Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Following up ...

... On the Trail of John Steinbeck: 5 Questions for Traveler and Writer Bill Barich. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

As for the usual lament re "the Limbaughs," I suggest he follow my approach: Change the dial. I don't listen to any talk radio, including NPR. I don't watch TV news. I simply have what I regard as better things to do with my time. On the other hand, for those who like that sort of thing, well, that's the sort of thing they like. And it's a free country -- still, more or less -- and they can listen to and watch what they like.

3 comments:

  1. I appreciate you bringing this book to my attention. I shall read it.
    Steinbeck's last novel, The Winter of Our Discontent, was a bleak critique of American life, an extension of his thought as outlined in Travels with Charlie. I have read it twice, consider it one of his best books. I know that the critics don't think so, but they, like the rest of us, only know what they know.

    By the way, I got the impression he felt required to listen to talk radio as part of his investigations as he travelled the country. I bet he turned it off when he got home.

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  2. I'm with you, Lincoln. I also think The Winter of Our Discontent is one of Steinbeck's best. The critics at the time didn't think he should have the Nobel, probably because he was what used to called a Henry Jackson Democrat; his criticism of the country was grounded in his love for it.

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  3. Lincoln Hunter7:00 AM

    Correcting an awful error. In the final paragraph of my comment, I used the pronoun 'he' instead of the proper name 'Bill Barich'.
    Proof that one shouldn't drink and scribe.

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