Riding Like the Wind

This absorbing biography, written with both affection and admiration, shows Babb as one of the most indefatigable characters in American literary history.The New RepublicThis saga of a writer done dirty resurrects the silenced voice of Sanora Babb, peerless author ofmidcentury American literature. In 1939, when John SteinbecksThe Grapes of Wrath was published,it became an instant bestseller and a prevailing narrative in the nations 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 eras literati, including Ray Bradbury and Ralph Ellison; entered into an illegal marriage; and was blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee. It was Babbs 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, Babbs impact was profound. Her life and work feature heavily in Ken Burnss award-winning documentary The Dust Bowland inspired Kristin Hannah in her bestsellerTheFour Winds.Riding Like the Windreminds us with fresh awareness that the stories we knowand whotells themcan change the way we remember history.