Our Scott Martelle wrote this interview piece for the LA Times on writer Bill Barich's new book "Long Way Home: On the Trail of Steinbeck's America," in which Barich loosely follows in John Steinbeck's footsteps in "Travels With Charley" to take the measure of the United States during the 2008 presidential campaign. From Martelle's story:
It was a dream project for a nonfiction writer — a few weeks on the open road with a loose itinerary and a license to indulge personal curiosity. And the project fit in neatly with some of Barich's previous works, including his 1980 debut "Laughing in the Hills," in which he immersed himself in the Bay Area's Golden Gate Fields horse track, and his 2009 book, "A Pint of Plain," about his search for the quintessential Irish pub.
For "Long Way Home," Barich spent six weeks on the road and then another nine months back in Ireland writing. The book is part travelogue, naturally, but it's also a series of ruminations by a writer with liberal inclinations trying to fathom the conservative heart of his home nation — and also to understand the occasional mood of passivity among people who were often easily riled by political manipulations.
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