Customer Reviews

A Russian Journal (Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin)

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I read this book after returning home from a two week trip in Southwestern Russia. Steinbeck and Capa took their journey in 1948. They travel from Moscow to Volgograd and Rostov before turning back in Georgia. Much of the tension in this book springs from the rapidly cooling relationship between leaders of Russia and the United States at that point in time.

Their aim is not political. They seek to understand the hearts of the Soviet people. One of the amusing elements of this book is their regular conflict with the Soviet censors, who refuse to believe that they do not have political motives. Steinbeck intersperses the commentary on Russia with the nuts and bolts of their daily travels. The method mirrors the approach of his 1940 collaboration in the Gulf of California, "The Log from the Sea of Cortez." Steinbeck likes to write about the universal character of people and this trip to Russia or his previous trip in Mexico both speak to that interest. His conclusion is that Russians are like people anywhere else - they are proud of their homes and their families and are sincere in their efforts to build their nascent country. Steinbeck also goes to pains to elicit the hope among the Russian people for peace.

Many of the things that catch their eye remain constant to now. One interesting change is the perspective of the Russian people about the direction of their country. In Steinbeck's recollection, the people recognize that they are sacrificing for the good of their country. In 1948, the Russians expect that they will eventually gain from their hard work. Now they seem to have less faith.

This book is a great chance to learn about the personality of the world famous Robert Capa. During his travels with the Hungarian photojournalist, Steinbeck gets pretty pesky about Capa's personal habits. It seems that Capa likes long baths, other people's books, and morning silence. Steinbeck and Capa share rooms during their trip. I really enjoyed the secondary theme that develops on Capa's behavior.

Everyone should read this book, not just people who want to know about Russia.

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.

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.

This is a great book, but you should buy a hardback edition instead of the paperback. I am a frequent visitor to Russia and I enjoyed the oportunity to compare and contrast Russia today with postwar Russia under Stalin. Unfortunately, Robert Capa's photos in the 1999 paperback are small and muddy. I could not even recognize places that I have visited many times. This book was a collaborative effort, but the 1999 printing seriously short changes Capa's contribution.

I don't know if the images are better in the 2001 paperback or the Kindle version, but after reading the 1999 edition I got a copy of the 1948 hardback via Amazon. I recommend that you do the same if you want to fully enjoy this excellent work.

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.

A must read! I recommend to everyone. The Russian Journal is historical, humorous, insightful, charming, alarming, thought-provoking and inspires gratitude for those of us who are fortunate enough to have never experienced the devastation that the Russians and Ukrainians lived through and worked through. Steinbeck's observations of the "peoples'" daily lives proves that friends, family and community, though will very little to no means, are willing and able to help each other and remain positive about the future - even when literally rebuilding their cities brick by brick.

A Russian Journal showcases Steinbeck's many talents; writing, observation, humor, perseverance, empathy, communication with both the reader and the people he encountered, etc. Through all the obstacles one would expect to encounter (and many one could never expect or believe) in post-war Soviet Russia he was able to present the real Russian people after the brutal war. Steinbeck is so likeable. His relationship with Robert Capa is comical. I was thrilled to read Capa's perspective as well. What a duo they were! Capa's photos are magnificent. I have the paperback and was able to see what he saw. That was, I believe, his major goal. Reviewers have written that the hardcover is best. I'll have to get it.
The Russian Journal reads like a journal in that you're getting a very personal experience. Great, great, great book. Don't forget the introduction. It's remarkable.

I read A Russian Journal upon returning home from a two-month stint of teaching in Moscow and was excited to dive into another Steinbeck. Not surprisingly, Steinbeck offers a truthful and compassionate portrayal of the human experience through eyes which seem to dissolve cultural barriers. Respectfully intruding into the lives of normal people during post World War II Soviet Union, Steinbeck, accompanied by Robert Capa, documents the thoughts, work ethics, and questions of those who the rest of 1940s America failed to understand. Forging ahead behind the iron curtain, Steinbeck retells tales of normal, family-oriented, hard-working people found in the midst of his travels through the countryside who in many ways were no different than the Americans who feared and often disdained them.

Most remarkably to me, Steinbeck tells of a Moscow that is relatively unchanged today. Incredibly, this slice of Russian culture has remained the same in many ways though it has experienced such a turbulent century. I would recommend A Russian Journal to anyone planning on visiting Russia soon (because it is still relevant) and also to anyone who enjoys Steinbeck. It is simple, heartfelt, and relatively unbiased in its attempts to portray normal life in another culture. Its style is easily comparable to Travels With Charley, although I believe because Steinbeck understands his own American culture so much more richly, he is able to portray connections and summations about what he experiences much more definitively in Travels With Charley. Regardless, A Russian Journal is certainly an interesting and enjoyable read.

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.

This is an enjoyable and well-written book, often laugh out loud funny, which tells of the month that writer John Steinbeck and photographer Robert Capa spent in the Soviet Union in 1947, two years after a war that devastated large parts of the country's west.

That said, you need to approach this journal with a few caveats in mind. People didn't just pop by and visit the Soviet Union under Stalin -- Steinbeck, who tilted to the left politically, and Capa were allowed in because Moscow didn't think they would cause too much trouble. Steinbeck had in any case made clear he wasn't going to ask about Stalinist repression/killings/dictatorship and just wanted to see how people lived. So the book was always likely to be respectful.

Steinbeck also seems to accept that the massive meals and jugs of vodka forced down their throats at every stop were somehow typical of the time. I somehow doubt that was the case. Most people, especially in the west, were on much more modest rations.

That said, very few foreigners were allowed to travel the country in 1947, so every observation is valuable. Of particular interest is the absolute devastation in Stalingrad, still smashed almost beyond redemption in the wake of the war, where people were literally still living in holes in the ground.

Some things never change, though. The country was in a continuous state of gentle chaos, the Russians were very suspicious of meeting foreign diplomats in Moscow and the domestic airline fleet was enough to scare the bravest traveller.

Despite the limitations this is a great and often funny book. The only reason I give it four stars is that in the paperback version, the quality of Capa's photos is so bad as to be laughable.

This cold war visit explores a country feared and mysterious. The points of view of a novelist Steinbeck known for his stories about ordinary people and hard times in America plus the world renound photographer Capra makes for a seemingly true view
of the ordinary people that they met on their wanderings. They do not have any agenda , but develope admiration for those who fought the Nazis and endured so much suffering. Steinbeck and Capra are not blind to the faults of the ruling party there. A wonderful human story from two sides.