Journalist Souder (On a Farther Shore) presents a comprehensive, eloquent exploration of the life and career of John Steinbeck (1902--1968). Souder begins with Steinbeck's childhood, frequently miserable college years at Stanford (he was known to fire a gun at the wall when frustrated with his writing), and time living in a cabin on Lake Tahoe, where he toiled tirelessly on his first book, Cup of Gold, and met his first wife, Carol Henning. The novel's unsuccessful 1929 publication was quickly followed by the stock market crash, and five years later, by his mother's death after a protracted illness. However, out of the ashes of this difficult time came his tremendously successful novel Tortilla Flat, in 1935, and then in 1937, Of Mice and Men. Meanwhile, Steinbeck started interviewing impoverished farmers from the Dust Bowl, research that went into the arduous writing of The Grapes of Wrath. In the years that followed, Steinbeck struggled with newfound celebrity, left Carol for his second wife, Gwyn Conger, and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. Souder neither deifies nor condemns his subject, remarking candidly on Steinbeck's misogyny and propensity for mythmaking, while making clear the author's ardent devotion to his craft. Steinbeck fans could not ask for a more nuanced account of this troubled giant of American literature. (Oct.)

An authoritative and sympathetic account of the life of the Nobel laureate. While John Steinbeck (1902-1968) still enjoys a good reputation in high school and undergraduate classrooms, the critical consensus is less generous, treating him as a sentimental writer undeserving of his Nobel. When asked if he deserved the prize, Steinbeck answered, "Frankly, no." This is typical of Steinbeck as we encounter him in this book, the first major biography of him in 25 years. Souder, previously the biographer of Rachel Carson and John James Audubon, presents his subject as always somewhat ill-suited to his moment. Unlike his prominent contemporaries Fitzgerald and Hemingway, Steinbeck underwent a "long apprenticeship" due to his "failure to see that what he should write about was already inside him." When he did find success--in dramatic fashion with Tortilla Flat, In Dubious Battle, Of Mice and Men, and The Grapes of Wrath--much of it was due to significant contributions from his first wife, Carol. Steinbeck's preoccupation with death kept him busy at his desk but with little attention to the quality of his work. By Souder's account, the vague and indiscriminate grudge Steinbeck carried most of his life may have enabled what would prove to be his enduring attribute as a writer: his understanding and compassion for the downtrodden. "This was the part of the human condition," writes the author, "he could never abide: the abuse and oppression of anyone by someone more powerful." Strikingly, however, his empathy didn't always extend to his intimates. He could be cruel, especially to his first two wives and his sons (both with his second wife, Gwyn). The affable narrator of Travels With Charley, then, isn't whom we should call to mind when we think of Steinbeck. Souder's version is much more persuasive. A lively and perceptive portrait of the artist as a complicated guy. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Best known for The Grapes of Wrath, the epic novel of migrant farm workers during the Great Depression, Steinbeck (1902-1968) earned a deserved reputation for giving voice to the voiceless. He produced several popular novels and nonfiction works among his 20-odd books, cashed lucrative checks from Hollywood, and pocketed a Nobel Prize. But, as with more than a few of his literary contemporaries, his life was a mess. Insecure as a writer, sex-driven, drink-damaged--you get the picture. Souder, biographer of John James Audubon and Rachel Carson, draws a solid, straightforward, and mostly empathetic portrait of Steinbeck's bootstrap-rise from rural California to cultural fame and complicated fortune. But Steinbeck was uncomfortable with and perturbed by almost all of it, including the obligation "to perform for his admirers." His books often wavered between human poignancy and philosophical gibberish, and his critical reception was forever mixed. Souder highlights Steinbeck's little-appreciated environmental consciousness on land and sea. But then there's this: Steinbeck engineered one of the more outrageous wife-versus-mistress moments readers will ever encounter. The mistress won, becoming the second of his three wives.