A Russian Journal
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Book Overview
Steinbeck and Capa's account of their journey through Cold War Russia is a classic piece of reportage and travel writing.
Featuring newly reset, high-resolution black and white photography by Robert Capa A Penguin Classic 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appeared in 1948, A Russian Journal is the distillation of their journey and remains a remarkable memoir and unique historical document.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. This edition features an introduction by Steinbeck scholar Susan Shillinglaw. Penguin Classics is the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world, representing a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Featuring newly reset, high-resolution black and white photography by Robert Capa A Penguin Classic 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. This edition features an introduction by Steinbeck scholar Susan Shillinglaw. Penguin Classics is the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world, representing a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:0141180196
ISBN13:9780141180199
Release Date:December 1999
Publisher:Penguin Group
Length:256 Pages
Weight:0.45 lbs.
Dimensions:0.5" x 5.1" x 7.8"
Age Range:18 years and up
Grade Range:Postsecondary and higher
Related Subjects
Anthropology Arts & Literature Authors Biographical Biographies Biographies & History Biography & History Cultural Essays & Correspondence Europe General History Humanities Language Arts Letters & Correspondence Literature Memoirs Modern (16th-21st Centuries) Politics & Social Sciences Russia Social Sciences Travel Travel Writing World WritingCustomer Reviews
5 ratings
Really interesting book
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 16 years ago
I think this book is wonderful and very very interesting. I like the style of Steinbeck and I have enjoyed all his books that I have read. This book shows the life in the Soviet Union (they visit Moscow, Ukraine and Georgia) shortly after the war, when people are trying to rebuild their lives after the war. I`d say that mainly they are pretty enthusiastic about that and believe in the better future to be achieved by the hard work... In the time of edgy relations between Soviet Union and USA, this book shows that the russians and the americans both are people just like others...
Loved It
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 17 years ago
I'm a photographer and huge admirer of both Capa and Steinbeck, but I wasn't sure what to expect with this book. In fact, it's totally readable, wonderfully informal and very engaging -- something of a page turner. You get a vivid picture of the strength and dignity of the Russian people after the terrible destruction of the war, and also an entertaining sense of the relationship between Capa & Steinbeck and their Russian hosts. Their trip took place in 1948, just as the cold war began, and it offers unique insight into how the people of Russia see the USA -- namely as an important and admired friend. Unfortunately, the pictures, while fascinating, are not well served by the paperback printing. But given the paper quality and the small size of the book, they're about as good as they can be. I suspect that a hardcover would do the pictures more justice.
Entertaining travel story
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 21 years ago
This is a great road trip story . . . that just happens to be set in Russia (and elsewhere in the Soviet Union). It is an amusing and thoughtful account of Steinbeck's travels with his good friend Robert Capa. As Steinbeck often noted in his works of nonfiction, he recounts merely what he saw, which may or may not be reflective of the experiences of others. Thus this is far more a narrative about two men traveling together than it is a book about Russia. Steinbeck does not seek to unravel the mysteries of Russia; he merely wishes to take a peek behind the curtain to get a glimpse of how its inhabitants live.This is a very amusing, thoughtful and readable book - the best Steinbeck I've read.
Post-war Russia through very talented eyes
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 23 years ago
This wonderfully written book takes you through post-war Soviet Union, to farms and cities devastated by war but struggling to return to normalcy. Robert Capa not only adds wonderful photos but his role in this story is both funny and illuminating for any Capa fans. Written in the late 1940s, the story provides us with a very human side of the Russian people. The openness and friendliness of everyone they meet contrasts with the paranoia and hatred so present in the US at that time.I read this as both a photographer and one who was recently in Russia and the insight provided was very enjoyable and educating. Capa's mannerisms and method of photography allowed his subjects to open up and feel comfortable in his lens -- not an easy thing since so many of the people had lost family and suffered terribly. Steinbeck's writing is honest, funny and his skills as a non-partisan reporter really shine in this work.
In the wake of the War
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 24 years ago
Three years after the end of the War, John Steinbeck and photographer Robert Capa made a sweeping journey through the USSR. The countryside and cities were still ravaged by the war, transportation difficult over devastated roads and rails. Shattered tanks and warplanes still littered the landscape. Every family had been touched by the conflict and their everyday life recorded in this memoir was adversely affected by the years of occupation and struggle. But the resilient Soviet people were rebuilding, and in the midst of hardship they welcomed the Western journalists into their homes and lives. This is not a book about political ideology. Steinbeck's elegant writing and Capa's brilliant photography capture the spirit of a people working heroically to restore their homeland but still taking a little time out to have fun. For anyone interested in the human dimension of the War on the Eastern Front, "A Russian Journal" will give an unforgetable impression of its recent aftermath.
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