Once There Was a War (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics)
Worth buying if: You follow John Steinbeck's nonfiction voice.
Skip it if: You expect a novel-length, plot-driven Steinbeck story.
Exact edition: Paperback · ISBN-13 9780140187472. The Amazon link uses this ISBN, so the product page should open to the edition shown here.
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Summary
This Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics edition gathers Steinbeck's 1943-44 reportage—dispatches, profiles, and essays—from his time with the U.S. military, blending journalistic detail and literary observation across 233 pages.
Why this book now
Revisiting Steinbeck's wartime reportage offers perspective on media, moral witness, and the author's craft amid global conflict—useful in conversations about journalism and memory.
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Best for readers who...
Good fit if you want...
- You follow John Steinbeck's nonfiction voice.
- You read wartime reportage and soldier profiles.
- You expect a novel-length, plot-driven Steinbeck story.
- You prefer heavily annotated academic editions.
- You are specifically hunting for the newest framing rather than a backlist perspective.
Decided it fits?
Exact edition: Paperback · ISBN-13 9780140187472
Worth buying if: You follow John Steinbeck's nonfiction voice.
Skip it if: You expect a novel-length, plot-driven Steinbeck story.
Check Amazon for the current price and availability of this exact edition.
Reader guide
Cues to help you decide faster.
Reading commitment
Balanced Moderate time
At 233 pages, this is a moderate commitment—best read in short sittingsof individual dispatches or by theme over several evenings.
What stands out here
This Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics paperback emphasizes Steinbeck's original wartime voice and accessibility rather than heavy scholarly annotation.
Best way to approach it
Approach it as a collection of stand-alone reports: read single essays to absorb specific scenes, or group pieces to trace Steinbeck's evolving impressions of the war.
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Paperback: ISBN-13 9780140187472
Check Amazon for the current price and availability of this exact edition.