By: Ernie Pyle Publisher: Bison Books Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Bison Books Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 513 Publication Date: April 01, 2001
Europe was in the throes of World War II, and when America joined the fighting, Ernie Pyle went along. Long before television beamed daily images of combat into our living rooms, Pyle’s on-the-spot reporting gave the American public a firsthand view of what war was like for the boys on the front. Pyle followed the soldiers into the trenches, battlefields, field hospitals, and beleaguered cities of Europe. What he witnessed he described with a clarity, sympathy, and grit that gave the public back home an immediate sense of the foot soldier’s experience.
There were really two wars, John Steinbeck wrote in Time magazine: one of maps and logistics, campaigns, ballistics, divisions, and regiments and the other a "war of the homesick, weary, funny, violent, common men who wash their socks in their helmets, complain about the food, whistle at Arab girls, or any girls for that matter, and bring themselves through as dirty a business as the world has ever seen and do it with humor and dignity and courage—and that is Ernie Pyle’s war." This collection of Pyle’s columns detailing the fighting in Europe in 1943–44 brings that war—and the living, and dying, moments of history—home to us once again.
Brave Man What can I say about Ernie Pyle? One of the most well-known correspondents in WWII, he wrote with an empathy for the common infantryman that transcended his simple, eloquent prose. "Brave Men" is a collection of the articles he wrote while covering the war in Sicily, Italy, England, and France. Exceedingly modest, Pyle always downplayed his role while extolling the infantry fighting on the front lines, his beloved "dogfaces." Pyle may not have thought that he was doing anything of importance, yet his articles served to bring the war home to an American public that was being fed a somewhat sugar coated version of the war by the government; in turn, the GI's loved Pyle as one of their own. He immortalized as many of them as he could in his articles, stating the names of the many men with whom he had contact, and often their full home address for good measure. He shared many of their hardships on the front lines, and now, more than 60 years later, his articles offer an insight into WWII for today's readers that is as poignant now as it was then. He makes the reader feel as if we know these men personally-they are our fathers, grandfathers, brothers, neighbors, friends. Impossible to put down, this book is the enduring legacy of a great man whose life ended much too soon (after surviving the European theater, he traveled to the Pacific at the request of the Navy, where a Japanese sniper took his life on the tiny island of Ie Shima, just off the coast of Okinawa); I would recommend this book to everyone I know with an interest in WWII.
Re-living Time in the ETO I read many of these stories when I was an infantryman in the ETO during WWII. I just wanted to re-read them again to satisfy the feeling of respect I have always had for Ernie Pyle and what he did for the American soldier during that conflict. It was good to smell the smells and hear the sounds while in a safe environment. It is an excellent 'Chronicle' that takes one back to a time of long ago.
We need Ernie now more than ever! I have read this book several years ago and was touched by his writing and empathy toward the GI's. I saw a biography about him on the tube and found out how the war torn the man apart inside. That and the burden of his wifes dive into madness and all I can say is there was a man! Rest easy Ernie you did good!
Simple clarity, personal touch Ernie Pyle was truly the soldier's reporter. I have the original wartime copy of "Brave Men," and it's a work of genius. Pyle knows how soldiers feel, Army, Navy, Army Air Corps, from Privates to Sergeants to Lieutenants to Generals, Pyle brings their stories to life with a simple sort of clarity that nonetheless retains every ounce of power that original stories had. Many reporters told the stories of World War II, grand theaters, massive battles, staff meetings, generals, leaders, strategies. Ernie talks about privates, sergeants, lieutenants, the adrenaline highs and sheer terror of close combat or being surrounded by flak, the miseries of mud and rain and the joys of the girl at home and that package of fried chicken that some thoughtful mother sent. All the little things that make soldiers soldiers, and men as well.
Pyle was nothing less than a genius, and his death on Ie Shima resulting from a Japanese sniper's bullet was a loss to journalism. But then, I'm at Indiana University Bloomington, within spitting distance of the Ernie Pyle School of Journalism, so I guess I'm biased. =D
A wonderful book I'm a french reader and I discovered Ernie Pyle through an excerpt of Brave Men published in a french newspaper. Obviously, this man was a great reporter! I was looking for Brave Men in a French edition but it seems to be impossible to find it, what a pity !. I was very happy to find it on Amazon.com. I think that this book is far above all the films or novels you could read on this subject. With Ernie Pyle style, you can catch the real feelings and the fears and the heroism of this men who were caught in this Maelstrom.
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