Bill Steigerwald

I read 'Travels with Charlie' for the reading club. Glad I followed it with this one. I won't rate it, but it's just because I wanted to concentrate on pages, where Steinbeck's 'inconsistencies' were exposed. I wasn't much interested in author's one experiences of America discovery. Not that those parts were badly written, but rather it,s just because I had too little time to gulp the book for the Club's session. plus he provides good overview of current vs. Steinbeck's US in the end of the book.

I can't say that reading this book soured my impression from the Steinbeck's one, but my fellow club men were veery surprised to learn the realities of that trip and about all those pieces that never went into the final edition of the Travels. All this extra data makes Steinbeck so much more real person.… (mehr)

Excellent book detailing Sprigle’s love of journalism, natural wit, the time and energy he expended in getting the truth of every story because he was inspired and determined to report the best, most accurate articles for the readers of Pittsburgh’s Post-Gazette. He exposed Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black as a member of the KKK. Sprigle went undercover at Philadelphia’s Byberry Mental Institution as both patient and staff to see and experience the harsh reality first-hand. 30 Days a Black Man focuses on Sprigle’s covert operation to see and experience the Jim Crow south as a black man. He gets guidance from Walter White, Executive Secretary of the NAACP (and William Henry Harrison’s great-grandson).

Sprigle has the good fortune to be driven and mentored by John Wesley Dobbs, one of the most distinguished, hard-working, and intelligent men of his time. He read, educated himself, and ensured his 6 daughters had the confidence and knowledge to attend and graduate Spelman College in Atlanta, forbidding them to attend segregated events. He did everything he could and then some to improve black lives politically, financially, educationally (yes, I made this word up because it should exist), etc. Of course, helping Sprigle was right up his alley. Dobbs introduces Sprigle to middle-class and poor blacks in the South to interview, as well as explaining how a black man or woman needed to behave to remain safe and alive. Sprigle learns much he didn’t know, and is personally affected and embarrassed by the pain, humiliation and fear whites have caused and perpetuated for too long onto their black employees and neighbors. Back in Pittsburgh he writes a stunning series of articles which generate good and bad letter responses. Based on this series he writes the book In the Land of Jim Crow.

30 Days a Black Man book is honest, lively, readable, and smart and an enthusiastic description of Ray Sprigle’s exciting life. He was unafraid of powerful people, extroverted and friendly, and uniquely qualified to take on difficult stories he knew needed public exposure. Steigerwald deftly weaves in the politicians, journalists, newspapers, and businesses who played large roles in U.S culture and history in the 40’s and 50’s so we can clearly understand the how and why of racism and the evils of the south’s Jim Crow, segregation, and the north’s ignorance and hypocrisy.… (mehr)

oh boy.

at first the book was a bit of a curiosity. then i began feeling quite annoyed with the author. things then escalated to the point i was hate-reading the last ⅓ of this book. sigh. i am not sure what went so horribly wrong with this book for me? in initially i wondered if the author was trying to be funny and it just wasn't translating well? but i don't think that's it. the style of writing is not very strong, so that was problematic throughout. but i also found the tone of the writing to be...as though the author was putting himself above everyone else, as though he was better than everyone else. there are moments in the book when the author criticized steinbeck, but then goes and does the exact same thing he's critical about. for instance, steigerwald calls out steinbeck for perhaps being mean. and then goes on to be fairly nasty himself. (towards the state of louisiana, in one over-the-top display.) so i was really noticing lots of moments of hypocrisy.

another thing that to really hit me the wrong way was the grossly unnecessary number of times steigerwald had to insert the fax that he's a libertarian. (25+, in case you are wondering.) who the fuck cares?! (a statement steigerwald should actually appreciate given his predisposition.)

overall, i just came to find the personality of the author - as shown in this book - to be that of a jerkface. one instance of this has to do with a potential visit with his sister. the author lives in pittsburgh. his sister in...new mexico. he gets to within 100 miles of his sister's house - a place where she lives mostly off the grid, in a very simple way. steigerwald has time for this, as he's ahead of steinbeck's schedule. but he opts to not go visit her. a bit later on, when he does not quite have a lot of time, he goes on a 125-ish mile detour. where i had a problem was in how he qualified this decision, which only served to make me feel that his sister was not terribly important to him.

it's funny how things are read and opinions are formed. steigerwald may be a perfectly nice man...but, wow. i did not get that impression in reading this book. it's clear he has done a lot of research on steinbeck, and it's cool he retraced (mostly) steinbeck's 1960 journey. both men, though looking to find 'america', were fairly insulated in their travels, their exposures were to mostly white, middle class people. at times (both in 1960 and in 2010) when so many people in america are struggling, and politics are so active, neither did a good job of capturing diverse slices of life. (though at least steigerwald recognizes this, yet seems to take pains to stress how well and wealthy americans are doing today (wtf?)- the fact his only visit to an area of colour/diversity occurred in new orleans, and is then followed by a serious hate-on rant agains the entire state really didn't serve him, or the book, well at all.)

i don't know if i am making sense here. i have a number of passages highlighted in the book, so will come back to add some quotes to support my opinions, once i have my nook at hand.

anyway...this book -- skip it. i read it for you, now you don't have to. ugh!… (mehr)