Overview
A classic from the time of its first printing, Charlotte's Web remains an integral part of the canon of children's literature today. This reference reflects upon the innocence E. B. White's story represents and explores why it was the ideal story for its time: an era when America reveled in the end of the last of the great wars, but never forgot the Great Depression. Likewise, Korea was a discomforting but distant place for the people of the 1950s, as distant as was the chopping block to Wilbur. Opening with a concise yet thorough chronology of E. B. White's life, Griffith successfully proceeds to show the reader how E. B. White's lifestyle, notably White's own experience as a Maine farmer, is reflected in Charlotte's Web.