Salinas, California: Home to the Famous Author and the National Steinbeck Center
Tuesday, August 13 2024
Clay arrives in Salinas and Monterey, California, the home turf of a young John Steinbeck.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
Patricia Limerick and George Orwell on Stage!
Tuesday, August 06 2024
Clay will join noted author and MacArthur Awardee Patricia Limerick at the Vail Symposium in Colorado on August 21 to discuss George Orwell’s novel 1984.
- Published in Features
Jack Kerouac’s Final Resting Place — Video Dispatch
Thursday, August 01 2024
Clay visits the grave of Jack Kerouac, “pioneer of the Beat generation,” in Lowell, Massachusetts.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
Clay Visits Thoreau’s Walden Cabin — Video Dispatch
Saturday, July 27 2024
As he travels through New England, Clay stops at Walden Pond outside of Concord, Massachusetts, to visit the original site of the 10 by 15 foot cabin immortalized in Henry David Thoreau’s American classic Walden.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
John Steinbeck’s Evening With a Father and Son in Idaho
Sunday, July 21 2024
John Steinbeck stumbles into an uneasy father-son relationship during a quiet stopover near Coeur d’Alene.
- Published in Features
It’s a Dog’s Life — Billings, Montana
Monday, July 15 2024
John Steinbeck’s French poodle Charley is the star of Travels with Charley. The dog must have been remarkable because he steals the show in every scene he’s in. Steinbeck wrote about him with great grace, affection, and humor.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
The Best John Steinbeck Biographies, Part II
Friday, July 12 2024
Russ Eagle builds on his previous list of John Steinbeck biographies by looking at works that focus on specific relationships and periods in the author’s life.
- Published in Books
John Steinbeck and Me in Beach, North Dakota
Tuesday, July 09 2024
John Steinbeck spent the night of October 12, 1960, in Beach, North Dakota, just a few miles from the Montana border. He was about to fall in love with Montana.
- Published in Features
Grasslands Renaissance on the Great Plains
Tuesday, July 02 2024
A visit with author, falconer and pioneering regenerative rancher Dan O’Brien on his remarkable Cheyenne River Buffalo Ranch.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
Sag Harbor to Bismarck: What I’m Learning About John Steinbeck and His “Search of America”
Sunday, June 30 2024
This spring, Clay departed Sag Harbor, New York, on an expedition to follow John Steinbeck's 1960 cross-country trek immortalized in Travels with Charley. Recently, after completing the first phase of the trip, Clay reflects on what he's learned about Steinbeck and how he now sees the story behind the classic travelogue.
- Published in Features