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America and Americans and Selected Nonfiction
- Narrated by: Henry Strozier
- Length: 17 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Release date: 08-01-13
- Language: English
- Publisher: Penguin Audio
- Whispersync for Voice-ready
Regular price: $24.50
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The Pastures of Heaven
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Today, nearly 40 years after his death, Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck remains one of America's greatest writers and cultural figures. We have begun publishing his many works for the first time as Penguin Classics. This season we continue with the seven spectacular and influential books East of Eden, Cannery Row, In Dubious Battle, The Long Valley, The Moon Is Down, The Pastures of Heaven, and Tortilla Flat.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The Wayward Bus
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In his first novel to follow the publication of his enormous success, The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck's vision comes wonderfully to life in this imaginative and unsentimental chronicle of a bus traveling California's back roads, transporting the lost and the lonely, the good and the greedy, the stupid and the scheming, the beautiful and the vicious away from their shattered dreams and, possibly, toward the promise of the future. This edition features an introduction by Gary Scharnhorst.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Steinbeck always touches the heart, makes you feel
- By Kelly on 05-08-17
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The Log from the Sea of Cortez
- By: John Steinbeck
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 199
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 179
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 179
The Log from the Sea of Cortez is the exciting day-by-day account of Steinbeck's trip to the Gulf of California with biologist Ed Ricketts. Drawn from the longer Sea of Cortez, it is a wonderful combination of science, philosophy, and high-spirited adventure.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Beautiful Book
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In Dubious Battle
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 222
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 193
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 193
This 1936 novel—set in the California apple country—portrays a strike by migrant workers that metamorphoses from principled defiance into blind fanaticism.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The best story - ever ! Awesome narrator !!!!!!!!!
- By Inventing Mostly on 03-07-15
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The Winter of Our Discontent
- By: John Steinbeck
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- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 879
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In awarding John Steinbeck the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature, the Nobel committee stated that with The Winter of Our Discontent, he had “[R]esumed his position as an independent expounder of the truth, with an unbiased instinct for what is genuinely American".
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3 out of 5 stars
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Memorable characters, great narration, POOR AUDIO
- By Sam D. on 05-18-16
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Tortilla Flat
- By: John Steinbeck
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- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 408
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Adopting the structure and themes of the Arthurian legend, Steinbeck created a Camelot on a shabby hillside above the town of Monterey, California, and peopled it with a colorful band of knights. At the center of the tale is Danny, whose house, like Arthur’s castle, becomes a gathering place for men looking for adventure, camaraderie, and a sense of belonging—men who fiercely resist the corrupting tide of honest toil and civil rectitude.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A Good Book
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 140
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Today, nearly 40 years after his death, Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck remains one of America's greatest writers and cultural figures. We have begun publishing his many works for the first time as Penguin Classics. This season we continue with the seven spectacular and influential books East of Eden, Cannery Row, In Dubious Battle, The Long Valley, The Moon Is Down, The Pastures of Heaven, and Tortilla Flat.
-
5 out of 5 stars
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Golden, mythical America
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-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 313
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5 out of 5 stars
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Steinbeck always touches the heart, makes you feel
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Beautiful Book
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5 out of 5 stars
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The best story - ever ! Awesome narrator !!!!!!!!!
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- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 879
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 786
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 791
In awarding John Steinbeck the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature, the Nobel committee stated that with The Winter of Our Discontent, he had “[R]esumed his position as an independent expounder of the truth, with an unbiased instinct for what is genuinely American".
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3 out of 5 stars
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Memorable characters, great narration, POOR AUDIO
- By Sam D. on 05-18-16
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Tortilla Flat
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4 out of 5 stars
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A Good Book
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Once There Was a War
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In 1943 John Steinbeck was on assignment for The New York Herald Tribune, writing from Italy and North Africa, and from England in the midst of the London blitz. In his dispatches he focuses on the human-scale effect of the war, portraying everyone from the guys in a bomber crew to Bob Hope on his USO tour and even fighting alongside soldiers behind enemy lines. Taken together, these writings create an indelible portrait of life in wartime.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The greatest war story(ies) ever told
- By Robert Achenbach on 07-16-15
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To a God Unknown
- By: John Steinbeck, Robert DeMott (introduction)
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Set in familiar Steinbeck territory, To a God Unknown is a mystical tale, exploring one man's attempt to control the forces of nature and, ultimately, to understand the ways of God.
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5 out of 5 stars
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My Favorite Steinbeck; Terrible and Beautiful
- By Michael on 04-28-13
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Cannery Row
- By: John Steinbeck
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- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,522
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,337
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Published in 1945, Cannery Row focuses on the acceptance of life as it is: both the exuberance of community and the loneliness of the individual. Drawing on his memories of the real inhabitants of Monterey, California, Steinbeck interweaves the stories of Doc, Henri, Mack and his boys, and the other characters in this world where only the fittest survive, to create a novel that is at once one of his most humorous and most poignant works.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Five stars with a Caveat
- By Bette on 04-23-12
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Travels with Charley in Search of America
- By: John Steinbeck
- Narrated by: Gary Sinise
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,481
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,232
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,237
In September 1960, John Steinbeck and his poodle, Charley, embarked on a journey across America, from small towns to growing cities to glorious wilderness oases. Travels with Charley is animated by Steinbeck’s attention to the specific details of the natural world and his sense of how the lives of people are intimately connected to the rhythms of nature—to weather, geography, the cycles of the seasons. His keen ear for the transactions among people is evident, too, as he records the interests and obsessions that preoccupy the Americans he encounters along the way.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Enjoyed the Journey
- By Rebb on 12-15-11
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A Russian Journal
- By: John Steinbeck
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
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- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 69
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 65
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 65
Steinbeck and Capa's account of their journey through Cold War Russia is a classic piece of reportage and travel writing.Just after the Iron Curtain fell on Eastern Europe, Pulitzer Prize-winning author John Steinbeck and acclaimed war photographer Robert Capa ventured into the Soviet Union to report for the New York Herald Tribune.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Extremely Interesting
- By Jean on 12-04-14
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The Long Valley
- By: John Steinbeck, John H. Timmerman (Introduction)
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 76
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 63
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Story4 out of 5 stars 62
Adopting the structure and themes of Arthurian legend, in Tortilla Flat John Steinbeck creates a Camelot on a shabby hillside above Monterey on the California coast and peoples it with a colorful band of knights. As he chronicles the thoughts and emotions, temptations and lusts of the knights, Steinbeck spins a tale as compelling as the famous legends of the Round Table.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Generally Good Stories, Some are Great
- By Michael on 06-18-13
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The Grapes of Wrath
- By: John Steinbeck
- Narrated by: Dylan Baker
- Length: 21 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 6,130
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 5,517
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 5,515
At once naturalistic epic, captivity narrative, road novel, and transcendental gospel, Steinbeck’s, The Grapes of Wrath is perhaps the most American of American classics. Although it follows the movement of thousands of men and women and the transformation of an entire nation during the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s, The Grapes of Wrath is also the story of one Oklahoma farm family, the Joads, who are forced to travel west to the promised land of California.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Wish I could give it 10 stars!
- By P. Minor on 07-18-14
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East of Eden
- By: John Steinbeck
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 25 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 7,118
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 6,423
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 6,440
This sprawling and often brutal novel, set in the rich farmlands of California's Salinas Valley, follows the intertwined destinies of two families - the Trasks and the Hamiltons - whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel.
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5 out of 5 stars
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This Drama Prepares You for Life
- By J.B. on 04-13-16
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The Moon Is Down
- By: John Steinbeck
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 3 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 185
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 164
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 161
"Free men cannot start a war, but once it is started, they can fight on in defeat." This compelling, dignified and moving novel was inspired by and based upon the Nazi invasion of neutral Norway. Set in an imaginary European mining town, it shows what happens when a ruthless totalitarian power is up against an occupied democracy with an overwhelming desire to be free.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A beautiful piece of propaganda!
- By Kelly on 05-08-17
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Cup of Gold
- A Life of Sir Henry Morgan, Buccaneer, with Occasional Reference to History
- By: John Steinbeck, Susan F. Beegel - introduction
- Narrated by: Ronan Vibert
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 30
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 28
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Story4 out of 5 stars 28
From the mid-1650s through the 1660s, Henry Morgan, a pirate and outlaw of legendary viciousness, ruled the Spanish Main. He ravaged the coasts of Cuba and America, striking terror wherever he went. Morgan was obsessive. He had two driving ambitions: to possess the beautiful woman called La Santa Roja and to conquer Panama, the "cup of gold".
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4 out of 5 stars
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Not your usual Steinbeck novel
- By Andrew on 06-03-15
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The Red Pony
- By: John Steinbeck
- Narrated by: Frank Muller
- Length: 2 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 157
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 139
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Story4 out of 5 stars 141
Raised on a ranch in northern California, Jody is well-schooled in the hard work and demands of a rancher's life. He is used to the way of horses, too; but nothing has prepared him for the special connection he will forge with Gabilan, the hot-tempered pony his father gives him. With Billy Buck, the hired hand, Jody tends and trains his horse, restlessly anticipating the moment he will sit high upon Gabilan's saddle. But when Gabilan falls ill, Jody discovers there are still lessons he must learn about the ways of nature and, particularly, the ways of man.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Steinbeck maybe about his youth?
- By karen on 08-25-13
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The Short Reign of Pippin IV
- A Fabrication
- By: John Steinbeck, Robert E. Morsberger - introduction, Katherine Morsberger - introduction
- Narrated by: Jefferson Mays
- Length: 4 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 8
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 7
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Story4 out of 5 stars 7
In his only work of political satire, The Short Reign of Pippin IV, John Steinbeck turns the French Revolution upside down as amateur astronomer Pippin Héristal is drafted to rule the unruly French. Steinbeck creates around the infamous Pippin the most hilarious royal court ever: Pippin's wife, Queen Marie, who "might have taken her place at the bar of a very good restaurant"; his uncle, a man of dubious virtue; and his glamour-struck daughter and her beau, the son of the so-called "egg king" of Petaluma, California.
Publisher's Summary
More than three decades after his death, John Steinbeck remains one of the nation's most beloved authors. Yet few know of his career as a journalist who covered world events from the Great Depression to Vietnam. Now, this original collection offers a portrait of the artist as citizen, deeply engaged in the world around him. In addition to the complete text of Steinbeck's last published book, America and Americans, this volume brings together for the first time more than 50 of Steinbeck's finest essays and jouralistic pieces.
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- Doug
- 07-26-14
Really good Steinbeck journalism.....no kidding!
The title of this book kept me from reading it for many years even though I love Steinbeck. The title suggested that the book was a vapid piece of bragging about what a wonderful place America is....well, I do not disagree that America is wonderful and great, but I did not want to hear my beloved Steinbeck doing some kind of Readers Digest puff piece on America. Wow! Was I wrong! This book is great Steinbeck writing....nothing short of his usual perceptive and feeling prose. It reminds me a bit of Travels with Charley in that this book is non-fiction and a report on the state of American and Americans during the fifties and sixties mostly, with some World War II stuff added. One or two pieces are among the last of Steinbeck's last writings....the essays on Vietnam deal with his trip to that county during the war in 1967, and Steinbeck died less than two years later. His mature, late-life writing is simply great, as indeed most of his work was from at least 1939 forward. Thank God I took a chance on this book....good Steinbeck prose is as good as any prose ever written, and there is very good stuff here. Finally, much of what he includes here is humorous, very reminiscent of some of Twain's journalism with tongue in cheek, such as his Innocents Abroad or Roughing It. Listen and enjoy! (PS...the narrator is excellent, the sound quality excellent also)
13 of 13 people found this review helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Christopher
- 05-05-16
America read America and Americans
No collection of non-fiction is more important and necessary than America and Americans. This book should be required reading for every high school student. As important as Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men, so too is Steinbeck's collection of essays, advice to writers, letters to friends, and war correspondence.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Cameron
- 02-25-16
A valuable tour of Steinbeck's best non-fiction
America and Americans is a still-relevant discussion of some of our culture's most important topics, and some just for fun. All of the skills of the literary master are on display here as he paints a scathing view of 20th Century America while still retaining a hopeful tone and an unrelenting faith in humanity. The Penguin collection of the works does an excellent job of contextualizing the pieces without providing too much interpretation. Henry Strozier's baritone voice lends the weight to the text that it deserves.
Highly recommended for fans of Steinbeck or thought-provoking journalism.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- farzad
- 12-05-17
History repeats itself
A must read for all Americans! The true history how we got here and were we’re going as the citizens of this great nation. It is sad to see it crumbling
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Zara
- Denver, CO
- 05-09-18
not the greatest but interesting historically
while America and the Americans was terrific, the selected non fiction seemed slapped together in parts and might have benefited from being presented in a chronological fashion.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Zahid Ahmad
- Houston, TX
- 04-04-18
Perfect book as usual by the pen of John Steinbeck
Steinbeck's writing has never disappointed me. The ideas and expression of American life style is as if it is coming from one's own mind. Narration is also of high quality.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Paul
- 10-02-17
Great novelist, average essayist.
I love Steinbeck as a novelist, but his non-fiction does not quite reach the very high bar set by his fiction.
0 of 2 people found this review helpful