Travels with Charley: In Search of America

John Steinbeck's Travels with Charley is travelogue based on a nearly 10,000 mile road trip he took late in life with his pet poodle, Charley. It is one of Steinbeck’s loosest and most relaxed books, full of casual observations on everything from urban sprawl and commercial radio to regional speech patterns and culinary trends. While his social and political insights are quite surface-level, some of his nature writing is excellent. This is a tender and loving portrait of America, warts and all.