Customer Reviews

Farewell to Model T and From Sea to Shining Sea

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you are only familiar with E.B.White from his children's books, this pair of essays is a great way to treat yourself to the genius of his beautifully simple yet brilliant essays. Several others have been published in small book form in recent years, notably This Is New York. Find out why Mr. White was the mainstay of The New Yorker for 50 years. Elements of Style is still being taught in high schools and colleges today, despite a plethora of new and more elaborate books on writing. He is the master!

After checking out this book from the Library and reading it once I knew it would be perfect for my dad, who loves everything about cars. It was his Christmas present this year and while I was wrapping it I opened it up and couldn't put it down and ended up reading it through for a second time. It's a beautifully written hommage to the Model T, and to a time that now feels like ancient history, though it was only 80 or so years ago. My dad loved it and has read it twice himself now. It's the perfect size to pick up and read through instead of watching some worthless sitcom.

MY LATE FATHER LOVED WHEN I READ THIS BOOK TO HIM, OVER AND AGAIN, AND HE WOULD HAVE ME PAUSE EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE SO THAT HE COULD ADD HIS "TWO-CENT'S WORTH" BEST AS HE COULD REMEMBER IT. I LATER BOUGHT A SECOND COPY FOR ANOTHER ELDERLY GENT ... GOT THE SAME REACTION. IT WAS FUN TO WATCH THIS WONDERFUL LITTLE BOOK BE ABLE TO EVOKE A SHAKE OF THE HEAD OR JUST PURE AMUSEMENT EVERY TIME THE PASSAGES WERE READ.

My husband enjoyed this book immensely and I was thrilled that I received it before Christmas as was told when ordering it. Would definitely order from this seller again.

The Little Bookroom has specialized in interesting, well produced books devoted to travel, art and literary essays. This volume presents two of E.B. White's early essays.

"Farewell to Model T" originally appeared in 1936 in "The New Yorker" as "Farewell My Lovely." White is at the top of his comic game describing the Model T with knowledge and a bit of love. The essay itself was used for many years as a sample of great writing for high school and college English classes, and marks the start of his fame as a writer.

"From Sea to Shining Sea" was written in 1953, describing his trip across America in 1922 in a Model T. He brought along a Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, "to serve as a constant reminder that our true destination was the world of letters." He describes the importance of the journey in his own personal development:

"To an American, the physical fact of the complete America is, at best, a dream, a belief, a memory, and the sound of names. My own vision of the land--my own discovery of its size and meaning--was shaped, more than by any other instrument, by a Model T Ford. The vision endures; the small black roadster as always there, alive and kicking, a bedroll wedged against its spare, a dictionary sprawling on its floor, an Army trunk bracketed to its left running board. The course of my life was changed by it, and it is in a class by itself. It was cheap enough so I could afford to buy one; it was capable enough so it gave me courage to start.

"Youth, I have no doubt, will always recognize its own frontier and push beyond it by whatever means are at hand. As for me, I've always been glad that mine was a two-track road running across the prairie into the sinking sun, and underneath me a slow-motion roadster of miraculous design--strong, tremulous, and tireless, from sea to shining sea."

The publisher has been criticized for not not describing the publishing history of "Farewell to Model T." It appeared in "The New Yorker" under the pseudonym Lee Strout White It was suggested to White by a manuscript submitted by Richard L. Strout of the Christian Science Monitor. It served as the basis for the book "Farewell to the Model T", published later that same year.

White often acknowledged Strout's contribution: an author's note in a collections of his work refers to "Farewell, My Lovely" as "a collaboration with Richard L. Strout." "Slate" asks: Why isn't the reprint similarly gracious?

"Slate" for Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2003 quotes the managing editor of the Little Bookroom: "Strout's proposal inspired White, but White wrote the existing essay himself. The prose is clearly White's and portions of the essay are autobiographical, such as the description of his experience on the Columbia River in Washington. These were reasons enough alone to publish the essay under White's name. We also took into account the fact that it would be confusing to readers to publish a 1936 essay under a pseudonym that lacked relevance today. Ultimately, however, the matter was settled by the [literary] agency and the White estate."

Whether this information should have been revealed in this small collection is certainly a matter of opinion. What is not open to question is how delightful these two essays are, and how pretty is the book that contains them.

Robert C. Ross 2008

I bought this for my husband for Valentine's since he owns a Model T. He said he really enjoyed reading it. He had heard about the book a while back but had never read it until now. It must have been good for him to read it instead of his car magazines!

This edition ranks only a "3" -- not because of any flaw in E. B. White's prose, but because it lacks appropriate editing. The essay "Farewell to Model T" was not solely written by White, but this fact is found on Google, not in the book. A few minutes to write a brief introduction would have been a better editorial choice.