About this title: Just after the iron curtain fell on Eastern Europe 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. A "Russian Journal" is the distillation of their journey and remains a remarkable memoir and unique historical document. Steinbeck and Capa recorded the grim realities of factory workers, government clerks, and peasants, as they emerged from the rubble ...
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Description: Bantam Books, 1970. 2nd printing of the 1st Mass market edition. 65 B&W photos by Robert Capa. Bantam # N 4886. Very Good+ but for two thin spine reading creases, short crease bottom front of the cover. Tight and clean throughout, no markings or names. Nobel-winning author's 'penetrating and affectionate account'. read more
Description: Good. 8vo. Hardcover, 1948. The usual ex-library treatments are present. Original blue cloth with tan spine. 220 pages. Text, with black and white photos by Robert Capa. Exterior is sturdy, with light wear. Small tears at spine ends. Some color fading. Dampness discoloration along back bottoom edge, does not penetrate. Textblock is good, with strong binding and clean pages. Nicely toned. Offered by the Antiquarian, Rare, and Collectable Books section at Better World Books. 100% Satisfaction ... read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Penguin Group USA
Date Published: 1999-12-01
ISBN-13:9780141180199ISBN:0141180196
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780141180199. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Date Published: 1999
ISBN-13:9780141180199ISBN:0141180196
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Bantam Books, New York
Date Published: 1970
Description: Capa, Robert (photographer) Very Good + Steinbeck's account of his travels with Robert Capa in the cities & countryside of the U.S.S.R.; illustrated with more than 65 photographs by Capa; 218 pp. with b/w photos; 2nd printing. Very good +, clean & tight; bookstore stamp inside front cover; corner creases & light soiling to covers, prior corner crease to p.205, very slight slant to spine. In protective sleeve. read more
Edition: First Paperback Edition
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Paragon House, New York
Date Published: 1989
ISBN-13:9781557782250ISBN:1557782253
Description: Very Good. 8vo-over 7 3/4"-9 3/4" Tall. 220 pages. Illustrated with photographs by Robert Capa. Tight binding, clean pages. A touch of light shelf wear to wraps, otherwise better than Very Good. No inscriptions. No remainder mark. Not ex-library. read more
Edition: First printing
Binding: Hardback 6 1/2" x 9 1/2"
Publisher: Viking, New York
Date Published: 1948
Description: photographs. VG, corners/spine ends a little worn, boards slightly soiled, 220pp. endpapers browned a little, a great writer & photographer tour the Soviet Union in 1947, read more
Publisher: Bantam Books, New York:
Date Published: (1970).
Description: First thus. Bantam Books No. 4886 [Goldstone & Payne A27e]. Steinbeck's travels through Russia, profusely illustrated with photographs by Robert Capa. Few small ink notations inside rear cover, otherwise near fine in bright pictorial paperwraps. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: PENGUIN BOOKS LTD Country = UNITED KINGDOM
Date Published: 2001
ISBN-13:9780141186337ISBN:014118633X
Description: BRAND NEW PAPERBACK. 240 pages. (240 pages) a memoir that takes not only to moscow and stalingrad (now volgograd) but through the countryside of the ukraine and the caucasus. it shows how robert capa recorded the grim realities of factory workers, government clerks, and peasants, as they emerged from the rubble of world war ii. illustrations (Paperback) read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: New York: The Viking Press, 1948
Description: Cloth. Very Good-/No Jacket. First Edition. Worn and soiled, light foxing. Spine extremities very slightly frayed. Pages are beginning to darken. read more
Edition: 1st Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: The Viking Press, New York, New York
Date Published: 1948
Description: Fine in Good jacket. 8vo-over 7¾-9¾" tall Hardback. First Edition (April 1948). Near Fine in Good+ dust jacket. Edge wear and tears to dust jacket. 220pp. Illustrated with B&W photos by Robert Capa. read more
"I had never been tempted to read Steinbeck's nonfiction, though I love his fiction. After reading A Russian Journal I want to read Travels with Charley. Having a personal connection to Ukraine, it was so interesting to have an American's account of this region just after World War II. His most amusing observation was that Russians were almost irritatingly moral - no makeup, no high style, and no inebriation! That observation is completely opposite from what I observed in 21st century Ukraine.
Steinbeck's descriptions of Georgia were enticing. I regret not visiting that country when I was living so close to it.
My only disappointment was that more of Capa's photographs weren't included."
"Really enjoyed reading this. I'm a big fan of Frank Capa (life AND work--but mostly jealous of his life); so it was cool to see his pictures along with Steinbeck's writing. I particularly liked their gossipy comments on each other. A real "buddy" book; but also an interesting study in what Russia was really like behind the curtain in the late 1940s."
"John Steinbeck and his friend photographer Robert Capa go to Russia and publish, upon return, a travelogue with accompanying photos, in 1948, adding to the mystery I see in Steinbeck's politics. He goes, he explains, not out of any political reason or to discuss politics, but to learn who the everyday Russian people are, how they live, what they eat, what they are like. He concludes, "Well, there it is. It's about what we went for. We found, as we had suspected, that the Russian people are people, and with other people, are very nice. The ones we met had a hatred of war, they wanted the same things all people want - good lives, increased comfort, security and peace."
If there is an outward motivation, it is this expressed antipathy for war. There is also running joke about the large monuments to Stalin and constant troubles with bureaucracy which Capa & Steinbeck name the Kremlin's Gremlin. It is a friendly jab at Communist Government that renders the situation quite innocent. At the end of the work, Steinbeck proclaims, "We knew nothing about the things American papers were howling about - Russian military preparations, atomic research, slave labor, the political skullduggery of the Kremlin - we had no information about this things. . . If there were large military preparations, we didn't see them . . On the other hand, we had not come as spies" (213).
Clearly there are some left liberal intentions in going to Russia in 1948 and humanizing the Russian people and the Russian way of life. Yet clearly as well, this is no Communist Party line. What exactly was he thinking? Was he really the left-liberal independent maverick he proclaims himself to be? Where does this fit with his response to the New Deal in the 1930s and his (in my opinion) bizarre response to the 1960s captured in Travels with Charley - a travelogue of the U.S.?
That said, a great deal of the book is spent describing the food Steinbeck and Capa eat, comments on the relative prettiness or ugliness of each woman they encounter (and frequent bemoaning of the lack of mascara), or humorous antidotes about the strain that Capa and Steinbeck's friendship surely undergoes."
"Great account of Steinbeck and Capa's journey to post WWII Russia, where they basically wandered around talking to people and drinking vodka, trying to find the heart of what life was really like over there. Capa and Steinbeck made good companions, sometimes griping at each others' artistic habits. Entertaining and very informing."
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