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Mad at the World: A Life of John Steinbeck
Souder, William
ISBN:
9780393292268
Hardback
In Stock: 1
$60.98 
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This first full-length biography of the Nobel Laureate to appear in a quarter century explores John Steinbeck's long apprenticeship as a writer struggling through the depths of the Great Depression, and his rise to greatness with masterpieces such as The Red Pony, Of Mice and Men, and The Grapes of Wrath. His most poignant and evocative writing emerged in his sympathy for the Okies fleeing the dust storms of the Midwest, the migrant workers toiling in California's fields, and the laborers on Cannery Row, reflecting a social engagement?paradoxical for all of his natural misanthropy?radically different from the writers of the so-called Lost Generation.
A man by turns quick-tempered, contrary, compassionate, and ultimately brilliant, Steinbeck took aim at the corrosiveness of power, the perils of income inequality, and the growing urgency of ecological collapse, all of which drive fierce public debate to this day.
The New York Times Book Review, review by Brenda Wineapple, online October 6 (link)
“Souder’s sympathy for Steinbeck… is most effective and eloquent in his depiction of the California landscape or of the sea, which he describes as swimming with small pelagic crabs “like a crimson carpet spread across an ocean the color of lapis lazuli.””
Washington Post, rave review by Alex Kafka, October 1 (link)
“Painstakingly researched, psychologically nuanced, unshowy, lucid... [Souder] has brought a deeply human Steinbeck forth in all his flawed, melancholy, brilliant complication.”
Wall Street Journal, prominent review by Sam Sacks, online October 1/in print October 3 (link)
The New York Times, 17 New October Books, September 24 (link)
“A comprehensive new biography of America’s best-known novelist of the Great Depression arrives at a timely moment.”
Steinbeck Now, excellent review by Don Coers, September 14 (link)
“A brisk and engaging account by a highly-regarded biographer whose estimation of Steinbeck’s importance a half-century after his death is itself testimony to his durability as a writer of fiction and critic of our world. Readers unfamiliar with Steinbeck’s story will come away from Souder’s rendering with a forceful first impression. Those who feel they already know the story well enough can anticipate the pleasure of traveling down a newly-opened road through one’s home town: the general landscape is familiar, but the perspective is novel and the trip its own reward.”
Author: Souder, William
Publication date: 03/11/2020
Imprint: W W Norton US
Pages: 464
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