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''In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash'' is a novel by American humorist Jean Shepherd first published in October 1966. A best-seller at the time of its publication, it is considered Shepherd's most important published work. Portions of the work were adapted into the 1983 movie ''A Christmas Story'' and into the 1994 film ''It Runs in the Family''. ==About the book== Jean Shepherd was a well-known American humorist who performed on radio in the decades after World War II. Beginning in June 1964, he began adapting many of his radio stories for publication in ''Playboy'' magazine. He focused primarily on those stories which depicted his childhood in the fictional town of Hohman, Indiana (a stand-in for Shepherd's home town of Hammond, Indiana).〔Bergmann, p. 320.〕 According to ''Playboy'' founder Hugh Hefner, author Shel Silverstein had long encouraged Shepherd to write down his radio stories, but Shepherd was reluctant to do so because he was not a writer. Eventually, Silverstein recorded Shepherd's stories on tape, transcribed them, and then together with Shepherd edited and developed them.〔 ''Playboy'' editor Barry Farber said Shepherd came to enjoy writing, as it allowed him to develop themes, and Shepherd began to work on written stories by himself.〔Bergmann, p. 320-321.〕 ''In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash'' was the first book Shepherd wrote, and contained his most popular radio stories.〔 These stories were also some of the earliest of Shepherd's work to appear in ''Playboy''.〔 Although they are often described as nostalgic or memoirs, Shepherd rejected these descriptions. He argued instead that they were fictional stories about childhood.〔Bergmann, p. 321.〕 Shepherd claims it took him three years to write the novel.〔Bergmann, p. 322.〕 Whether the stories are truth or fiction is not entirely clear. Shepherd denied that he was merely remembering his childhood, and repeatedly asserted in interviews that his stories were entirely fictional.〔Bergmann, p. 324-326.〕 Scholars Penelope Joan Fritzer and Bartholomew Bland agree that the stories are entirely fictional.〔Fritzer and Bland, p. 1.〕 However, at least some elements of the novel draw on the real world. For example, the names of many of the characters in Shepherd's book can be found in Shepherd's high school yearbook,〔Bergmann, p. 325.〕 "Hohman" is the name of a major street in Hammond, Shepherd's younger brother was named Randy,〔Froelich, Janis D. "Humorist Jean Shepherd's Tall Tales." ''St. Petersburg Times.'' May 31, 1989.〕 and Hammond has a Cleveland Street and a Warren G. Harding elementary school.〔Herrmann, Andrew. "Love-Hate Affair With Hometown." ''Chicago Sun-Times.'' December 15, 1999.〕 The truth may lie somewhere in between, as Mark Skertic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' put it: "Hohman doesn't really exist, but the sights, sounds and events Mr. Shepherd described happening there grew out of his experiences growing up in and around real-life Hammond, Ind."〔Skertic, Mark. "Jean Shepherd, humorist, storyteller." ''Chicago Sun-Times.'' October 18, 1999.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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