A pro-Russian colleague from Iran lent me this book to showcase how good the Soviet Union was and that Putin (yes, Putin) is great and all that. My opinion after reading the book is funnier than that. I was reading it, following the dramas between a drunk Steinbeck and a picky Capa and surprising myself with what they expected, and what was going on in reality. And also seeing the contrast between what my colleague said and what I was reading as well. As a meta-context, when they visited the Soviet Union, Stalin was still alive, and he made his famous Stalinisation, where pro-family and conservative policies were re-imposed in the society. My point in adding this info is that Steinbeck sees this big contrast between the USSR traditionalism and the post-World War II era in the States, where women and men were "freer" than the soviet ones. Kind of funny reading the book from the perspective of 2025, knowing all that happened since then in the States and also in Russia and the (not anymore) USSR countries.

A must to read, but always with a critical and historical perspective