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This saga of a writer done dirty resurrects the silenced voice of Sanora Babb, peerless author of midcentury American literature.
In 1939, when John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath was published, it became an instant bestseller and a prevailing narrative in the nation's collective imagination of the era. But it also stopped the publication of another important novel, silencing a gifted writer who was more intimately connected to the true experiences of Dust Bowl migrants. In Riding Like the Wind, renowned biographer Iris Jamahl Dunkle revives the groundbreaking voice of Sanora Babb.
Dunkle follows Babb from her impoverished childhood in eastern Colorado to California. There, she befriended the era's literati, including Ray Bradbury and Ralph Ellison; entered into an illegal marriage; and was blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee. It was Babb's field notes and oral histories of migrant farmworkers that Steinbeck relied on to write his novel. But this is not merely a saga of literary usurping; on her own merits, Babb's impact was profound. Her life and work feature heavily in Ken Burns's award-winning documentary The Dust Bowl and inspired Kristin Hannah in her bestseller The Four Winds. Riding Like the Wind reminds us with fresh awareness that the stories we know—and who tells them—can change the way we remember history.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
October 15, 2024 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9780520395473
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9780520395473
- File size: 6557 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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October 1, 2024
Honoring a forgotten writer. Biographer and poet Dunkle sensitively recounts the life of Sanora Babb (1907-2005), a noted journalist, novelist, and memoirist. At the age of 5, she was nicknamed "Riding Like the Wind" because she managed to stay on a runaway pony by holding desperately to its mane. As the biography's title, the epithet aptly describes Babb's uncommon grit and determination. When she was 7, her family moved from Oklahoma to a desolate region of Eastern Colorado, where the failure of her father's dry-land farming scheme forced the family to live in a crude dugout, nearly starving. Many moves followed, which resulted in Babb's finally going to school, working as a newspaper journalist, and publishing poems and short stories. In 1929, she set out for Los Angeles, eager to escape her father's volatile temper and cruelty. Dunkle chronicles Babb's professional successes and growing fame; among her friends and supporters were Ray Bradbury and poet Genevieve Taggard. An attractive, lively young woman, she refused many marriage proposals, including William Saroyan's. Her longest, most intense relationship was with Academy Award-winning, Chinese-born cinematographer James Wong Howe, whom she was able to marry in 1949--when miscegenation laws ended. In the 1930s, Babb volunteered with the Farm Services Administration, taking detailed notes on the plight of migrant workers during the Dust Bowl. Unfortunately, she was asked to share her notes with John Steinbeck, who mined them forThe Grapes of Wrath. Although her own novel based on her experiences was already under contract, when Steinbeck's book appeared in 1939, her contract was canceled. Despite that grave disappointment, Babb continued to write, earning acclaim for her memoirAn Owl on Every Post; her contribution to Dust Bowl history was recognized in Ken Burns' PBS documentary. A well-researched, empathetic biography.COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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