The Soldier's Truth
Ernie Pyle and the Story of World War II
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Narrated by:
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David Chrisinger
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By:
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David Chrisinger
About this listen
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 AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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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
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A must read for fans of you are there WWII war memoirs
- By Mary A. on 09-18-19
By: Ray Lambert, and others
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Unknown Valor
- A Story of Family, Courage, and Sacrifice from Pearl Harbor to Iwo Jima
- By: Martha MacCallum
- Narrated by: Martha MacCallum
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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In honor of the 75th anniversary of one of the most critical battles of World War II, the popular primetime Fox News anchor of The Story with Martha MacCallum pays tribute to the heroic men who sacrificed everything at Iwo Jima to defeat the Armed Forces of Emperor Hirohito - among them, a member of her own family, Harry Gray.
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What a storyteller
- By Kathleen F Gallop on 02-27-20
By: Martha MacCallum
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The Long Gray Line
- The American Journey of West Point's Class of 1966
- By: Rick Atkinson
- Narrated by: Adam Barr, Rick Atkinson
- Length: 28 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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A classic of its kind, The Long Gray Line is the 25-year saga of the West Point class of 1966. With a novelist's eye for detail, Rick Atkinson illuminates this powerful story through the lives of three classmates and the women they loved - from the boisterous cadet years, to the fires of Vietnam, to the hard peace and internal struggles that followed the war.
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His First Book-It Stands With All the Others
- By Richard Bretzing on 07-22-21
By: Rick Atkinson
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The Women Who Wrote the War
- The Riveting Saga of World War II's Daredevil Women Correspondents
- By: Nancy Caldwell Sorel
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 14 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Nancy Sorel’s portrait pays homage to these unsung heroes. They came from Boston, New York, Milwaukee, and St. Louis; from Yakima, Washington; Austin, Texas; and Sioux City, Iowa; from San Francisco and all points east. They left comfortable homes and safe surroundings for combat-zone duty. As women war correspondents, they brought to the battlefields of World War II a fresh optic, and reported back home what they witnessed with a new sensibility.
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Nonfiction Account of WW2 Female News Reporters
- By DHackney on 08-30-13
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Marine!
- The Life of Chesty Puller
- By: Burke Davis
- Narrated by: Bill Thatcher
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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In the glorious chronicles of the US Marine Corps, no name is more revered than that of Lt. Gen. Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller. The only fighting man to receive the Navy Cross five separate times - a military honor second only to the Congressional Medal of Honor - he was the epitome of a professional warrior.
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good book, God awful reading.
- By Amazon Customer on 12-28-21
By: Burke Davis
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I Marched with Patton
- By: Frank Sisson, Robert L. Wise
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Now a spry 94 years old, Frank Sisson looks back at his life and his service in the Third Army. Born in rural Oklahoma, Frank grew up fatherless during the Great Depression. In 1944, at age 18, he enlisted and was deployed to France where he marched with Patton, taking part in many of the key Allied movements of the war. Frank fought in the Battle of the Bulge, nearly died crossing the Rhine with Patton, and was among the first American soldiers who liberated the notorious Dachau concentration camp.
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I really hate rating this so low.
- By S. H. Moore on 10-25-20
By: Frank Sisson, and others
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Bringing Mulligan Home
- The Other Side of the Good War
- By: Dale Maharidge
- Narrated by: Pete Larkin
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Sgt. Steve Maharidge, like many of his generation, hardly ever talked about the war. The only sign he'd served in it was a single black and white photograph of himself and another soldier tacked to the wall of his basement workshop. After Steve Maharidge's death, his son Dale, now an adult, began a 12-year quest to understand his father's preoccupation with the photo. What had happened during the battle for Okinawa, and why had his father remained silent about his experiences and the man in the picture, Herman Mulligan? In his search for answers, Maharidge sought out the survivors of Love Company.
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Very good book
- By chris on 02-10-16
By: Dale Maharidge
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Slightly Out of Focus
- By: Robert Capa
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 5 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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In this book, Capa recounts his terrifying journey through the darkest battles of World War II and shares his memories of the men and women of the Allied forces who befriended, amused, and captivated him along the way. His photographs are masterpieces - John G. Morris, Magnum Photos' first executive editor, called Capa "the century's greatest battlefield photographer" - and his writing is by turns riotously funny and deeply moving.
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Perfectly Named
- By J.Brock on 08-24-21
By: Robert Capa
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The Rifle
- Combat Stories from America's Last WWII Veterans, Told Through an M1 Garand
- By: Andrew Biggio
- Narrated by: Shawn Compton
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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The Rifle is the inspirational story of a 28-year-old US Marine, Andrew Biggio, who returned home from combat in Afghanistan and Iraq, full of questions about the price of war. He found answers from those who survived the costliest war of all - WWII veterans. It began when Biggio bought a 1945 M1 Garand Rifle, the most common rifle used in WWII. When Biggio showed the gun to his neighbor, WWII veteran Corporal Joseph Drago, it unlocked memories Drago had kept unspoken for 50 years.
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A must read
- By david cohen on 06-03-21
By: Andrew Biggio
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And If I Perish
- Frontline U.S. Army Nurses in World War II
- By: Evelyn M. Monahan, Rosemary Neidel-Greenlee
- Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
- Length: 21 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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In World War II, 59,000 women voluntarily risked their lives for their country as US Army nurses. For more than half a century these women's experiences remained untold, almost without reference in books, historical societies, or military archives. After years of research and hundreds of hours of interviews, Evelyn M. Monahan and Rosemary Neidel-Greenlee have created a dramatic narrative that at last brings to light the critical role that women played throughout the war.
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Mind blown! I learned so much!
- By Christine Ciana Calabrese on 05-08-22
By: Evelyn M. Monahan, and others
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Whatever It Took
- An American Paratrooper’s Extraordinary Memoir of Escape, Survival, and Heroism in the Last Days of World War II
- By: Henry Langrehr, Jim DeFelice
- Narrated by: Mike Ortego
- Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Published to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day, an unforgettable never-before-told first-person account of World War II: the true story of an American paratrooper who survived D-Day, was captured and imprisoned in a Nazi work camp, and made a daring escape to freedom. Now at 95, one of the few living members of the Greatest Generation shares his experiences at last in one of the most remarkable World War II stories ever told.
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Inspirational book
- By David S. on 02-11-21
By: Henry Langrehr, and others
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Congo Mercenary
- By: Mike Hoare
- Narrated by: Mike Hoare
- Length: 13 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Col. Mike Hoare tells how his force of mercenaries, 5 Commando, put down a Comunist-backed rebel uprising in the Congo. As they restored law and order, town by town, he and his men freed 1800 nuns and priests. His men also learned what it means to be real soldiers.
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Nice to hear an unapologetic account
- By S. H. Moore on 01-16-20
By: Mike Hoare
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Flags of Our Fathers
- By: James Bradley, Ron Powers
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 13 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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In this unforgettable chronicle of perhaps the most famous moment in American military history, James Bradley has captured the glory, the triumph, the heartbreak, and the legacy of the six men who raised the flag at Iwo Jima. Here is the true story behind the immortal photograph that has come to symbolize the courage and indomitable will of America.
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awesome
- By Thomas on 11-29-06
By: James Bradley, and others
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No Surrender
- A Father, a Son, and an Extraordinary Act of Heroism That Continues to Live on Today
- By: Christopher Edmonds, Douglas Century
- Narrated by: James Lurie
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Part contemporary detective story, part World War II historical narrative, No Surrender is the inspiring true story of Roddie Edmonds, a Knoxville-born enlistee who risked his life during the final days of World War II to save others from murderous Nazis, and the lasting effects his actions had on thousands of lives - then and now.
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Personal and impactful
- By Rodney on 10-10-19
By: Christopher Edmonds, and others
What listeners say about The Soldier's Truth
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- RJ
- 07-01-24
The personal as well as war-side of Ernie Pyle.
I wish they would’ve wrapped up the story of his wife. We’re left hanging. It would have completed Ernie and Jerry’s story.
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- Louis Vasquez III
- 03-07-24
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.
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- John
- 07-03-23
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.
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- Ellen Gabbert
- 10-29-24
Compassion
I loved Ernies style and compassion for the regular guy on the line. At the first part of the book, I was confused between 1944 and when David popped in the story.
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- Annie
- 06-12-23
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.
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- Duckie Doc
- 02-22-24
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.
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- Paul
- 07-08-23
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.
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- Parker
- 11-04-23
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.
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- Dawn L.
- 09-24-24
Truth
I never heard of Mr. Pyle before, for his war was not mine, but I do read and wonder about the 2nd world war. My grandfather served and never talked about it. Neither did my great uncles. A lot of the books you read are written from the military side, the battle plans etc. I am so glad that the everyday soldier that did what they were told, often not knowing why, had someone to tell their side of what war is truly like. I highly recommend this book to any and everyone who has ever known anybody that has served in a war zone...for it's the truth of any soldier whose ever served In a war.
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