John Steinbeck: The Journals of a Novelist

Two journals John Steinbeck kept while writing his two most famous novels provide an intimate look into the author’s creative process.
Tagged under: , , ,
NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft

Interstellar News From NASA

Apparently lost and 15 billion miles from Earth, NASA’s Voyager 1 calls home.
Tagged under: ,

Uniquely American Concord, Massachusetts — Video Dispatch

Clay spent a morning in Concord, Massachusetts, while traveling through New England this spring. Located northeast of Boston, Concord has deep roots in American history and culture.
Tagged under: , , , , ,

Patricia Limerick and George Orwell on Stage!

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.
Tagged under: , , ,

The Best John Steinbeck Biographies, Part II

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.
Tagged under: , , ,
May 9 / John Steinbeck, his dog Charley and his camper rig.

Sag Harbor to Bismarck: What I’m Learning About John Steinbeck and His “Search of America”

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.
Tagged under: , , , ,

Literary Time Travel — Step Into Carl Sandburg’s World in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains

A visit to the Blue Ridge Mountains home of America’s beloved poet, Carl Sandburg.
Tagged under: , , , ,
The famous “Earthrise,” photograph taken by Apollo VIII astronaut William Anders, December 24, 1968.

The Death of Astronaut William Anders and the Promise and Challenge of Earthrise

Astronaut William Anders, died on June 7, 2024 at the age of 90. Anders, a member of the Apollo 8 team, will always be remembered as the man who took the famous Earthrise photograph on Christmas Eve 1968.
Tagged under: , ,

The Best John Steinbeck Biographies, Part I

As Clay prepares for the second leg of his Travels with Charley journey, Russ Eagle calls out the best John Steinbeck biographies.
Tagged under: , , ,
Kew Gardens, London. A paining by French artist, Lucien Pissarro, 1892.

The Heroic and Problematic Legacy of Joseph Banks

I was listening to an audio biography of Joseph Banks, the great British naturalist who sailed with Captain James Cook, who made Kew Gardens in Britain, and who was the president of the Royal Society — among much else, not all so admirable it turns out.
Tagged under: , ,