The Soldier's Truth

Ernie Pyle and the Story of World War II

By: David Chrisinger

Narrated by: David Chrisinger

Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

Named a best book of 2023 by Booklist

A beautiful reckoning with the life and work of the legendary journalist Ernie Pyle, who gave World War II a human face for millions of Americans even as he wrestled with his own demons

At the height of his fame and influence during World War II, Ernie Pyle’s nationally syndicated dispatches from combat zones shaped America’s understanding of what the war felt like to ordinary soldiers, as no writer’s work had before or has since. From North Africa to Sicily, from the beaches of Anzio to the beaches of Normandy, and on to the war in the Pacific, where he would meet his end, Ernie Pyle had a genius for connecting with his beloved dogfaced grunts. A humble man, himself plagued by melancholy and tortured by marriage to a partner whose mental health struggles were much more acute than his own, Pyle was in touch with suffering in a way that left an indelible mark on his readers. While never defeatist, his stories left no doubt as to the heavy weight of the burden soldiers carried. He wrote about post-traumatic stress long before that was a diagnosis.

In The Soldier's Truth, acclaimed writer David Chrisinger brings Pyle’s journey to vivid life in all its heroism and pathos. Drawing on access to all of Pyle’s personal correspondence, his book captures every dramatic turn of Pyle’s war with sensory immediacy and a powerful feel for both the outer and the inner landscape. With a background in helping veterans and other survivors of trauma come to terms with their experiences through storytelling, Chrisinger brings enormous reservoirs of empathy and insight to bear on Pyle’s trials. Woven in and out of his chronicle is the golden thread of his own travels across these same landscapes, many of them still battle-scarred, searching for the landmarks Pyle wrote about.

A moving tribute to an ordinary American hero whose impact on the war is still too little understood, and a powerful account of that war’s impact and how it is remembered, The Soldier's Truth takes its place among the essential contributions to our perception of war and how we make sense of it.

©2023 David Chrisinger (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“Chrisinger teases out the exquisite, often painful balancing act Pyle had to perform as a war correspondent . . . An excellent reassessment of a singular American journalist.”—Booklist (starred review)

“In this intriguing and admiring biography, Chrisinger retraces war correspondent Ernie Pyle’s steps through the European and Pacific theaters of WWII . . . Chrisinger’s deep admiration for his subject comes through, as does his belief in the power of storytelling as a force for good . . . A fascinating portrait of a reporter who gave everything to get the story.”—Publishers Weekly

“No one told the stories of the men fighting World War II better than Ernie Pyle. And no one captures Ernie Pyle as well as David Chrisinger does in The Soldier’s Truth. Just as Pyle chronicled the ordinary moments of heroic lives, Chrisinger captures the simple humanity of an extraordinary man in an extraordinary war. There are few clearer pictures than this one of the everyday grind of conflict.”—Christopher Blattman, author of Why We Fight and professor, University of Chicago

An Important Life to Remember

My guess is that most Americans have never heard of Ernie Pyle despite the fact that he was a national celebrity 80 years ago. This book does a really good job of covering Ernie's life, especially the war years. Ernie won fame an accolades for his plain spoken columns covering the war from the perspective of the soldier on the front line.

Ernie's chosen line of work was not easy. In addition to the stress of war, he was dealing with a troubled marriage on the home front, where his wife "Jerry" was suffering from mental illness. Chain smoking and heavy drinking took a toll. Although Ernie was only 44 when he died, he looks 20 years older in contemporary photos.

Through it all, Ernie produced remarkable columns from the front that were beloved on the home front, and especially by the soldiers. It is probably difficult in the current environment--where news comes from disparate and often incoherent sources--to understand the importance of this one modest reporter. The book does a good job of explaining that.

I wish that David Chrisinger had not narrated his own book. He narrates as if telling a bedtime story to a child--it's competent, but it's just reading. There is no performance here. A good narrator could have improved this tremendously.

One more shortcoming: The book is largely about the complicated relationship of Ernie and Jerry. It includes a graphic description of Jerry's attempted suicide. Despite that, we are told nothing about what happened to Jerry after Ernie's death. It just seems like a big omission.

The author's clear depiction of Ernie Pyle's life and experiences.

Loved that the author was hands on with his writing, experiencing the locations Ernie Pyle had written his columns from.

A Different Kind of "War" Story

This book is part travelogue, part biography, and a tiny bit part memoir. It tells the story about war while rarely talking about actual "war." Instead, we read about the people and places affected by this war. Ernie's story is fascinating, and you get to explore Europe, Africa, the Pacific, and even New Mexico while learning about Ernie Pyle's life. I highly recommend this book.

Exceptional

This Ernie Pyle biography was even better than I expected. It is well narrated by the author despite the midwest flatness. The book did well to use Ernie's letters and pieces of his columns to flesh him out. I believe he captured Ernie and his essence as best as can be done at this distance. Highly recommended for WW2 buffs. Sherman told us that war is hell and Ernie reported from purgatory at ground level.

Important Story

I enjoyed all aspects of this Ernie Pyle audiobook. I highly recommend it to anybody interested in a story of the road less traveled.

Story So Good It Survives Flat Perormance

Pyle and his story are both significant and important. Chrisinger’s flat affect and odd cadence in narration diminish the overall quality of the experience Thankfully, the story is of such high quality that it survives the curious indifference of the authors performance. Listening evokes an unsure public speaker at a lectern, eyes down, woodenly plodding through the prose as if the recording was a sound check.

Still - great book. Chrisinger may console himself, if not his Audible audience, with the undeniable claim that he is a first rate writer.