Farewell to Model T and From Sea to Shining Sea

by E.B. White, Richard L. Strout, Richard Lee Strout

In 1922, just out of college and at loose ends, E.B. White set off across America in a Model T. He left his map at home, but packed his typewriter— his true destination, he tells us, was the world of letters. White wrote the richly humorous "Farewell to Model T" for The New Yorker in 1936; it was the first of his essays to bring him fame. In "From Sea to Shining Sea," White conjures the unspoiled America that remained his most enduring subject.

The first essay of E. B. White's to become famous, "Farewell to Model T" originally appeared in 1936 in The New Yorker as "Farewell My Lovely." It is rich in comic descriptions of the eccentricities of the car, the demands it put on its devoted owners, and the hardware and decorative accessories—from 98-cent anti-rattlers to the "de-luxe flower vase of the cut-glass anti-splash type"—that kept them pouring over the Sears Roebuck catalog. If there was an owner's manual for the flivver, it didn't begin to divulge what the owner needed to know. That's where theory, speculation, superstition, and metaphysics came "I remember once spitting into a timer," White recalls, "not in anger, but in a spirit of research."

It is published for the first time with "Sea to Shining Sea," in which White conjures the America that he had discovered as a 22-year old during a cross country trip in his Model T. (The year was 1922, the same the year that Fitzgerald and Hemingway went to Paris to find themselves.) In it he would "My own vision of the land—my own discovery of it—was shaped, more than by any other instrument, by a Model T Ford...a slow-motion roadster of miraculous design—strong, tremulous, and tireless, from sea to shining sea."

Genres: Nonfiction, Essays, Travel

42 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2003

About the author

Elwyn Brooks White was a leading American essayist, author, humorist, poet and literary stylist and author of such beloved children's classics as Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, and The Trumpet of the Swan. He graduated from Cornell University in 1921 and, five or six years later, joined the staff of The New Yorker magazine. He authored over seventeen books of prose and poetry and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1973.

White always said that he found writing difficult and bad for one's disposition.

Mr. White has won countless awards, including the 1971 National Medal for Literature and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal, which commended him for making “a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children.”

Reviews

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two exquisitely written New Yorker essays, first a paean to the Model T: "Any car which was capable of going from forward into reverse without any perceptible mechanical hiatus was bound to be a mighty challenging thing to the human imagination".

And then the nostalgia of a six-month drive across the United State in a Model T in 1922: "The Model T was not a fussy car. It sprang cheerfully toward any stretch of wasteland whether there was a noticeable road under foot or not. It had clearance, it had guts, and it enjoyed wonderful health."

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable jaunt with White as he drives or remembers driving his Model T. The two essays, written in 1936 and 1953 are well paired and capture his wit, affection for this automobile, and keen eye for details.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two short essays that provide an interesting look at the Model T Ford and travel in the United States in the early years of the 20th century. Well written, but you would expect that from E. B. White.

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a small book containing only two essays, but it's wonderful to read any non-fiction by E.B. White. (My first experience of his non-fiction was One Man's Meat, a collection of columns relating his first year on a farm after he retired from The New Yorker magazine.)

[John Rosenfelder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this short essay

[Curtis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always enjoyed reading E. B. White, when he's not writing about grammar. I picked this little book up on a whim today at a used book store, and reading it this evening has reminded me of how charming and witty he can be. In short, it's a proto-On the Road when there were barely any roads on which one could be.

Surprisingly, although writing in the 1930s and '50s about a car produced in the '20s, these short memoirs hold up. The Model T is so iconic to early 20th century Americana that it's easy to picture the unique and ubiquitous problems and fun times elicited by that vehicle. And of course, it reminds me of my own first car, not a Ford but a poo-brown Chevy Cavalier, and all the incidents that endeared it to me.

[Tom Hunter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This slender volume by beloved author E.B. White is charming, especially for the revelation it carries that author E.B. White embarked on a cross-country jaunt in his Model T. Being a member of the Model T in crowd, I will admit this book is full of inside references that may not be recognizable to Joe Sixpack or Jane Maybellene on the street. Suffice it to say that I got every one and found accompanying Mr. White quite entertaining.

The second half of the book is "From Sea to Shining Sea", also in a Ford Model T. This contained more adventures in an old car. Still, this volume cannot earn 5 stars, as it did not have the unity of vision that one requires in the category of 5 stars.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good, if ridiculously short book. It takes about 10, maybe 15 minutes to read both essays, which are the length of a very-short magazine article. Still, White's prose is excellent, and it's fun to read about a time so far gone from modern society, and yet still fairly similar, if now waning -- America's love-affair with the automobile.

[Stuart · Rating 1 out of 5]

Two small essays. Disappointing. The first was lost in technical details of the Model T and read like a manual. The second was a bit brighter & witty. White had just got his writing motor going when it came to a grinding halt. This was his essay travelling across America. A whole book should have come out of that journey! Dissatisfaction!

[Consuela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this at a used book store and foolishly got rid of it when I was moving. It's a wonderful autobiography of E.B. White. I'd sure like to get my hands on it again! It's a wonderful book and gives you insight into the author of Charlotte's Web, Elements of Style, and many other books.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Twelve stars. Every word of this tiny book is perfect.