This book is a
travel diary made by Steinbeck, the writer, and Capa, the photographer. It happens without planning, before a conversation at a bar balcony, when the two professionals have no work at all. The drunk talking, surprisingly, result the travel, in plain post-war, at 1947, to Stalinist Soviet Union. The photos, black and white, are astonishing. The
description of
people's life, their difficulties and hope, are emotional.
There is an additional appeal in this book: Steinbeck and Capa are completely diverse. When one wants to sleep, the other prefer to work. One
likes to spend hours at bath, singing. The other one loves silence, and do everything in a hurry. Between the chapters were are the description of the world the Americans are discovering, there are some
pages where the two companions write about each other - and
read these pages is like read jokes, in the middle of a cruel relate.
So, the book reveals, at the same
time, the country at that time, and the characteristics of two of the most important personages of the XX century's journalism.
Information, images, historic value, wonderful text, all made this book indispensable in the priority ranking of people that likes a good reading.
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