A Russian Journal

By: John Steinbeck

Narrated by: Richard Poe

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appeared in 1948, A Russian Journal is the distillation of their journey and remains a remarkable memoir and unique historical document.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. This edition features an introduction by Steinbeck scholar Susan Shillinglaw.

Critic reviews

By the Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature

Another delightful work by my favorite author

I like this book for several reasons.

One is that John Steinbeck’s writing never disappoints. It is clever, simple, precise, and oftentimes really funny.

Another reason is that the book glimpses a small but important slice of Russian/Soviet reality soon after the WWII.

The next reason is that Steinbeck traveled to different republics of then huge country of the USSR and wonderfully described his experiences.

The last reason is the feeling of pure joy that a reader gets from Steinbeck’s kind-hearted and often self-deprecating humor. He seems to have had a quality of contagious humanity. What can I say - that’s why he is one of my most beloved authors!
I do recommend this book. A lot.

An Excellent Account

Steinbeck with great insight and humor shows how we are all similar while simultaneously creating a longing to visit the land and people.

Great moments

Condensed Twain-like humor (A Tramp Abroad) which seems to model some of the writing, but the author seems to become exhausted and ends up in narration, and seems tired of his own book. The narrator is unflagging, and I, for one, liked the pacing.

Into the Unknown

Steinbeck and Capa provide the best available survey of post WW2 Soviet Union on a whirlwind tour of multiple regions and cultures. From food (and plenty of it) to poetry to work and travel they journal multiple aspects of Russian culture that bring them closer to their ultimate goal of characterizing the country. They succeed in their mission.

Another. Great story

Just love going through all Steinbeck’s stuff this way. The performance was spot on you could almost hear Steinbeck’s style in the voices . Was soooooo well done .