Travels With Charley In Search Of America Page

Beyond sociology, the book is an intimate self-portrait. Charley served as a "diplomat" to help him connect with strangers and a proxy for Steinbeck's own fears about aging and health. A Legacy of "Creative Nonfiction"

In 1960, John Steinbeck —famed chronicler of the Dust Bowl and Nobel laureate-to-be—realized he had lost the "pulse" of his own country. At 58 years old, after decades of living in New York and traveling Europe, he feared he was writing about an America that no longer existed. His solution was a 10,000-mile loop around the nation in a custom camper-truck named , accompanied only by a distinguished French poodle named Charley . Travels with Charley in Search of America

Steinbeck noted the rise of mobile homes as a symbol of a nation that no longer wanted to be rooted. Beyond sociology, the book is an intimate self-portrait