The first 3/4 of this book includes the essays, editorials, commentaries, and obituaries written by Steinbeck before the Vietnam War. They are wonderful. They span the years of his childhood through his time in the early days of his fatherhood while living in Sag Harbor with Elaine, his last wife.

His obituary of Ed Ricketts, who is featured in his book [b:Cannery Row|4799|Cannery Row (Cannery Row, #1)|John Steinbeck|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388188936l/4799._SX50_.jpg|824028] is a stunning piece of writing. Their deep and abiding friendship is one to be envied.

I love Steinbeck's political positions. They clarify and give life to difficult human situations. It's clear his priority is the individual and how it melds into the great tapestry of America. His heart is enormous.

Vietnam changed Steinbeck's views on America. His son was in Vietnam, and Steinbeck was pro-war during the police action. He was a friend to Lyndon Johnson. Steinbeck had always been patriotic, but his views on the American public and American youth changed radically as the protest movements grew. He grew disillusioned and bitter with the children and hippies of the 1960s. His stance was understandable.

Or maybe it was just age. There's an old political trope, revised again and again, that if you are a conservative in youth, you have no heart. If you are a liberal in old age, you have no brain. Steinbeck had lived a long and varied life by then. He'd seen much and watched the world change first-hand during a tumultuous time in history. He was probably more entitled to his altered opinions than most.

It might surprise Millennials and Zoomers to learn that Boomers were the recipients of such vitriol. I chuckled. The G.I. Generation (What they were called before “Silent Generation”.) railed against television and music the same way that Boomers rail against video games and social media.

At 62 rolled my eyes like a teenager during the last 1/4 of the book. It's safe to say that some things never change. ( )

America and Americans and Selected Nonfiction is two different books. One is Steinbeck's final book, a collection of essays published in 1966 entitled America and Americans. In this slender volume, Steinbeck's thoughts on the state of America were originally paired with photographs by acclaimed photographers such as Ansel Adams, Gordon Parks, and Alfred Eisenstaedt (these photos do not accompany later editions).

The other book here is the Selected Nonfiction. Many people are unaware that throughout Steinbeck's career, the author was a prolific writer of short pieces of nonfiction. He published several hundred essays on a wide variety of topics. America and Americans and Selected Nonfiction includes fifty four of these essays.

Together, all these various pieces feel disjointed. Part of the problem was Steinbeck himself. Despite persistent views that Steinbeck was this or was that, he was an individual who chose not to become any one thing. He did not subscribe to a particular ideology and all that came with it. So, while Steinbeck may have been extremely far left leaning in some areas, he was very conservative in others. While he may have been very cultured, he was also very domestic. While he could be secular, he was also religious. Steinbeck was no one particular thing. As such, he succeeded in being offensive to a very large percentage of the populace. The same man who complains about the evil capitalism of the American corporation praises the American military in Korea and Vietnam for being above reproach. From one essay to the next, the result can be dizzying.

Those who've read Steinbeck extensively as I have will recognize many of the pieces. Selections from some of Steinbeck's published books such as The Harvest Gypsies, A Russian Journal, Once There Was a War, and The Log from the Sea of Cortez are present. Also here are a relatively small selection of those pieces Steinbeck published in various magazines from the 1930s through the 1960s.

There's nothing spectacular here, though there are moments here and there when Steinbeck shines. Particularly, I think of his chapter in America and Americans called “Created Equal” where he addressed the plight of the descendants of African slavery in a rather open-minded and forward-thinking way for a white man of his era. There's also nothing too surprising here, though, as I implied earlier, some of Steinbeck's views are jarring.

America and Americans and Selected Nonfiction is a Steinbeck book for the Steinbeck die hard. Casual readers of Steinbeck will likely grow bored of the book before reaching the end. Myself, I found some selections fascinating, some tedious, but most were little more than clever observations by an astute mind. ( )

Much better book than expected. Steinbeck was way ahead of his time, and these essays could have been written now, in this frightful present day. I found these essays to ring especially true regarding the state of our country, the good old USA. Though a difficult, and rather too-intense an individual to remain forever close friends with, John Steinbeck was a good and honest man. What he saw and felt too often tortured him, and nothing could salve his open wounds. ( )

This is, in my opinion, Steinbeck's greatest and most thought-provoking book. Steinbeck seems to have really understood America and Americans, even though he refused to compromise his ideals in order to be liked by more Americans. An amazingly wonderful book and highly recommended to anyone who wants to better understand America or Americans (or who wants to better understand Steinbeck). ( )

Interessante libro di saggistica scritto dal premio Nobel 1962; è sorprendente scoprire quanto è ancora attuale la sua visione della società americana (...e quanto quella italiana sia sempre più simile!) ( )