"In 1960, when he was almost 60 years old, John Steinbeck set out to rediscover his native land. Accompanied only by a French poodle named Charley, he traveled the length and breadth of the United States. He outfought a hurricane in New York and drank cognac in Maine with a family of migrant farm workers. He renewed old acquaintances in California and attended a modern witches' sabbath in New Orleans. He saw things which stirred his anger and things which made him swell with pride. . ."
