2 options
Ernie Pyle's war : America's eyewitness to World War II / James Tobin.
Van Pelt Library PN4874.P88 T63 1997
Available
LIBRA PN4874.P88 T63 1997
Available from offsite location
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Tobin, James.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Pyle, Ernie, 1900-1945.
- Pyle, Ernie.
- War correspondents--United States--Biography.
- War correspondents.
- United States.
- World War, 1939-1945--Journalists.
- World War, 1939-1945.
- Journalists.
- Genre:
- Biographies.
- Physical Description:
- 312 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
- Place of Publication:
- New York : Free Press, [1997]
- Summary:
- When a machine-gun bullet ended the life of war correspondent Ernie Pyle in the final days of World War II, Americans mourned him in the same breath as they mourned Franklin Roosevelt. To millions, the loss of this American folk hero seemed nearly and great as the loss of the wartime president. If the hidden horrors and valor of combat persist at all in the public mind, it is because of those writers who watched it and recorded it in the faith that war is too important to be confined to the private memories of the warriors. Above all these writers, Ernie Pyle towered as a giant. Through his words ad his compassion, Americans everywhere gleaned their understanding of what they came to call "The Good War". Pyle walked a troubled path to fame. Though insecure and anxious, he created a carefree and kindly public image in his popular prewar column - all the while struggling with inner demons and a tortured marriage. War, in fact, offered Pyle an escape hatch from his own personal hell. It also offered him a subject precisely suited to his talent - a shrewd understanding of human nature, an unmatched eye for detail, a profound capacity to identify with the suffering soldiers whom he adopted as his own, and a plain yet poetic style reminiscent of Mark Twain and Will Rogers. These he brought to bear on the Battle of Britain and all the great American campaigns of the war - North Africa, Sicily, Italy, D-Day and Normandy, the liberation of Paris, and finally Okinawa, where he felt compelled to go because of his enormous public stature despite premonitions of death.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- ISBN:
- 0684836424
- OCLC:
- 36343423
The Penn Libraries is committed to describing library materials using current, accurate, and responsible language. If you discover outdated or inaccurate language, please fill out this feedback form to report it and suggest alternative language.