Travels with Charley

Travels with Charley: In Search of America is a travelogue by John Steinbeck, depicting his 1960 road trip around the United States with his poodle Charley. Steinbeck wanted to rediscover America and its people as he felt he did not know enough about it. Steinbeck traveled in a specially made camper named Rocinante, covering nearly 10,000 miles around the outer border of the United States. The reason for the trip was that Steinbeck knew he was dying and wanted to see his country one last time. Steinbeck's son cautions that the travelogue should not be taken too literally as Steinbeck was at heart a novelist. Steinbeck's trip started in Long Island, New York, and roughly followed the outer border of the United States, from Maine to the Pacific Northwest, down into his native Salinas Valley in California across to Texas, through the Deep South, and then back to New York. Steinbeck's descriptions of his encounters with people and places are detailed and insightful. Steinbeck was intrigued by mobile homes and thought they showed a new way of living for America. He reflects on rootedness, finds much to admire both ways, going and staying, and finds a secret language and camaraderie among truckers. Steinbeck's trip took him through places of historical significance, such as the battlefield of Little Big Horn and the redwood trees in California. Steinbeck attended a Thanksgiving Day "orgy" at a wealthy cattle ranch near Amarillo, Texas, and discussed Texas and its citizens and culture. Steinbeck witnessed the angry and racist protests by white mothers outside the recently integrated William Frantz Elementary School in the Ninth Ward in New Orleans, which depressed him. Steinbeck's trip ends as he drives back to New York.Travels with Charley Summary

• The book follows John Steinbeck as he embarks on a road trip across America with his dog, Charley, to reconnect with the country and its people.
• Steinbeck encounters a diverse range of people and experiences, from the natural beauty of Montana to the racial tensions of New Orleans.
• The book explores themes of identity, community, and the changing landscape of America in the early 1960s.
• Steinbeck's journey culminates in a realization that America is directionless and endangered in the face of population shifts, racial tensions, and environmental destruction.
• Travels with Charley was published in mid-1962, just before Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, and reached #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list.
• The book draws inspiration from Robert Louis Stevenson's Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes.
• In 2010, Dutch journalist Geert Mak retraced Steinbeck's journey and wrote a book about the changes he encountered in American society.
• The veracity of Steinbeck's account has been challenged by some, including Bill Steigerwald, who followed the same route and found inconsistencies in Steinbeck's narrative.
• Steinbeck scholars generally do not dispute the findings, but argue that the book still holds value as a work of literature and a reflection of Steinbeck's perspective on America.
• The 50th anniversary edition of Travels with Charley includes a disclaimer acknowledging the possible fictionalization of some elements of the narrative.
• The book has been referenced in popular culture, including in a song by Trampled by Turtles and in a Beach Boys track.
• The themes and ideas explored in Travels with Charley continue to resonate with readers and scholars today, making it a lasting contribution to American literature.