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In "Travels Without Charley," Bill Steigerwald's road blog from the fall of 2010, he detailed how he discovered John Steinbeck’s 1962 nonfiction classic "Travels With Charley" is not a true and honest account of the cross-country trip he made in the fall of 1960. The daily account of Steigerwald's 11,276-mile trip, which first appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, starts in Sag Harbor, N.Y.

I discovered two important truths when I set out to follow John Steinbeck’s "Travels With Charley" route in the fall of 2010. I found out Steinbeck’s iconic nonfiction book was a 50-year-old literary fraud. And I found out that despite the Great Recession and national headlines dripping with gloom and doom, America is still a big, empty, rich, safe, clean, prosperous and friendly country. This site explains how I stumbled onto Steinbeck’s deceit and includes the daily account of my 11,276-mile drive from Long Island to Maine to California and back. Meanwhile, I’ve turned my adventures with John Steinbeck and his famous work into an Amazon.com book of my own, "Dogging Steinbeck." A nonfiction one.
E-mail Bill Steigerwald

The National Steinbeck Center is the most accessible place to enter the fictional and nonfictional world of John Steinbeck, who was 58 when he set off in search of America. Located in Salinas, Calif., Steinbeck's birthplace, the center offers multimedia exhibits and the star Steinbeck relic, Rocinante, the restored truck-camper used for "Travels With Charley," the top-selling book in the museum store. The center's archivist will take your questions at the center's Facebook page.

San Jose State University's
Martha Heasley Cox Center for Steinbeck Studies

His books

His biographers

Rachel Dry's Washington Post piece about her trip and encounter with me

His publisher

His movies & TV

His author son Thom

His boost from Oprah

“Travels With Charley” on Facebook

“Travels With Steinbeck” by Greg Ziegler

Atlantic Monthly review