In this first full-length study of McPhee, Michael Pearson argues that the writer successfully employs the techniques of fiction writing in his journalistic art while honoring his obligation to fact. In exceptionally lucid and entertaining prose, Pearson approaches his subject thematically, examining McPhee's lifework in the realms of personal profiles, sense of place, science and technology, and nature. In a comprehensive biographical chapter, Pearson...

Steinbeck's progression from naturalism to drama of consciousness is traced in a study bringing to light concepts of human destiny accounting for differences between novels and stories written prior to and after 1945.