Riding Like the Wind: The Life of Sanora Babb

by Iris Jamahl Dunkle

This saga of a writer done dirty resurrects the silenced voice of Sanora Babb, peerless author of midcentury American literature. 
 
In 1939, when John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath was published, it became an instant bestseller and a prevailing narrative in the nation's collective imagination of the era. But it also stopped the publication of another important novel, silencing a gifted writer who was more intimately connected to the true experiences of Dust Bowl migrants. In Riding Like the Wind, renowned biographer Iris Jamahl Dunkle revives the groundbreaking voice of Sanora Babb.
 
Dunkle follows Babb from her impoverished childhood in eastern Colorado to California. There, she befriended the era's literati, including Ray Bradbury and Ralph Ellison; entered into an illegal marriage; and was blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee. It was Babb's field notes and oral histories of migrant farmworkers that Steinbeck relied on to write his novel. But this is not merely a saga of literary usurping; on her own merits, Babb's impact was profound. Her life and work feature heavily in Ken Burns's award-winning documentary The Dust Bowl and inspired Kristin Hannah in her bestseller The Four Winds. Riding Like the Wind reminds us with fresh awareness that the stories we know—and who tells them—can change the way we remember history.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, History, American History, Biography Memoir, Writing

398 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 15, 2024

About the author

Iris Jamahl Dunkle is an award-winning literary biographer, essayist, and poet. Her academic and creative work challenges the Western myth of progress by examining the devastating impact that agriculture and over-population have had, and continue to have, on the North American West. Taking an ecofeminist bent, her writing also challenges the American West’s male-oriented recorded history by researching the lives of women. She obtained her MFA in poetry from New York University, and her PhD in American Literature from Case Western Reserve University.



Dunkle’s West : Fire : Archive is a poetry collection that challenges preconceived, androcentric ideas about biography, autobiography, and history fueled by the Western myth of progress presented in Frederick Jackson Turner’s “frontier thesis.” Each section is presented as if it is an archival box filled with artifacts, the first of which opens to the maligned life of Charmian Kittredge London the wife of the famous author Jack London. The poems unstitch and resew her life, invigorating the old narrative with her forgotten attributes: her disregard of gender norms, her pioneer heritage, and her sense of adventure. The second archival box examines the act of autobiography. In it, Dunkle writes through the complex grief of losing her mother and her community when it is devastated by wildfires and reflects on how these disasters echo the one that brought her family to California, the Dust Bowl. The final archival box questions the authenticity of the definition of recorded history as it relates to the American West.

In 2020, her biography on Charmian Kittredge London, Jack London's wife, was published by the University of Oklahoma Press. It’s a work that questions and rewrites the narrative presented of Jack and Charmian London by fictional biographers like Irving Stone by recreating Charmian's life through her perspective. Dunkle believes that biography can be revolutionary; it can challenge established ideas that have been fixed in history and through careful research resurrect the lives of those who have been misremembered. Charmian Kittredge London was a New Woman, an author, and an adventurer whose accomplishments (and disruptions) history had all but forgotten. Prominent Jack London scholar and author of Jack London: An American Life Earle Labor called Dunkle’s work “essential reading” and claimed that it was the “biography Charmian would have wanted to have written about her life.” Jack London Scholar, Jonah Raskin called the book "riveting. . . . This biography sets the record as straight as it can be straightened. . . . Despite her flaws, or perhaps because of them, Charmian is indeed the kind of woman whom one would love to have known.”

Dunkle lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Reviews

[Erin Malone · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m a huge fan of Babb’s Whose Names Are Unknown, and am fascinated by the Dust Bowl era and the life she led. I hope everyone who read Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath will read this too and invest in its author and history. I wish this biography was structured in a more straightforward pattern, rather than back and forth in time—it felt repetitive—but am glad for the experience of it regardless.

[Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’d give this 3.5 stars. It’s quite interesting, though it took me longer to finish than I expected. This was partly due to the many publisher rejections, which became tedious. But that was the reality of Babb’s life so it had to be included.

[Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe 3.5 stars; much has been written speculating how Babb's notes shared with Steinback (while working in California migrant camps) influenced The Grapes of Wrath. Certainly, the success of that bestseller kept Random House from publishing her book on the same subject, Whose Names Are Unknown. Her life was an interesting one.

[Karyn Buchanan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a roller coaster ride as one gets to know Sanora Babb. The prose of this book made it feel like fiction, but Sanora Babb will get her rightful place in American Literature as more people read this book. Emotionally, I am a wreck as i marvel how so bright a light could have been overlooked. And mentally, I’m inspired to read more of her work. This book is a must read. And as I read more of Sanora Babb, I also plan to read more of Iris’ work.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was unaware of Sanora Babb until Iris Jamahl Dunkle came to visit the college where I teach. That college is Garden City where Sanora earned her only degree. I have always been a proponent in my lit course of not always teaching dead white guys. Some classics are necessary but more than just men wrote. Next time I teach AM lit I will have to work in some of Babb’s work. Her history is incredibly fascinating, her travels, the people she met, and her writing that was largely ignored because “women couldn’t write.” I had never heard before that it was her notes on the dust bowl that Steinbeck used to write Grapes. Nor how inaccurate it was. I will be reading her novel next. This biography is will worth the read as a historical document, and learning about a woman who worked though oppression and hardships to achieve her dreams. The book reads more like a novel of her life and not just a bunch of facts. It’s well researched and an enjoyable read. It tells Babb’s story and keeps you turning the page. I cannot thank Dunkle for visiting Garden City and introducing me to woman who should have been recognized for her literary contributions much sooner in her life. This is one of the best biographies I’ve read because it told like a novel and yet seems to leave little out about Babb’s life. You want to know more about her, and you want her to achieve her goal of publishing. Her struggles with society norms were not a plot construct they were real and millions of women and minorities faced them through the 1900s. If you didn’t know this was true you might think this was story showing the struggles one woman faced and yet she fought everyday to be who she was. I could keep going but read the book. Besides adding Babb’s work to my class canon I plan to read another of Dunkle’s biographies because I enjoy her style of writing.

[Kathy Piselli · Rating 4 out of 5]

No one should be frightened of picking up this thousand-page book; a quarter of it is notes and bibliography for researchers. It contains great details of pioneer life in the different places Babb lived her childhood. The dugout (house), closeness with the recently-displaced Native peoples, the ghost horse Daft, the abject poverty especially in the winter, growing and harvesting broomcorn, how to learn letters and arithmetic without going to school, a Kansas prairie town in 1924. Her experiences as a young adult are equally fascinating - the hardship of the Great Depression, an amazing solo walk back to LA from Chicago, stopping in Salt Lake City to get a job after her money ran out, sister arriving in California in time for an earthquake, the miscegenation laws that would keep her from marrying James Wong Howe for nearly 20 years, waiting out appendicitis in Russia, traveling in 1930s Germany and Poland with Jews, the HUAC years. These were remarkable times - scary and uncertain, perfect for an aspiring writer. Babb was a bold and independent person whose ambition was somehow matched by a care for others, in a combination not often seen. She never had a rich family to fall back on, as others did, not really even a strong family member to lean on. She leaned on herself. She was interested in Communism as a solution for American society's ills, yet didn't allow herself to be manipulated by it. Filipino-American novelist Carlos Bulosan is quoted saying of her and her sister "Neither of you has had to learn to be without prejudice: you simply have none." After this opening (about 40% of the book) Babb begins researching and writing about the Dust Bowl victims. Perversely, had Steinbeck not written his book, using her work, we'd never have heard of Babb and her people. Dunkle spends time on this issue, but it is not the only time Babb is cheated out of recognition for things she creates. The last third of the book deals with her struggles getting published, which is the story of many writers, particularly women, who have no family connections. Dunkle does a great job of bringing out the powerful stories of Babb's experiences. One of my favorites was her mother on her deathbed, throwing her wedding ring across the floor. Babb witnessed her mother's travails with marriage, all the while setting her (Babb's) own writing aside time and time again for Howe. I also liked the intersections of Babb with ghosts, like the story about Daft, and living near Mandeville Canyon. History is like soil, says Dunkle, which must be turned and tilled to find the stories beneath, all of which enriches the whole. This book knits many stories together too and it gave me a better understanding of American history in the West.

[Silvia Amalia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una biografia poetica che cattura l’essenza della vita di Sanora Babb, una scrittrice trascurata ma fondamentale per comprendere l’America rurale del XX secolo. Dunkle intreccia momenti di lotta personale di Babb con la storia sociale e politica che l’ha plasmata, offrendo uno sguardo intimo sulle sfide di una donna che ha trasformato la propria esperienza di povertà, migrazione e marginalizzazione in una letteratura potente.

Il libro esplora l’infanzia di Babb nelle polverose pianure del Colorado, il suo viaggio attraverso la Dust Bowl e la sua carriera letteraria, oscurata dai contemporanei (*coff coff* Steinbeck, sto parlando proprio di te). Dunkle rende omaggio non solo all’opera di Babb, ma anche alla sua incrollabile forza d’animo, tratteggiando così un ritratto che celebra il coraggio e l’autenticità di una voce dimenticata del canone letterario americano.

Riding Like the Wind non è solo una biografia, ma anche un’ode lirica alla capacità della letteratura di resistere, per raccontare storie che altrimenti andrebbero perdute.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Somehow I missed the references to Babb in Ken Burn’s documentary about the dustbowl. I am so glad I read this book. Babb

[Kallie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love a biographer who loves and appreciates and knows their subject. Those who write to diss can just sit down, as far as I am concerned. Anyway, Dunkle does just the opposite; she brings her subject, Sanora Babb, into our awareness and esteem, where she belongs. Like so many women artists, Babb's ambitions were confined by the necessity of caring for others. More than that, she experienced extreme poverty in her birth family, near starvation and an abusive father. Those circumstances did not stop her, though she was hampered for years at a time by the needs of others. But what a full life, nevertheless! Her participation in the labor cause in particular was brave and loyal. Though Dunkle does not specifically say that Babb's interest in communism ended with Stalinism, I assume that led to disenchantment with the political goals of communism. The more I read about how her book, 'Whose Names Were Unknown" was ignored or dismissed because of Steinbecks' GOW (he had used her field notes!) the more pissed off I felt toward the publishing world. Of course I have read GOW. Just about every American child who transits through middle and high school reads GOW. But Babb's book is so different! Steinbeck did not even write about living through the Dust Bowl; his characters are in an area more affected more by the Great Depression. Babb's 'Whose Names Are Unknown' brings us the intimate details of living through the Dust Bowl, how people managed to combat the incredibly pervasive, penetrating dust and feed their families. Why this was not considered an important perspective I don't know, but suspect gender/class prejudice against reading about this experience as Babb wrote it. Anyway, Dunkle's book is wonderful. Like her, I am so pleased to learn that Babb lived to see the publication of 'Whose Names Are Unknown'.

[Shanna Simmons · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mailed to me by a friend who knows me very well. I blazed though this book in 2 days. It is a story of growing up in a lonely place and the outsized effect that a place can have on a life. Sanora Babb's place happens to cross over with my own place, so her family's legacy reminds me of my own. She was ahead of her time and through her commitment to writing found people and opportunities that made for an extraordinary life.

[Bruce Greene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sanora Babb just might be home one of those author whose fame and notoriety comes after her death. This journalist, poet, novel writer, and Dust Bowl survivor struggled for years to get her work published. Her life could be a case study of what happens when a writer, especially a woman writer comes into direct contact with the gate keepers who pass for editors and publishers. Suffice it to say, she wrote a novel (Whose Names Were Unknown) that was set to be published by Random House but John Steinbeck had just had his award winning The Grapes of Wrath published. As Grapes was gaining popularity and sales, Babb's work was set aside and then dropped. Apparently, we can't have too many novels about the Dust Bowl survivors. What is so ironically cutting about that decision is that unlike Steinbeck, Babb herself, was a Dust Bowl migrant from Kansas who grew up living in a dugout in rural Colorado. Her perspective, unlike Steinbeck, was from that of a woman. Her experience, also unlike Steinbeck included the lives of Blacks, Latinos, Native Americans as well as white farmers. Her work, in the form of poetry and short stories too was excluded. Time now to include it for a more accurate picture. She persisted, but it tool its toll. Add to all this her associations with writers like Ray Bradbury and Ralph Ellison, and her determination to live her life on her own terms and you have a compelling subject. New worlds of understanding here.

[Margene · Rating 4 out of 5]

A biography about a woman author I knew nothing about, Sanora Babb (1907-2005).
In 1939, when John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath was published, it became an instant bestseller and a prevailing narrative in the nation's collective imagination of the era. But it also stopped the publication of another important novel, silencing a gifted writer (Sanora Babb) who was more intimately connected to the true experiences of Dust Bowl migrants and wrote "Riding Like the Wind"
This biography follows Sanora Babb from her impoverished childhood in Kansas, Oklahoma and finally eastern Colorado to California. In California Sanora she befriended several up-and-coming authors, Ray Bradbury and Ralph Ellison as well as John Steinbeck. Senora entered into an illegal biracial marriage; and was blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee. It was Babb's field notes and oral histories of migrant farmworkers that Steinbeck relied on to write his novel. But this is not merely a saga of literary usurping; on her own merits, Babb's impact was profound. Her life and work feature heavily in Ken Burns's award-winning documentary The Dust Bowl and inspired Kristin Hannah in her bestseller The Four Winds. Riding Like the Wind reminds us with fresh awareness that the stories we know—and who tells them—can change the way we remember history.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up. There were lots of interesting aspects to this book but it wasn’t quite as compelling as I would’ve hoped. I read about this in the NYT, the first I had ever heard of Sanora Babb. I was intrigued by her connection to Ray Bradbury, and of course that her Dust Bowl research was “borrowed” by the “magpie” John Steinbeck, which resulted in her (better?) novel being passed over for publication for decades.

The author of this memoir was quite precise - working with limited source material, she seemed to be trying to avoid generalizations, so sometimes the details felt quite pedantic. The earlier chapters flowed better but the later chapters felt a bit too granular and repetitive. The kindle edition had lots of small typos and errors. A silly thing, but it bugged me that everyone in the Babb family was referred to by first name except Sanora herself, who was just Babb.

There are lots of ups and downs, but Sanora Babb lived through some very interesting times in interesting places, and knew interesting people. Her non conformist ideas were ahead of their time. I was intrigued by her, even if this book dragged a little at times. I think the author really wanted us to know everything we could about her life since she was so often left out, her role unacknowledged.

[Jenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am not normally one to read biographies. In fact, I generally only read fantasy! I know Iris personally, and am very proud of her, and thus read this book, which is out of my normal genre, to not only support a friend to but to see what Babb was all about; someone who Iris' speaks of often with admiration and adoration. But I am also not one to spend time on a book that does not fulfill me and will gladly move on if so. This is absolutely not the case with Iris' Riding Like the Wind. I could not put it down. Iris has an enthralling ability to put readers into the heart and soul of Sanora Babb, to feel all she feels, good and bad. I was enraptured from the start and by the end was emotional enough for tears. Her depictions of Sanora's highs and lows are engrossing, detailed in such a delicate way as to highlight the scene with movie screen clarity. But what really had me in the grasp of the story was the emotional thread Iris tied through it all. I feel as if I know Sanora Babb after reading Riding Like the Wind. I highly recommend this biography to any and all readers.

[Mona Frazier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Riding Like the Wind: The Life of Sanora Babb is a moving, intimate portrait of a woman whose brilliance was nearly erased.

From growing up in abject poverty to becoming a writer, in a group with Ray Bradbury, and becoming the editor of literary magazines. Her field notes on Dust Bowl migrant workers were used—without credit—by Steinbeck, delaying her own novel’s publication for decades. She defied sexism, censorship, and blacklisting, publishing her books after the age of fifty and well into her seventies.

Due to her progressive views and work, she and her husband, James Wong Howe, were blacklisted. They fled to Mexico to escape McCarthyism. Her journey was extraordinary.

Iris Jamahl Dunkle’s narrative is itself brilliant and compelling—she brings Sanora Babb vividly to life with deep empathy and insight. A must-read for anyone who values the untold stories of women’s lives and art.

[Gloria · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up to a 4. First of all, I am not overly fond of biographies. This one is no exception. There are chapters that document daily, monthly meetings with numerous unrelated individuals - with quotes taken from their letters and notes. Too much detail. This reads more like a graduate thesis than a biography.

However, the best passages are the extensive quotations and citations of Sanora Babb's writing as well as those of Ray Bradbury and Ralph Ellison.

Ms. Babb was quite an extraordinary woman. Interesting to note the ongoing health problems her family suffered in adulthood as a result of the deprivations of growing up in the Dust Bowl. A great many missed opportunities for recognition for her work during her lifetime. Hopefully, this book brings her into the light. I will be reading Babb's "Whose Names Are Unknown."

[Sierra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been a longtime fan of Ms. Dunkle's poetry. Her most recent book, Riding Like the Wind, tells the story of Sonora Babb's life. Having not read a lot of biographies, I wasn't sure what to expect. I was delighted to find it so enthralling that I couldn't put it down. The pacing and narrative momentum were excellent and, in Dunkle's capable hands, Babb's story was utterly compelling, from the abuse and poverty of her youth through her extraordinary life as a traveler and writer who tenaciously fought for her work. Deeply researched, Dunkle brings Babb's extraordinary story vividly to life. You can feel Dunkle's immense respect for and profound connection to Babb throughout. 

I'm excited to read Babb's "Whose Name's Are Unknown" next.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting biography of a woman whose talents remain unrecognized. She grew up extremely poor due to a gambling father, and in the dust bowl era. She was a talented writer and journalist and used these skills to escape to Los Angles after graduating from high school. She studied, wrote and became friends with other writers. She went to refugee camps in California and wrote a book about them. John Steinbeck visited the camp, read her notes and work, and wrote and published his dust bowl book before she did. The success of his book meant there was no interest in publishing hers. She continued to write, mostly short stories all her life.

[Oolookitty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have long been a fan of Sanora Babb, and was aware of the effect that John Steinbeck’s liberal and uncredited use of her research and experiences made his “Dust Bowl” book “The Grapes of Wrath” a bestseller while her novel got buried for decades.

However, there was so much more about her life that I was unaware of, from the successes and failures in her writing career to her marriage to cinematographer James Wong Howe (who similarly never gave her credit for her support when making any of his award acceptance speeches.)

Glad to see this writer being rediscovered, and rediscovered in such a wonderful biography. Extremely well researched, and beautifully written.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uncovered Truth

Sanora Babb was a brilliant writer who lived an amazing life. Thanks to Dunkle's masterful storytelling we discover this unique woman so ahead of her time. Sadly Babb didn't get the accolades she deserved while she was living. Her work co-opted by men, her voice silenced for too long. I was pleased to discover her through Dunkle's writing. This is one of the best biographies I've read.

[Linda Gaines · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting biography of this writer. I had not heard of her and she lived an amazing life. She was beautiful but wanted to succeed as a writer instead of something more glamorous. Her research led to a book about the Dust Bowl that was published around the time of Steinbeck's. She also had relationships with many famous people and married Hollywood's James Wong Howe.

[Margy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think in my entire time on Goodreads this is the second book I rated this low. It was sooo slow, very boring, choppily written with uninteresting characters and filled with a plethora of meaningless dates. Ugh!

[Cheryl Arnold · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave this 4 stars for the content of the book. I think the history and the relationship to Grapes of Wrath are very significant. I would give the actual writing style and format a 3; but the content was more important to me than the writing itself.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 and 1/2 stars out of 5. Dunkle is a first-rate biographer. This was an excellent book, always interesting, and very illuminating on Babb, her life, and her work.

[Joanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful history of a great writer. I loved learning about Sanora and her life!