''The Sand Pebbles'' is a 1962 novel by American author

Richard McKenna Richard Milton McKenna (May 9, 1913 – November 1, 1964) was an American sailor and novelist. He was best known for his historical novel, ''The Sand Pebbles'' which tells the story of an American sailor serving aboard a Yangtze Patrol, gunboat ...

about a Yangtze River gunboat and its crew in 1926. It was the winner of the 1963

Harper Prize The Harper Novel Prize was an award presented by Harper Brothers, an American publishing company located in New York City, New York. The award was presented to the best novel by an "a writer who hitherto had not found a wide audience". A number ...

for fiction. The book was initially serialized in the ''

Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely c ...

'', and in January 1963 it was published by

Harper & Row Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City. History J. & J. Harper (1817–1833) James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...

. In 1966 it was adapted into the movie of the same name starring

Steve McQueen Terrence Stephen McQueen (March 24, 1930November 7, 1980) was an American actor. His antihero persona, emphasized during the height of the counterculture of the 1960s, made him a top box-office draw for his films of the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1 ...

Background

Richard McKenna served aboard a Yangtze River gunboat in 1936 but set the novel a decade earlier, during the Nationalist

Northern Expedition The Northern Expedition was a military campaign launched by the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Kuomintang (KMT), also known as the "Chinese Nationalist Party", against the Beiyang government and other regional warlords in 1926. The ...

of 1925–1927, aboard the fictional USS ''San Pablo'', a captured Spanish gunboat left over from the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...

. The phrase "sand pebble" is a pun on the boat's name; thus, the sailors who serve on her are the ''sand pebbles''.

Plot

The novel describes a life of boredom and sudden battle action, but the chief conflict is between the traditional western ideas, which saw China in racist and imperialist terms, and emerging nationalism. The protagonist, Motor Machinist Mate First Class Jake Holman, the ''San Pablo's'' chief engineer, teaches his Chinese workers—he refuses to call them "

coolies A coolie (also spelled koelie, kuli, khuli, khulie, cooli, cooly, or quli) is a term for a low-wage labourer, typically of South Asian or East Asian descent. The word ''coolie'' was first popularized in the 16th century by European traders acros ...

"—to master the ship's machinery by understanding it, not just "

monkey see, monkey do Monkey see, monkey do is a pidgin-style saying that was already called an "old saying" in 1900. The saying refers to the learning of a process without an understanding of why it works. Another definition implies the act of imitation, usually with ...

". The ship is sent to save the China Light Mission from anti-foreign mobs, setting off a debate: "No man who favors the

unequal treaties Unequal treaty is the name given by the Chinese to a series of treaties signed during the 19th and early 20th centuries, between China (mostly referring to the Qing dynasty) and various Western powers (specifically the British Empire, France, the ...

has the right to call himself a Christian!" Others reply "It is time for the Society for Propagation of the Gospel to step aside. It is time for the Society for Propagation of Cannonballs to bring them to their senses." After the crew burn and destroy a war junk, Holman takes a landing party to rescue the missionaries, including teacher Shirley Eckert whom Jake has met several times and come to love. Holman is pinned down and killed, but Miss Eckert is saved.

Reception and review

It was serialized in the ''

'' for the three issues from November 17, 1962 through December 1, 1962. The author completed it in May 1962, just in time to enter it in the 1963 Harper Prize Novel Contest. Not only was it picked over 544 other entries for the $10,000 first prize and accepted for publication by

, but also it was chosen as the following January's

Book-of-the-Month Club Book of the Month (founded 1926) is a United States subscription-based e-commerce service that offers a selection of five to seven new hardcover books each month to its members. Books are selected and endorsed by a panel of judges, and members ch ...

selection.

Editions

* Richard McKenna, ''The Sand Pebbles: A Novel'' (New York: Harper & Row, 1962). Reprinted: Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 2000. .

References

External links

Website devoted exclusively to the film version of ''The Sand Pebbles''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sand Pebbles Fiction set in 1926 1962 American novels American novels adapted into films Harper & Row books Novels first published in serial form Novels set in China Novels set in the 1920s Riverine warfare American war novels Works originally published in The Saturday Evening Post pt:The Sand Pebbles