must-read.

For my doctoral research, which involves the history of coastal California, I wanted one big, clearly written book that was solidly put together but not clogged with footnotes. I found it here. Fifteen years of research, some of it with friends and relatives of Steinbeck's, went into this biography, which reads like a straight-up narrative of the writer's adventurous life. Though long, it reads quickly, devoid of academic jargon. Highly recommended.

I just finished this one this morning, sticking around in bed for an extra twenty minutes to polish off to last chapter or so. What a surprise it is to find you're at page 1,038 and never even tired of the length along the way. It's a tale of an engaging life told in engaging language that grabs your attention and keeps you thoroughly engaged to the end. What a life John Steinbeck had, and what a way to tell it by Jackson J. Benson.

Benson must have started with near a mountain of research to draw together such a complete picture of Steinbeck's life. It's a task that could have caught lesser writer's struggling much like Steinbeck did with the translation of Morte D' Arthur in an unfinishable Pandora's Box of a book. But Benson sees it through with apparent love for the writer and care for the detail. In such a private life of a fiercely guarded private man, it's amazing that Benson adds such a degree of minute detail along the way. You realize some of the details have to be largely anecdotal and especially anecdotes loyally told carry a good degree of fiction with them. That's just what makes this book so magical and passionate...a life well told and lived carries a large freedom of fiction along with it. I think that John Steinbeck would have had it no other way. Actually, he probably would have hidden away from anybody trying to capture his life in words. It would have been a horror for him, but thank God we have this book from Jackson and are left with Steinbeck's writing.

I made the Haj to Salinas on Steinbeck's 100th Birthday and heard John Jr. speak about his Father and had a little birthday cake to boot. I played a game with the neighbor's kid as he held Benson's paperweight of a book and ran from me as I chased him down. I responded with horror as he launched it flying over the fence landing splayed on the ground. The adult in me told him, we don't throw rocks and we especially don't throw books. But as I wiped the dirt and dust off of the book and later finished the last fifty pages with grass stains burned into the leaves of pages...I was glad. A little California earth to go with Steinbeck. A book well worn is so more sacred than one pristine. I should have thanked the neighbor's son for the unintended connection. Rocks against the earth will never grow, but books picked up from the ground...now that's a different thing. For all those Steinbeck-philes don't miss this book. For those who have hardly heard of Steinbeck, there's a good deal of life in this book. I urge you not to miss out on that life.

Now I'm off to chase my neighbor's son around the back yard as he carries "The Grapes of Wrath" to the end zone...spike and score.

....especially during the first part of this book, and there seemed to be one misadventure after another, especially with his interviews, and I got tired of those too....and then it dawned on me (and I'm not at all certain the author would agree) that he was not only researching Steinbeck's life, but stumbling into parts of it.

Take his interview with Gwyn, Steinbeck's second wife. For me, what clearly emerged during the author's confrontation with her storytelling ability, her extraverted extravagance, and her occasional bullying, was that Benson was being made to feel exactly how Steinbeck would have felt, especially toward the end of the marriage. And the same with getting lost at times in New York, and feeling "out of touch" here and there, and worrying about bad reviews: I think the biographer actually became the subject of his biography a little, sharing from his own rather humble and introverted point of view what Steinbeck couldn't or wouldn't bring himself to write publicly about regarding his own private struggles, doubts, confusions. What a gift, all the way around.

This is a wonderful book--a real page-turner filled with delicious bits of information and satisfying insights into John Steinbeck's remarkable life and work. Benson disarms the reader with his self-effacing manner and unassuming style, but as he proceeds with the almost heroic story of how, over a period of some fourteen years, he researched, planned, wrote, and finally saw to publication his thousand-page biography of Steinbeck, it becomes clear that his virtues are not limited to modesty. They also include toughness, resourcefulness, and determination. It is a great story, and Benson has told it very well.

For any reader remotely interested in the trials and tribulations so frequently associated with writing a book, in this case a biography, this book is a must.
Jackson Benson spent fifteen years writing the definitive biography of John Steinbeck that originally began as a scholarly critique of his works. He was a young professor of American literature at a provincial university in 1970 and felt it part of his job to write about American authors: "I had no idea of writing a biography or of spending a major portion of my life doing so. No one in his right mind sets out to spend fifteen years researching and writing a book-it just sneaks up on you." With this confession the reader is drawn into a wonderful account of his efforts to "save" Steinbeck from what he saw as unjust criticism and general academic denigration.
The book is unusual for a variety of reasons. First, it is highly readable which is rare given the authors scholarly and academic credentials. Benson has a marvelous sense of humor and doesn't hesitate to spell out his own shortcomings and lapses that many times resulted in dire consequences of his own making. His original naivete and ill defined writing plan led to a variety of incidents that are described in a humorous and candid manner.
Second, the author doesn't hesitate to candidly reveal the myriad fears, frustrations, doubts and ever-present economic problems that dogged him throughout the writing process. In reading of his countless setbacks I am amazed he completed the book. His dedication, perseverance, resourcefulness and integrity are both amazing and heartening.
Third, this is a rare instance in which a biographer writes about himself. It is actually an autobiography of the biographer and is done with such grace and candor and style that it is as artful as the biography. This book stands alone as a masteful literary accomplishment notwithstanding its sister biography.

The book is a must have for writers, wannabe writers, researchers, or readers interested in biography, authbiography or the art and craft of writing. It is a unique insight into the writing of the definitive biography of a world literary figure whose centennial birthday is being celebrated throughout this year. The Joads would have been proud.

On February 27, 1902 John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California. Now we stand at the centenary crossing, marking the one hundredth birthday of a Nobel Prize-winning novelist who, in the manner of few great creative artists, embodied the fundamental spirit of America's determination to overcome adversity. An ironic note from the career of Steinbeck, someone who wrote with such feeling about common folk overcoming adversity, particularly during the Great Depression,was that some of the most characteristic lines summing up the credo expressed in his writing came not from him but from Twentieth Century Fox studio head Darryl F. Zanuck, who started his film career as a screenwriter. At the close of the great John Ford film based on Steinbeck's greatest novel, "The Grapes of Wrath," Zanuck, wanting the movie to end on an upbeat note, wrote the final scene in which Jane Darwell in her Oscar-winning performance summed up her feelings. Darwell delivered a testimonial about the survivalist nature of the common folk, with their ability to bounce back in the face of hardship.

Steinbeck is examined by Parini as an author always in touch with his roots. He was a classic example of the adage that a person should write about what one knows best. Doing so often got Steinbeck in trouble, as when residents of Monterey reportedly walked across the street rather than speak to him after he wrote "Cannery Row." Steinbeck later set off a tempest in his hometown of Salinas with the publication of "East of Eden." Citizens who had lived in Salinas for years recognized themselves as characters in the book. Steinbeck remembered the uproar years later when, not long before his death in 1968, he learned that the Salinas library would be named after him. "I wouldn't have been surprised if they had named the local house of ill repute after me," the author quipped, "but I never expected to have the library named after me."

The young Steinbeck tended to be shy and withdrawn. A neighbor became a close friend and helped draw him out, Max Wagner, who later became a film actor and remained friends with Steinbeck during the rest of their lives. Max's brother Jack became a writer and collaborated with Steinbeck later on film projects. The two writers shared a Best Original Screenplay Academy Award nomination for their work in the 1945 film "A Medal for Benny." Steinbeck and Max Wagner each left Salinas to attend Stanford University in nearby Palo Alto. They both left after one year, restless creative spirits who hated confinement.

Parini reveals the painful experience of writing for Steinbeck, who endured numerous ailments from the early days of his career. The biographer reveals the "earthy" propensity of Steinbeck's subject matter, including such an early work as "Tortilla Flat," which revealed the lives of impoverished Mexicans living in shacks in Monterey. Later his close friendship with local Monterey marine biologist, Dr. Edward F. Ricketts, was revealed. The man known as "Doc" to localies was played by Nick Nolte in the screen adaptation of the Steinbeck novel "Cannery Row." In the case of Steinbeck's master work, "The Grapes of Wrath," the author carefully researched California migrant camps, a major element of the story as Oklahomans fleeing the great dust bowl resided in them on the way to establishing their own roots moving westward. Steinbeck had an excellent guide, Tom Collins, who managed the Kern County Migrant Camp and became a friend of the author's. Steinbeck's great novel was dedicated partially to Collins as he wrote: "To Tom -- who lived it." It was a simple dedication which meant so much, so typically earthy, and so typically Steinbeck.

One important friendship Steinbeck formed was with fellow humanitarian and author, Carl Sandburg, poet and Lincoln biographer. Actor Burgess Meredith also became a close friend after starring in the brilliant 1939 film adaptation of Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men."

Long before Cesar Chavez was available to courageously carry the banner of the exploited Mexican braceros, Steinbeck fought tirelessly for their cause along with crusading journalist Carey McWilliams. Steinbeck was a stalwart advocate of the New Deal of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and became a friend and devoted admirer of two time Democratic presidential nominee Adlai E. Stevenson, for whom Steinbeck wrote speeches during his losing 1956 campaign to President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Parini provides a solid account of Steinbeck as a man, including defeats as well as triumphs. In the former category there were Steinbeck's problematical marriages and difficulties with fatherhood. The biographer notes the success of Steinbeck's last marriage to Elaine Scott Steinbeck, the former wife of actor Zachary Scott. The two became initially fond of each other after the actress Ann Sothern, who had her own romantic designs on the famous author, brought her friend Elaine along for a Northern California visit. The women stayed at a Carmel hotel and Steinbeck, then living in Monterey, showed them the sights. It soon became obvious that the author's designs were on Elaine rather than the actress. "I don't think Ann ever forgave me," Elaine Scott Steinbeck later revealed.

Parini does a superb job of capturing a man of many parts, an author in touch with America's roots. Steinbeck's works are an evocation of the adventurousness and tenacity of the American spirit.

In my opinion, the greatest American writer is John Steinbeck, and the great American novel is The Grapes of Wrath. So it was a delight to read this fluid, exhaustively researched and insightful biography of Steinbeck by Jay Parini.

From Steinbeck's birth in northern California in 1902, to his death in 1968, the book details the influences and defining moments in Steinbeck's life. There is very little conjecture here. The book is objective, but the details are compelling and the writing is smooth. The complete cooperation of Steinbeck's third wife, Elaine, was, I think, a key the book's veracity as well as its insight.

You'll be inspired by the young Steinbeck's complete faith in his writing ability. He sensed his destiny at a young age, and stubbornly pursued it.

You'll be surprised at how a man with such a deep inner sense of his own gift for writing was, at the same time, so easily devastated by critics.

You'll be amazed at Steinbeck's popularity and influence around the world. The world recognized Steinbeck's genius, while the literary pecking order in the United States threw stones. Why? - probably for two reasons. First, we love to throw stones at those who achieve popular and financial success. It's an American tradition. Second, woe be to the author whose writing can be understood by the masses. Steinbeck was an eloquent writer whose beautiful prose could be savored by everyone, and he wrote a superb story on top of it. The literary elitists prefer writing and a story that can only be understood by literary elitists.

I have only one mild criticism of Mr. Parini's biography of Steinbeck. As I said, there is little conjecture, but he does seem to put a load of psychobabble guilt in the laps of Steinbeck's mother and father. The evidence seems to indicate otherwise. His mother's perfectionism wasn't all bad, and wouldn't any mother be concerned if her 30-year-old son was still living as a near-pauper? And his father may have been a passive man, but he supported his son financially through many, many lean years. The portrayal of John Ernst Steinbeck as a failure is too harsh a judgment.

But that's only a minor criticism. This is truly a marvelous biography about the most talented and compassionate of American writers.

I first "discovered" John Steinbeck back in the mid 50's when I was a student at the Army Language School (now called the Defense Language Institute, I think) in Monterey, California. At that time, all but one of the canneries had been shut down, as the sardines had disappeared from Monterey Bay, and the conversion of Cannery Row to a tourist Mecca wasn't even a gleam in some promoter's eye. I was able to spend my weekends ferreting out the sites dear to Steinbeck while I was reading about them. I particularly concentrated on Monterey, Pacific Grove and Salinas.

Through the years, I returned to Monterey Peninsula when I could and visited the Salinas Library, and later, as they opened, the various centers and museums dedicated to him. All in all, I thought that I was a real expert on Steinbeck. It took Parini's biography of Steinbeck to make me realize just how superficial my knowledge really was.

Reading Parini's biography of Steinbeck, I began to learn about Steinbeck as a flesh and blood human being. I knew of course, that he had a well developed social conscience and that he had never received the critical acclaim that he desired. Parini, however, brought to life a talented, tortured, stubborn, difficult Steinbeck that I hadn't known.

Nowhere are these aspects of Steinbeck's personality revealed better than in his struggles to write a new version of the Arthurian legend, or what he frequently referred to as "The Malory Project." Steinbeck had been fascinated with the Arthurian Legends since he had read, and understood, Malory's MORTE d'ARTHUR, at about the age of nine. It would seem that his life-long ambition was to write his own Arthurian saga.

Parini shows Steinbeck with writer's block, searching for the "right atmosphere," the right paper, the right kind of pens and ink, the right anything to give him the inspiration he needed to fulfill his life's ambition. He even left his English retreat to travel to Italy in search of possible Malory sources. Nothing worked and, in the end, he had to give up the Malory Project. With the abandonment of his dream, his health began the decline that only ended with his death. (His partially completed manuscript and many of his notes about the project were published after his death as THE ACTS OF KING ARTHUR AND HIS NOBLE KNIGHTS by John Steinbeck.

Parini's biography brings to life Steinbeck, the flawed man, and shows him with the courage to return to California's Central Valley after the publication of GRAPES OF WRATH made him persona non grata. It makes the reader feel the pain that Steinbeck felt when he suffered critical rejection. The reader lives through, with him, his marriages, his divorces, his weaknesses and his strenghths. I believe that this is the finest of the Steinbeck biographies.