Major newspaper reviews of Mad at the World, released by W.W. Norton and Company this week, continued the process of recalibrating public perception of the life of John Steinbeck begun by William Souder in his long-awaited biography of a writer who cared more about the public, and principle, than the critics. “John Steinbeck, Bard of the American Worker,” the October 6 New York Times review by Brenda Wineapple, praised Souder’s candid but admiring portrait of a sometimes unsympathetic artist whose anger proved prophetic. “Yet to the reader,” added Wineapple, “Steinbeck seems less angry than shy, driven and occasionally cruel—an insecure, talented and largely uninteresting man who blunted those insecurities by writing.” “Reconsidering John Steinbeck in ‘Mad at the World’”—the October 9 Boston Globe review by Wendy Smith—praised the “appreciative yet clear-eyed assessment of Steinbeck” by a seasoned biographer who “argues persuasively that the writer’s politics consisted primarily of a hatred for bullies.” “Of Souder and Steinbeck,” the October 10 Twin Cities Pioneer Press profile of Souder—a principled Minnesotan with deep roots in prairie populism—further complimented Souder, and this website, by quoting Donald Coers’s review of Mad at the World at SteinbeckNow.com.
About William Ray
Big Congratulations to Will on the big-time recognition for “Mad at the World.” I can’t recall as much press, web-world, and social media on a Steinbeck subject ever.
His genius-with-human-frailty approach brings a frank new satisfaction that John is like so many conflicted masters off the arts—yet personally relatable to the rest of us.
I’m going to suggest that Amazon’s serial apologetic notices of delayed shipment is a testament to an extraordinary popularity—even at, or particularly because of, times like this.