This book is a compilation of John Steinbeck’s articles for the New York Herald Tribune, written in 1943. The majority of articles are direct observations of what happened with the troops in their daily lives as soldiers. The events take place in England, Northern Africa, and Italy.

The articles vary in content and tone from light-hearted to poignant to heroic to tragic. Steinbeck is reporting on the soldiers’ reactions to the various challenges presented to them, sometimes waiting a long while for something to happen followed by a flurry of action. The dialogues are plentiful and realistic. There are some fabulous stories here – my favorite is the joint effort of troops with their officers to (unofficially) save the life of a pregnant woman in Italy. If you want to see what a skilled novelist can do in the field of journalism, this is a great one to pick up. ( )

Kellemes olvasmány, de aligha a Steinbeck-életmű hófödte csúcsa. Többek között azért sem lehet a hófödte csúcsa, mert kellemes olvasmány, és ha egy háborús írás kellemes olvasmány, az azért nem jelent túl jót. Nyilván nem lehet eltekinteni attól, hogy ezek a szövegek publicisztikák, ami – sok egyéb mellett – azt is jelenti, hogy Steinbeck már az előszóban kénytelen mentegetőzni amiatt, hogy bizonyos dolgokat anno nem írhatott meg a Háborús Erőfeszítésre való tekintettel. Ennek következtében Steinbeck amerikai katonája kissé idealizált fickó: hősies, a jég hátán is megél, és bár kicsit irreális mennyiségű emléktárgyat gyűjt össze magának úton-útfélen (magyarán lop, mint a veszett fene), de voltaképpen ez se teszi különösen ellenszenvessé – inkább csak színezi a jellemét. A kötet legjobb pontjai is ezek a jelenetek: amikor az író a katonalét groteszk pillanatait figurázza ki (például Mullighan, a Nagy Trén feledhetetlen pacák), de azért nekem összességében hiányzott belőle még egy kis bevállalósság. Pont ezért azoknak ajánlom elsősorban, akiket érdekel a második világháború, de nem bírják a vért. ( )

This was a great look at World War 2, not the usual battles and politicians and generals but a look at the war from the eye level of the troops by a superb writer. It was almost like slice of life stories, some of the most compelling for me was a scene in a movie theater during the blitz. I'd seen the movie that was playing comfortably at home and not under bombing, a section on Bob Hope was easily the most patriotic. A few funny pieces "Germans fight for world domination and the English for the defense of England, the Americans fight for souvenirs." and a version of Santa that delivers Scotch to a thirsty press corp. ( )

A folksy, Paul Haveyish look at the soldiers in WW2 for American newspapers. ( )

This is a collection of columns Steinbeck sent to papers in the US during 1943 from, England, North Africa, Sicily and Italy. The columns were brief but caught what it was like to be a soldier preparing for war and then fighting the war. A column that I found very interesting was one he wrote about the song Lilli Marlene which gave its history as well as how it became a favourite on both sides of the conflict,

Other contributions covered service on a PT Boat including attacks on a German convoy and landing a group of commandos on an island to capture it, life on a destroyer, approaching a Sicilian beach in a landing craft with all hell breaking loose around you and life on an American bomber base in England. Some of the others were about the beauty of England, US soldiers learning about the cultural and cuisine differences of the English and living through the Blitz. ( )