America and Americans

by John Steinbeck

Tiny repair to spine. bright clean cover with light edge wear. Text is perfect. Same day shipping first class from AZ.

Genres: Essays, Nonfiction, Classics, History, American, Photography, Sociology

Paperback

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

John Ernst Steinbeck was an American writer. He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social perception". He has been called "a giant of American letters."
During his writing career, he authored 33 books, with one book coauthored alongside Edward F. Ricketts, including 16 novels, six non-fiction books, and two collections of short stories. He is widely known for the comic novels Tortilla Flat (1935) and Cannery Row (1945), the multi-generation epic East of Eden (1952), and the novellas The Red Pony (1933) and Of Mice and Men (1937). The Pulitzer Prize–winning The Grapes of Wrath (1939) is considered Steinbeck's masterpiece and part of the American literary canon. By the 75th anniversary of its publishing date, it had sold 14 million copies.
Most of Steinbeck's work is set in central California, particularly in the Salinas Valley and the California Coast Ranges region. His works frequently explored the themes of fate and injustice, especially as applied to downtrodden or everyman protagonists.

Reviews

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Steinbeck's final book is a meditation on the American people, character, landscape, history, and future. He offers insight on the paradoxes of our political system, the immigrant experience (and our subsequent [mis]treatment of immigrants), the myths that construct our shared American identity, the way we project our identity to the world, our connection to (and destruction of) the land, our economic obsession, the pitfalls of our nation, and how we seem to overcome our flaws to continue progressing as a united people. Steinbeck offers an honest, frank, and highly-subjective analysis (which he freely admits on page one), and he does so out of an obvious abundance of love for the nation and its people. This hardback edition from 1966 is a large book that contains striking black-and-white and color photos, offering a glimpse of the United States in the mid-twentieth century that perfectly compliments Steinbeck's text. Photographs are included from Ansel Adams, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Gordon Parks, and Alfred Eisenstaedt, among many others.

Sometimes Steinbeck's essays are illustrated by personal experiences or stories he has heard from other Americans. The result is a literary composite of a people in the mid-20th century, at the height of the United States' influence in the world after WWII, but also in the midst of challenging and chaotic problems that reverberate today, including the Cold War, the atomic age, and the struggle for civil rights. Steinbeck's national portrait still holds strikingly true fifty years later. His warnings of a populace numbed by complacency, greed, and comfort, and all-too-riled-up by emotional political rhetoric that panders to base fear and prejudice, remains relevant as our nation enters the unchartered waters of a Trump administration that threatens to take us down an authoritarian route.

Perhaps we can understand the rise of Trump from Steinbeck's view of what Americans desire in their politicians: "We want a common candidate but an uncommon office holder." It's an impossible contradiction, but one that has somehow worked in the past, as Steinbeck acknowledges. But what happens when that office holder is revealed to be decidedly "common"? Or even worse: dangerous? Again, we may turn to Steinbeck for some words of hope. The final paragraph of his afterword reassures us that even in the midst of our darkest moments (which Steinbeck does not shy away from illuminating throughout the book) Americans always manage to rise to the occasion and push for progress. The final paragraph is worth printing in its entirety:

"From our beginning, in hindsight at least, our social direction is clear. We have moved to become one people out of many. At intervals, men or groups, through fear of people or the desire to use them, have tried to change our direction, to arrest our growth, or to stampede the Americans. This will happen again and again. The impulses which for a time enforced the Alien and Sedition Laws, which have used fear and illicit emotion to interfere with and put a stop to continuing revolution, will rise again, and they will serve us in the future as they have in the past to clarify and to strengthen our process. We have failed sometimes, taken wrong paths, paused for renewal, filled our bellies and licked our wounds; but we have never slipped back--never."

Let us take strength from Steinbeck's words, and understand that as we take up the mantle of progress against the forces of fear and division, we are engaging in the long, unending national struggle of a people who stubbornly fight against the odds--and against our own base flaws and shortcomings--to reach for an ideal which might be impossible to achieve, but which is nonetheless worth striving for, since it is in that struggle where we find the greatness of our people as a nation and in our shared humanity.

[Nathaniel Wilder · Rating 3 out of 5]

his incisive cynicism never ceases to bore me. also he says "goodly" in like, 5 out of the 6 essays included, which is a goodly amount. the photos from old time and life mags are really, really great.

[Zoë · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve somehow never read a Steinbeck but my grandpa has his whole collection so I picked something interesting and also short that I could read during my stay. This book is an interesting ethnography of sorts about American culture that is interesting to compare to 1966 when it was written, to today. Not a lot has changed (seems like we’ve always thought the world was going to shit and that the government isn’t very trustworthy) but he gets to his ideas about the roots of how we are the way we are.

He’s also totally a pessimist and thinks we’re all doomed and had very little nice things to say about the whole lot.

My favorite section was about “America and the land” maybe because I’m in Nebraska now and seeing the Oregon trail and reminders of what used to be here and the bison and wildlife before it was all so quickly devoured is an interesting comparison to what he talks about. Essentially that there are too many of us, and we take too much and have too much and get advertised to too much and that applies to the land we took too. Boy if he could see it now!

“The rules allow us to survive, to live together and to increase. If our will to survive this is weakened, if our love of life, and our memories of a gallant past, and faith in a shining future are removed-what need is there for morals or rules? Even they become a danger.”

[Roxann · Rating 2 out of 5]

While John Steinbeck is my favorite author, this is the weakest of the books he wrote. This book, a collection of essays, is missing all the inspiration that makes Steinbeck's other works amazing. His unique ability of making all of his characters, both fictional and non-fictional, approachable, unique and likable is missing in this work. Basically, very few people are mentioned at all. Also missing is his sense of humor. This book was published in 1966, two years prior to his death. I am not sure that he felt any desire to write these essays, they are definitely filled with grim despair, and not much hope. He really just comes across as a cranky old man.

Also included in this book are a lot of photos. Most of these photos have no connection with the essays in the book. In fact, it is as if someone took two books and mashed them together. The photos are not stellar. There are a handful of standouts, but most are just average photos. And, the printing (maybe this is because of printing options in the 60s) is not good. The paper not quality, so even the photos that are okay are not printed great. One of the most annoying things was having 10-20 pages of photos, and the titles of them on one page, the page prior to the photos, so if you have any interest in knowing what the photo is and who snapped it, you need to keep flipping back to that page. This book must have been Viking Press' last gasp at getting another volume of work out of their Star Author. Unfortunately there is not much in it that is salvageable.

[Kirk · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the original edition of this book (white, green, and blue hardcover) which includes 100-some pages of photographs. The book is a large format because of this, which is great for the photographs, but not so great for portability or reading a page of text. I will say that the photos could have been more evenly interspersed with the text. Rather than opting for a text-photo-text-photo page layout, there are pages of text followed by pages of photos, with the largest dump of photos coming at the end. I'm torn as to whether or not the photos are a necessary part of the experience. Sure, there are some great ones, of the type one would expect from the front cover of TIME or LIFE. Perhaps I will be content in having seen these photographs at least once; then, if I ever buy the book, I'll buy the latest Penguin paperback that omits the photos and adds in various other non-fiction work of Steinbeck's. At any rate, it's the essays that are the real draw.

The following was a nice complement to my recent re-reading of David Foster Wallace's The Pale King:

"I strongly suspect that our moral and spiritual disintegration grows out of our lack of experience with plenty. […]
John Kennedy said in his famous lines, “ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country,” and the listening nation nodded and smiled in agreement. But he said it not because this selfishness might become evident but because it is evident, and increasingly so. And it is historically true that a nation whose people take out more than they put in will collapse and disappear.
Why are we on this verge of moral and hence nervous collapse? One can only have an opinion based on observation plus a reading of history. I believe it is because we have reached the end of a road and have no new path to take, no duty to carry out, and no purpose to fulfill.
[…] We manufacture things we do not need and try by false and vicious advertising to create a feeling of need for them. We have found no generally fulfilling method for employing our leisure.
[…] We have succeeded in what our fathers prayed for and it is our success that is destroying us."

[Andrew Doss · Rating 3 out of 5]

To break out of a reader's block that the East Coast winter had put me in, I spent a Saturday afternoon wandering around bookstores and coffee shops in Williamsburg, where I stumbled across a collection of non-fiction works by John Steinbeck.

The first essay I read was titled "The Making of a New Yorker"-- apt, as I am now nearly 7 months into the transition, myself, and I was charmed and inspired to find a comradery with Steinbeck regarding it... So I bought the book and opted to read the longer form essay at the end, America and Americans.

This was my adult introduction to Steinbeck (as in: not mandated by a curriculum), and I can say I quite like his take on things, and his straightforward style.

This one only gets 3 stars because it didn't draw much emotion out of me, but I'd easily give the New Yorker essay 4 or 5.

John gives an impassioned and loving take on the state of America-- its history, and its future; and fusing a libertarian foundation in himself with an understanding of the necessity of the collective, and a true desire to find the best for his country and countrymen, he expresses his concerns.

(Paraphrasing a line I quite liked: "A man is both a social animal and an individual, and he cannot be the second, without first being the first.")

The essay, to me, equates itself to a fulfilling conversation about culture and politics over coffee with a friend whom I would generally agree with. At any rate, I'm excited to read more.

[Kevin Hogg · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love how Steinbeck builds characterization and descriptive settings in his novels. I've enjoyed some of the personal accounts in his nonfiction work in which he discusses going out and interacting directly with people and places. This book has none of that. I read one of his books every year, and I quickly found myself hoping for something more interesting next year.

This book reads as though someone is sitting on their front porch talking about the good old days, ignoring the majority of the problems that existed while complaining about how nobody's any good anymore. But that's not what sunk this book for me--it's the inaccuracies in the reminiscences about a glorified past, and it's the failure to see that the experiences of his family aren't the experiences of all.

Starting from the beginning, he discusses how everyone has come together to form a unified country. Throughout, he speaks of Americans as though they're all treated equally and blessed with equal opportunities at every step. Interestingly, he discusses how everyone has chosen to come to this great land, listing countries around the globe, but Black people are notably absent from this discussion of the formation of the American people. He simplifies the story to make it seem as though people of all races and origins have not only been given ample opportunity to join the elite, but that they've all succeeded--quite the blanket statement to make. Then he goes on to lament how society has gotten to the point that people can't tell jokes about Jewish people anymore.

In another chapter, he discusses slavery as a necessity and says that enslavers shouldn't be judged too harshly. To support this, he invokes the experience of a grandfather who paid an enslaver for the use of a use of enslaved people to farm some land. He acknowledges that the workers got no pay whatsoever, but he leaves it at that--if my family did it, it can't be so bad. He reduces the opposition to slavery to a single point: Northerners were probably jealous of the leisure that Southerners enjoyed, so they wanted to take away the system that made life so easy for others. He says the discussions of adding free vs. slave states were just a means of planning the future economies of the states, and that the Civil War wasn't fought over moral concerns about slavery. He says this ended up giving enslaved people freedom that they didn't want, and he seems to indicate that post-Civil War violence was an understandable reaction by people who had lost their property.

In terms of the current population, he says that medicine has reduced infant mortality, maternal mortality, and senior mortality in a way that has become problematic. The weaker people aren't killed off anymore, so we have too many people, and society doesn't really have a use for the young and the old. He specifically discusses widows--back in the old days, they'd die young, so a man could marry five times, but now they outlive their husbands, and they don't have anything useful to do or contribute.

He says that the only real problem with American tourists has been that they were too humble and too generous when visiting other countries, and that building an increased contempt for people who haven't bothered to learn English has brought American tourists greater appreciation and respect around the world.

I could go on, but I think you get the point by now. He buys almost entirely into the story of the idealized American past--he shows some slight concern for how Indigenous people were treated, but this pales in comparison to the praise of the pioneer mentality that "settled" the country. He views the 1960s as a time when anyone from anywhere has it easy--too easy, in fact--and is now a full-fledged American life anyone else and is treated as such. As an old straight white man, I guess that's an easy enough viewpoint to have. Financial challenges don't play much of a role in his understanding of America, but he doesn't seem to remember that not everyone in the country had been awarded both a Pulitzer and Nobel prize, so he might not be the everyman he seems to believe in.

In addition to the content, the writing style just didn't work for me. It read like the sort of thing that would be quickly deleted by Wikipedia administrators for being generalizations without any evidence, or a paper that would be handed back to a high school student with a note about proving your assertions. So much of the book is a series of distortions--you can't go to a park without getting mugged, all children turn out bad, all people hearing a women in distress will ignore her, etc.

The book was disappointing at best. I've always enjoyed Steinbeck as a champion of the downtrodden and oppressed. A person who can paint a sympathetic portrait of people flocking west in the Great Depression to find opportunity. A person who can describe a labour strike and have the reader hanging on every word as the employees try to fight a greedy corporation and get what they deserve. I know Steinbeck cared about people of various races. His repulsion at watching the old white women lashing out against the young Black children wanting to attend school in Travels with Charley seems closer to where I'd place his views on race, so what happened in this book? He starts off by saying that the United States has been unfairly criticized by writers in other countries, so maybe he's on the defensive?

[Kelvin Richardson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Steinbeck has always been by far my favourite author ; I wish that I had just stuck to his fictional work !
So disappointed (and surprised) to learn of his very active support of the Korean and Vietnam Wars.
His anti-communism must have overruled his innate socialism.
Shame that he died in 1968 so far too early to know just how wrong he was.

[Rebecca Wilkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book on my shelves with the date November 1969 written in the front. So nearly 50 years later I decided to reread it. It is a small book with a lot of black/white photos and small essays written by John Steinbeck and published in 1966. He was born in 1902 and died in 1968 so it was written in his early 60's.

Steinbeck was an honored Western writer with perhaps his greatest novel THE GRAPES OF WRATH required reading in American Lit classes. This was his last book and non-fiction. I think I read it now hoping for some understanding of where America was in the early 60's as compared to 2019. He doesn't really discuss specifics. He mentions the dark history of how the Indians were treated and the slaves but he doesn't say that by 1966 Johnson had passed civil rights legislation and Medicare. The anti-Vietnam war movement was getting into full swing and the race riots after the assassination of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy were still in the future. His son wrote a book a few years later called IN TOUCH about more of those issues and his son did serve in Vietnam. The Women's movement also had already started and yet Steinbeck says of women "Women were protected to the point of worship because only they could bear children to continue the race." His very next sentence is about gays: "Homosexuality brought down the community rage on the practices because it was unconcerned and wasteful." Apparently because they don't reproduce they are wasteful? These are such Victorian ideas for a man who had some strong, interesting and outstanding characters in his novels. He later promotes historical novels over non-fiction saying: "History only recounts with some inaccuracy WHAT they did. The fiction tells or tries to tell WHY they did it and what they felt and were like when they did it."

He is better in describing the way Americans felt about things which must be the novelist in him. He says of the Civil War: "Then the power of Northern disapproval struck in the South. All slave owners were evil, brutal men. Well, they weren't, and they knew they weren't. So it came about that the Southerners had to defend slavery in order to defend themselves. It had become emotional." We are still using issues to invoke emotions and get people to think irrationally and act stupidly.

In 1966 he writes "Until recently the chance that the average native-born American would ever see a foreign country was remote so there was no need to learn languages other than their own." There are still a lot of Americans who have never traveled to foreign countries and insist that the USA should be English speaking only. He does say the soldiers who went to Europe for the world wars were surprised to learn that the people were just like them not some scary foreigners.

In regard to Americans worship of money he says: "Once in a novel I wrote about a woman who said she didn't want a lot of money. She wanted just enough. To which her husband replied that just enough doesn't exist. There is no money or not enough money. A billionaire still hasn't enough money." It reminded me of Susie Buffet (Warren's first wife) who said that "at a certain point it is just a number."

Steinbeck writes "We will not have overcome the trauma that slavery has left on our society, North and South, until we cannot remember whether the man we just spoke to in the street was Negro or white." Pete Buttigieg, a gay man, running for President in 2020 wants to be able to bring a date of the same sex to a party and have people shrug and go on with their conversation. Are we there yet for either? Maybe not entirely but the fact that we have had a Black president and now a gay man is doing well in his run for President shows that we have come a long way from the segregation and violence people in these groups would have faced in 1966.

Steinbeck worries that we face our greatest danger in human success--plenty, comfort and ever increasing leisure. But he finishes by saying: "We have moved to become one people out of many. At intervals men or groups, through fear of people or the desire to use them, have tried to change our direction, to arrest our growth, or to stampede the Americans...but we have never slipped back."

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I'll just say that something like 60% of these many essays by Steinbeck are still as valuable today as when they were first written. They deal with humanity, his past, and a sharp eye on the world he experienced--just like the core of his truly great novels.

The importance is doubly clear when the events he wrote about--unions, migrant laborers, real people--were being shat on by those with power. Circumstances were not so different in the 30's as they are now. This shouldn't be much of a surprise to anyone. But it's absolutely scary just how close we are to re-living it all, almost exactly as it happened then.

Specifics? How about those who win re-write history? The lies told about America, and re-told, and even shoved down our throats. Yes, the big lies. The ones that perpetuate racism, blaming victims, and that particular blindness that encourages fascism when it helps absolutely no one except those who think might makes right.

Steinbeck understood, and fought against it where he could, but by the end of his career, and his life, he'd seen an America on the top in the 60's. He'd seen the apparent end of the robber barons (from the high tax rates of the super rich) and the ever-growing military might of America's forces following WWII. I personally thought he got a bit confused. The only way to fight for peace is NOT by just volunteering to be medics. But that's neither here nor there, and it was still an argument borne from a man who died 50 years ago.

Some of the essays were not so political or historical, of course. Some were positively charming and personable. But at all times, they were all pretty damn GOOD. Worth reading, especially for context for a great writer's legacy, for history itself, or for anyone who still feels sympathy and mercy for others.

This book's synesthesia is like a personable chat at a table with a good friend, so just add coffee and perhaps a few pastries and the senses will be complete.


Personal note:
If anyone reading my reviews might be interested in reading my own SF, I'm going to be open to requests. Just direct message me in goodreads or email me on my site. I'd love to get some eyes on my novels.

Arctunn.com

[Lee Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of my book clubs is doing a very cool thing this year: reading classics. We threw a bunch of authors' names into a bowl and drew out 10. (We chose A Tree Grows in Brooklyn for November, and December is social.) Adding to the coolness factor, members choose whatever book they want to read by that month's author. March is John Steinbeck.

My mom was a Steinbeck fan. I am not, having read The Grapes of Wrath in school and part of East of Eden as an adult. I went to mom's collection of books and decided to do either Travels with Charley or America and Americans; try his nonfiction.

Steinbeck's writing style is still hard for me to embrace. I can't give specifics; it just doesn't speak to me. At first, I thought it was because I'm so far removed from high school and college that I can't read more dense writing, but I never embraced Steinbeck in my youth either.

This collection is a little problematic because these essays were published in 1966. The problems go beyond language - Indians, Negroes, which is expected - to a blatantly Euro-centric, white, heterosexual male take. He's no caveman, being supportive of civil rights although making no mention of women's rights. I think, though, Steinbeck was astute for his time and were he writing these essays today he would be more inclusive.

It is interesting to note, as he touches upon what makes Americans American, from their physicality, to the landscape, to the politics, to authors, to attitude, that some of what he was observing is still happening and some of what he predicted has happened. Politics are nasty business. Children aren't allowed to be children and therefore are aimless. We are polluting our land. We are losing our ethics, morals, and sense of purpose because we have it all.

[Aaron Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

Americans almost without exception have a fear and a hatred of any perpetuation of power—political, religious, or bureaucratic. Whether this anxiety stems from what amounts to a folk memory of our own revolution against the England of George III, or whether in the family background of all Americans from all parts of the world there is an alert memory of the foreign tyrannies which were the cause of their coming here in the first place, it is hard to say. Perhaps it is a combination of both; but, whatever its source, it is a very real thing.


Maybe the challenge was in the land; or it might be that the people made the challenge. There have been other strange and sudden emergences in well-remembered and documented history. A village on the Tiber spread its fluid force and techniques through the known world. A blaze from Mongolia spread like a grass fire over most of Asia and Europe. These explosions of will and direction have occurred again and again, and they have petered out, have burned up their material, smoked awhile, and been extinguished. Now we face the danger which in the past has been most destructive to the human: success—plenty, comfort, and ever-increasing leisure. No dynamic people has ever survived these dangers.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

America and Americans is an interesting and nicely written collection of essays on topics related to . . . America and Americans. Steinbeck displays his wisdom and knowledge on a range of topics and discusses how the current events and issues of the 1960's are related. It is fascinating (as always) to read Steinbeck's insight and thoughts, but the context of the 60's should be kept in mind when reading them today, in the 21st century. While some of his views are somewhat dated, those are the exception to the mass of wisdom and intelligence that are conveyed as he works through each topic. The book's pages are the majority photos from famous photographers, but aside from the photographer credits in the back of the book, there are no captions or descriptions of any kind, which is frustrating when viewing the pictures for content and context, etc. This is a great read for Steinbeck fans and Americans alike.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Given that Travels with Charley is one of my favorite books of all time, I was eager to find more of Steinbeck's writing about travel, geography, human geography, etc. But, truly, Steinbeck is a storyteller before he's an essayist, and that's pretty evident here. The writing is still descriptive but seems more blunt and straightforward, and that leaves more room for his opinions and claims to age poorly instead of remain the observing, timeless-feeling journey that Travels with Charley was. This was a quick, easy read, gave me a few chuckles from some particularly-efficient descriptions, but not terribly memorable (the pictures are awesome though).

[Marta E C R · Rating 3 out of 5]

My parents (primarily my dad, who had an intense interest in history, something he passed on to me) gave this book to me at Christmas when I was 13. I think of this now, 55 years later; he was 6 years younger then than I am now. How life goes on. It was an odd time to read this book, during the Trump years when human decency is often thrust aside in favor of corruption and lies. Nevertheless, Steinbeck has much to offer, and he does a halfway decent job of talking about both the good and the bad parts of US history. Hopefully America and Americans, as well as our democracy, will indeed prevail over the authoritarianism currently at play.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Steinbeck's thoughts in this one range from insightful to awkwardly dated, but for what it was, a snapshot in time of how he felt about his country and its people, it's a quick and interesting read. At least three times I felt he said something about our culture, how we treat people, and how we feel about the environment that was still (sadly) relevant, and it's clear we may not have come as far as we'd like to think we have as a society. But as with many of John's works, there's always a horizon of hope somewhere. We shall see...

[Sara Streit · Rating 5 out of 5]

This should be part of American High School curriculum. Although some references will seem slightly dated, his words ring true and seem ever more poignant today as America seems to be obsessed with defining what is and is not American.

Steinbeck did not mince words when he described succinctly the growing trends of societal ills that have made America what it has become (or was in 1966) today.

[Ryan Young · Rating 3 out of 5]

in general good, with steinbeck's usual keen eye for the american soul. the last 20 pages are a rant against the degeneracy of the latest crop of americans, which i felt was beneath him. As this book came out in 1964, he was talking about my dad's generation for god sake...which i have to say turned out fine. i'm never pleased with an old man crying about the young people.

[Micah · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a different kind of writing than his other works. There's no telling his message through characters and symbolism. Instead he just lays it all out. A nice collection of short essays on different facets of American culture. I enjoyed it.

[Marianne Evans · Rating 2 out of 5]

HOOWEEE. Was John ever in a bad mood when he wrote this series of essays on America! And he didn't even know about Watergate yet! I guess he was just tired and a bit drunk, maybe. I still love him and am so grateful for all his opinions, people, places and things.

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

It wasn't as enjoyable to read as his Letters. It is disappointing and depressing that many of the things he pointed out about American Society have only gotten worse.

[Dorothy Hartley · Rating 4 out of 5]

He can do no wrong (but i don't agree with everything in this book)

[Differengenera · Rating 3 out of 5]

some great stuff (some autobiography, short article on good teachers he had) and some bad stuff (strident defense of American actions during the Korean war)

[Fypast · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really gets into "get off my lawn" territory at times. And this was 1966, so today he would be a great great grandpa "get off my lawn."

[Scotty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dude knows how to drop a quote. If only he could see America 60 years later to prove he was on to something with at self-pity part

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading East of Eden, I was curious to know a bit more about Steinbeck's personal philosophies. While I still find his own beliefs somewhat inscrutable (at least from this 1966 collection of essays), America and Americans makes clear that Steinbeck is, first and foremost, interested in writing about America, its people, and its contradictions. At times the essays feel a bit dated - keeping in mind Steinbeck's oevre is largely a product of his personal microcosm (Northern California) against the dramatic backdrop of the first half of the 20th century. He is probably right to lament about the laziness and consumption-driven attitudes of his present day, although it does feel a little like grandpa lecturing the young'uns. Interestingly enough: he documents American consumerism just like DeLillo would a couple decades later, although DeLillo completely excised the morality of the consumption act.

Despite a few odd notes, his documentation of American energy and social malaise still feels current today. A brief, dense, and worthwhile read.

[Jerome Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

“America and Americans” by John Steinbeck

‘Here, in Steinbeck’s own words, is “a book of opinions, unashamed and individual . . . inspired by curiosity, impatience, some anger, and a passionate love of America and Americans.

Similar to essay in form “America and Americans” is a dynamic read for a reader interested in opinions from an artist that made it his life’s goal to write about America and its citizens. Mixed with black and white photographs from many outstanding artists adds a definite palpable feel to the read. Steinbeck comments on surprising subjects such as slavery, marriage, childrearing, the elderly, ecology, anthropology, individual responsibility, and materialism. He clearly spells out, in his opinion, why America and Americans evolved into who they are today and what they possibly might become.

[Falina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I tried to give this book a fair shot but I'm not American, and so not only do I have little interest in the subject matter, but I have no basis for assessing or relating to any of the information (although I did enjoy the chapter on the future of America). This seems to be a very self-indulgent book for Steinbeck--I wonder if in some way he was trying to make up for Travels with Charley [since he fabricated much of his "nonfiction" account, which wasn't discovered until well after his death]. It's possible at this point I'm just not being fair. I've read 27 Steinbeck books so far this year and I'm sick of him.

[Patrick]

I stumbled upon this one on a “for sale” shelf in a public library in Arizona. Each essay reads like a stream of conscious on two or three themes Steinbeck sees in America’s past, present, and future. His folksy reviews of major historical events (civil war, western expansion, etc) were amusing, but will frequently make modern readers wince. I enjoyed his review of American literature’s establishment and growth, and it was unusual to read a list of America’s best writers that excluded Mr Steinbeck. I was disappointed in its lack of prescience, and it often seemed the author of Grapes of Wrath lost his sensitivity as he aged, but perhaps my expectations were unfair.

[Millie Muroi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspired by Caitlin, I had a dig in the family archives. I’d come across this book a number of times but never stopped for long enough to notice its author - John Steinbeck! - or the annotations that put my schooldays to shame.
A really great perspective on the land of the free, that is critically self-aware and infused with entertaining anecdotes. Still highly relevant in today’s political and socio-cultural climate.