Brave Men

De: Ernie Pyle, David Chrisinger - introduction

Narrado por: Michael Brainard, David Chrisinger

The classic, human-scale account of the soldiers who fought in World War II, by Pulitzer Prize winner Ernie Pyle—America’s most famous and most loved war correspondent—featuring a new introduction by David Chrisinger, the author of the new Ernie Pyle biography, The Soldier's Truth

A Penguin Classic

When America entered World War II, Ernie Pyle followed the soldiers into the trenches. Long before television and the internet beamed combat footage directly to us, his dispatches from the front lines augmented the coverage of the war’s politics, strategies, and macro-level mobilizations to give the American public what he called his “worm’s-eye view” of the day-to-day life of the war. He captured, as John Steinbeck described it in Time magazine, the “war of the homesick, weary, funny, violent, common men who wash their socks in their helmets, complain about the food . . . 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.” A number-one bestseller upon its publication in 1944, Brave Men remains unmatched in its clarity, sympathy, and grit as a portrait of America’s boys who fought in Europe, and lives on as a testament to the enduring value of embedded journalism in reporting the truth.

For more than seventy-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 2,000 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Reseñas de la Crítica

“As a combat reporter, Pyle surpassed all others working during the Second World War, outwriting his contemporaries, Hemingway included. . . . His concern with the soldiers’ morale and commitment to the cause . . . reveals more than any high-level analyses could. . . . Pyle was a cartographer, meticulously mapping the character of the Americans who chose to fight. . . . His style of combat realism, which eschews the macro and strategic for the micro and human, can be seen in today’s combat reporting from Ukraine . . . where . . . the character of the Ukrainian people . . . has been the driving factor. . . . The collapse of Afghanistan’s military and government came as a surprise to many Americans. . . . Only someone who understood the human side of war—as Pyle certainly did—could have predicted that collapse.” —Elliot Ackerman, The Atlantic

“The welcome republication of Brave Men . . . demonstrates why [Pyle] found such a large and appreciative audience. In sharp, simple prose, Pyle explained to those back home the conditions of life and death on the front. The writing remains fresh and perceptive.” —Foreign Affairs

“A classic collection [by] the most beloved war correspondent of World War II . . . Pyle’s style is what made him so popular back then, and why he is still worth reading today. He looks at the war from a retail level. He mentioned those he encountered by name, giving their home town, and occasionally their street address. . . . His prose is straightforward and spare, highly readable. . . . The book contains some of Pyle’s best writing, including his best-known column, ‘The Death of Captain Waskow.’ . . . It is a reminder of the best in America back in the 1940s. Yet much of what he writes about still exists in today’s small-town and rural America.” ―The Epoch Times

“It’s hard to appreciate now just how widely read and loved Pyle was as America’s voice from the front lines of Europe. He shared the dangers of the soldiers he was writing about. He also shared their exhaustion but forced himself to go on to cover the Pacific War, where he was killed by a Japanese sniper.” —Geoff Dyer, The Week

“I personally cherish Brave Men for . . . Pyle’s descriptions of scenes he witnessed; his simple, unassuming style; and his ability to recognize the humanity in everyone he meets. . . . His eye for detail, what is essentially the eye of a poet, is on full display throughout Brave Men and is a masterclass in how embedded witnesses can convey the truth about an experience that cannot be fully understood unless it is lived. . . . Even though he’s been dead for nearly eight decades, Pyle had so much to say about the world we find ourselves living in today.” ―David Chrisinger, from the Introduction

A great look at the common WW2 soldier, sailor, airman

A great look at the common WW2 soldier, sailor, airman, plus homage paid to Omar Bradley

Incredible

This was a moving story of the brave service men of all ranges of the war..the humble and brave. Well read and sensitively. I’m so glad it was unabridged and made available to these generations.

The story in the way the narrator spoke

There’s nothing to dislike. Excellent all around. A fantastic story that everyone should listen to.

Best of the best

The fabric of America told to us during the most trying of times. Thank you, Ernie Pyle for bringing the stories of our soldiers home.

Add this to the book by Andy Rooney

One of the best war reporters. I was hoping for more reporting of the aftermath on the German side from the carpet bombing during the Normandy invasion. He never talks about General Patton since he was not enamored with him. He admires general Eisenhower and general Bradley. The book on the Normandy invasion by Andy Rooney is excellent

Nothing has been written that captures the real feel of war and of warriors than the words of Ernie Pyle.

If you really want to know what it was like to fight in WWII , read this.

Great story

I read this story long ago and loved it. Ernie Pyle had a way with words comforting many but unable to comfort his own demons. Very sad he was unable to continue on for another generation of the common man.

Simple Eloquence

Narrator did a good job. The author's presentation is simple and eloquent and you begin to understand why he was so famous for his work.

No one understood the American GI as well as Ernie Pyle

Each chapter is another story masterfully told. I think Ernie would’ve been pleased with the story of his own death. It’s the type of story that he told so, so well.

See the war from a common persons point of view.

Everyone with a passing fancy for WW 2 history should listen to this, to see what the war was like and delivered in a poetic manner of common language.