Mad at the World Will Make Headlines and Happiness

An advance copy of Mad at the World: A Life of John Steinbeck in the hands of Steinbeck Now shows why the new biography of America’s greatest writer by William Souder is certain to make media headlines—and readers happy—when it is released by W.W. Norton & Company in October. Five years in the making, it is the first full-length life of Steinbeck in a generation and differs from earlier biographies by focusing on inner psychology as well as external events, illuminating the personal conflicts, crises, and contexts that made Steinbeck’s career so hard for critics to accept when he was alive. Written in clear English with impeccable but unobtrusive scholarship, it resolves old mysteries, dispels accrued nonsense, and reveals hidden motivations in the history of a writer whose life, told here, reads like a novel. A full review will appear in this space in September, but don’t wait until then. Pre-order your copy today.