Long Way Home (26 page)

Acknowledgments

My thanks to David Shipley and George Kalogerakis at the
New York Times
, who published a bit of this material in a different form; Dr. Joseph Trimmer of the Virginia Ball Center at Ball State University, for his kind invitation and some much-appreciated gas money; David Milch, whose generous spirit made life easier once I sat down to write; Jacqueline Johnson, for her helpful editorial comments; and George Gibson, a first-rate publisher if ever there was one.

Author's Note

In order to understand John Steinbeck's decision to make the trip that resulted in
Travels with Charley
, I relied on Jay Parini's
John Steinbeck: A Biography
(New York: Henry Holt, 1996), and
Steinbeck: A Life in Letters
, edited by Elaine Steinbeck and Robert Wallsten (New York: Penguin, 1989). The essays collected as “America and Americans” are included in
Of Men and Their Making: The Selected Nonfiction of John Steinbeck
, edited by Susan Shillinglaw and Jackson J. Benson (London: Penguin, Allen Lane, 2002). I am indebted to Theodore H. White's incisive
The Making of the President 1960
(New York: Atheneum, 1961) for the background information on that election.

A Note on the Author

Bill Barich has written extensively for the
New Yorker
, and his work has also appeared in such diverse publications as
Sports Illustrated
,
American Poetry Review
,
Best American Short Stories
, and
The Literary Journalists
. His racetrack classic
Laughing in the Hills
has never been out of print, and he is the author as well of
A Pint of Plain
,
Crazy for Rivers
, the novel
Carson Valley
, and
A Fine Place to Daydream.
He has been a Guggenheim Fellow and a Literary Laureate of the San Francisco Public Library, and currently lives in Dublin and California.

  

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

A Pint of Plain

A Fine Place to Daydream

Crazy for Rivers

Carson Valley

Big Dreams: Into the Heart of California

Hard to Be Good

Traveling Light

Laughing in the Hills

Copyright © 2010 by Bill Barich

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information address Walker & Company, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.

Published by Walker Publishing Company, Inc., New York

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Barich, Bill.
Long way home : on the trail of Steinbeck's America / Bill Barich.—1st U.S. ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-8027-1754-2 (hardcover)
1. Barich, Bill—Travel—United States. 2. United States—Description and travel. 3. Steinbeck, John, 1902—1968—Travel—United States. 4. Steinbeck, John, 1902– 1968. Travels with Charley. I. Title.
E169.Z83B375 2010
917.304—dc22
2010009539

First published by Walker Publishing Company in 2010
This e-book edition published in 2010

E-book ISBN: 978-0-8027-7805-5

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