I really admire John Steinbeck's writing and for some reason, this book that I did not know caught my eye a while ago. This particular book has been around the bend several times. There are high lights, etc. within penned by previous readers. I will approach it soon to see if I want to read it.

Amazon Editorial Review

Steinbeck and Capa’s account of their journey through Cold War Russia is a classic piece of reportage and travel writing.



Just after the Iron Curtain fell on Eastern Europe, Pulitzer Prize-winning author John Steinbeck and acclaimed war photographer Robert Capa ventured into the Soviet Union to report for the New York Herald Tribune. This rare opportunity took the famous travelers not only to Moscow and Stalingrad – now Volgograd – but through the countryside of the Ukraine and the Caucasus. Hailed by the New York Times as "superb" when it first appeared in 1948, A Russian Journal is the distillation of their journey and remains a remarkable memoir and unique historical document.

What they saw and movingly recorded in words and on film was what Steinbeck called "the great other side there … the private life of the Russian people." Unlike other Western reporting about Russia at the time, A Russian Journal is free of ideological obsessions. Rather, Steinbeck and Capa recorded the grim realities of factory workers, government clerks, and peasants, as they emerged from the rubble of World War II—represented here in Capa’s stirring photographs alongside Steinbeck’s masterful prose. Through it all, we are given intimate glimpses of two artists at the height of their powers, answering their need to document human struggle.

The pictures are stunning, though they don't come across as they should in this small format. Steinbeck is always a great observer. I confess I did not read every article. I lost interest. The book is not timely to me or my reading needs--but it does deserve another reader.

Hello! You are invited to join the story of this book through bookcrossing, a random community of book lovers. We profess book serendipity and have many testimonies from finders of our books to prove that there is such a thing. If you make a journal entry at our site with the BCID (bookcrossing ID) on the bookplate all previous owners of this book will see where it has landed and where it goes after you release it. Bookcrossing is free to join and confidential. You are invited to enjoy this book and if you like to become a part of its story in bookcrossing.

I found this book once again at the new Pendergrast Park unregistered Little Free Library, just up the street from where I left it a year ago. In that time the book has suffered some water damage but it is still in readable shape. I hope another Chrysler Road or Briarcliff Woods reader will find it and perhaps take it for another read.

When I visited the Pendergrast Park Little Free Library today, I observed that this book has been claimed. I hope its further BookCrossing journeys will be happy.