The chronicle of Steinbeck's journey across America with his dog Charley.

A final installment of a four-part collection of the classic American writer's works features his later novels, including "The Wayward Bus," "Burning Bright," "Sweet Thursday," and "The Winter of Our Discontent," in a volume that is complemented by his final published account, "Travels with Charley."

Penguin Classics commemorates the 50th anniversary of Steinbeck's Nobel Prize with two stunning new editions of his best-loved worksAt age fifty-eight, John Steinbeck and his poodle, Charley, embarked on a journey across America. This chronicle of their trip meanders from small towns to growing cities to glorious wilderness oases. Still evocative and awe-inspiring after fifty years, Travels with Charley in Search of America provides an intimate look at one of America's most beloved writers in the later years of his life-a self-portrait of a man who never wrote an explicit autobiography. Written during a time of upheaval and racial tension in the South-which Steinbeck witnessed firsthand-Travels with Charley is a stunning evocation of America on the eve of a tumultuous decade.

Author John Steinbeck was 58 when he set out to rediscover the country he had been writing about for so many years. With his elderly French poodle, Charley, he embarked on a quest across America, from the northermost tip of Maine to California's Monterey Peninsula. Traveling the interstates and the country roads, they stopped to smell America: trucker and strangers, old friends and new acquaintances. Steinbeck's poignant, perceptive reflections reveal the American character: a blend of unexpected kindnesses and racial hostilities, loneliness and humor.

In September 1960, John Steinbeck and his poodle, Charley, embarked on a journey across America. A picaresque tale, this chronicle of their trip along scenic backroads and anonymous superhighways is animated by Steinbeck's attention to the natural world and his sense of how the lives of people are intimately connected to the rhythms of nature. His keen ear for the transactions among people is evident, too, as he records the interests and obsessions that preoccupy the Americans he encounters along the way. Travels with Charley, originally published in 1962, provides an intimate and personal look at one of America's most beloved writers in the later years of his life, and is a stunning evocation of a country on the eve of a tumultuous decade.

Steinbeck records his emotions and experiences during a journey of rediscovery in his native land.

Steinbeck records his emotions and experiences during a journey of rediscovery in his native land.

The chronicle of Steinbeck's journey across America with his dog, Charley.