Places of the Heart 1
Always Something to Do in Salinas 4
The Golden Handcuff 13
A Primer on the '30s 17
Making of a New Yorker 32
My War with the Ospreys 41
Conversation at Sag Harbor 50

II

Engaged Artist 65
Dubious Battle in California 71
The Harvest Gypsies: Squatters' Camps 78
Starvation Under the Orange Trees 83
From Writers Take Sides 88
I Am a Revolutionary 89
Duel Without Pistols 91
The Trial of Arthur Miller 101
Atque Vale 105
Dear Adlai 108
G.O.P. Delegates Have Bigger, Better Badges 110
L'Envoi 112

III

Occasional Pieces 117
Then My Arm Glassed Up 125
On Fishing 132
Circus 136
Random Thoughts on Random Dogs 139
... like captured fireflies 142
The Joan in All of Us 144
A Model T Named "It" 147

IV

On Writing 151
The Play-Novelette 155
My Short Novels 158
Rationale 161
Critics-from a Writer's Viewpoint 163
Some Random and Randy Thoughts on Books 167
Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech 172

V

Friends 175
From About Ed Ricketts 179
Ernie Pyle 213
Tom Collins 215
Robert Capa 217
Adlai Stevenson 219
Henry Fonda 223
Woody Guthrie 225

VI

Journalist Abroad 227
The Soul and Guts of France 233
One American in Paris (fourth piece) 246
One American in Paris (thirteenth piece) 248
Positano 251
Florence: The Explosion of the Chariot 259
I Go Back to Ireland 262
The Ghost of Anthony Daly 270

VII

War Correspondent 275
Troopship 282
Waiting 285
Stories of the Blitz 288
Lilli Marlene 291
Bob Hope 293
Vietnam War: No Front, No Rear 296
Action in the Delta 299
Terrorism 304
Puff, the Magic Dragon 307
An Open Letter to Poet Yevtushenko 311

VIII

America and Americans 313
Foreword 317
E Pluribus Unum 319
Paradox and Dream 330
Government of the People 339
Created Equal 346
Genus Americanus 354
The Pursuit of Happiness 369
Americans and the Land 377
Americans and the World 383
Americans and the Future 392

Afterword 403

Works Cited 405

Selected Bibliography of Steinbeck's Nonfiction 407

Index 417