Before two weeks ago, I did not know John Steinbeck was a war correspondent in World War II. I learned that while reading “Once There Was A War,” a collection of pieces he filed during that time.

Steinbeck went to Europe in 1943, which was several years after “The Grapes of Wrath” shot him to stardom and he won the Pulitzer Prize for literature. Needless to say, this is not the kind of career move we see these days.

The book is a fascinating way to look at the war, stripping away the usual nuts and bolts of battle that you might find in a typical World War II collection. Instead, what we have is Steinbeck’s style of painting vivid pictures of characters and situations that put you in that space.

My favorite example of a Steinbeck description is the third chapter in “The Grapes of Wrath” where he spends a few pages showing in intimate detail a turtle crossing a road. In this book, an emblematic piece involves soldiers massed on a transport ship.

“There are several ways of wearing a hat or a cap. A man may express himself in the pitch or tilt of his hat, but not with a helmet. There is only one way to wear a helmet. It won’t go on any other way. It sits level on the head, low over the eyes and ears, low on the back of the neck. With your helmet on you are a mushroom in a bed of mushrooms.”

This is what I love about the book. Steinbeck talks about certain operational things, but really it’s about the soldier’s experience with waiting, with equipment, with each other.

Oh and a goat. More specifically, Wing Commander William Goat of the Royal Air Force, who is described in a chapter titled “Alcoholic Goat.”

“This goat has only one truly bad habit. He loves beer, and furthermore is able to absorb it in such quantities that even the mild, nearly non-alcoholic English beer can make him tipsy. In spite of orders to the contrary he is able to seek out the evil companions who will give him beer. Once inebriated, he is prone to wander about sneering. He sneers at the American Army Air Force, he sneers at the Labor party, and once he sneered at Mr. Churchill.”

We can’t help but see this goat sidling up to a certain guy who scratches him behind the ear, makes sure a supervisor isn’t looking, then leads him over to the stash of beer. And then they sneer at Churchill together, because of course.

Obviously I recommend everything in the Steinbeck library, but this one is a unique look at war told in what amounts to a bunch of short stories only a few pages long but full of detail and insight.