In this episode, host Jordan Mattox sits down with Dr. Michael Zeitler for an expansive conversation about John Steinbeck’s Tortilla Flat — its mythic structure, its treatment of poverty, the nature of friendship and communal codes, and how Steinbeck used the Monterey landscape to explore deep questions about history and identity. Together they examine the novel’s tragic undercurrents, its echoes of World War I trauma, its links to Mice and Men, Grapes of Wrath, In Dubious Battle, and Cannery Row, and why Steinbeck’s early works continue to provoke debate about caricature, class, and representation. Dr. Zeitler also reflects on Hardy, Haney’s Beowulf, the anthropology of place, car mechanics in Steinbeck, and the philosophical lineage running from Emerson to Ellison. A wide-ranging, insightful discussion for Steinbeck fans and California history enthusiasts alike.
What keeps Chinatown alive? In this episode of The History of California Podcast, host Jordan Mattox speaks with Dr. Laureen Hom, author of The...
Rob Crisell is an author, poet, actor, winemaker, and teacher in Temecula, California. For the past eight years, he has taught poetry and Shakespeare...
In this episode, we talk about the forces driving toward the eventual conflict with Mexico.