Book Wrangler

March 14, 2005

By Bob Patterson

On April 18, 1945, war correspondent and newspaper columnist Ernie Pyle was killed in action during WWII, on the island of Ie Shima, in the Pacific theater, and so the National Society of Newspaper Columnists (NSNC) honors the fallen journalist by naming that day as National Columnists Day.

Pyle was the favorite of the enlisted men and he was a Pulitzer Prize winner.

Barns & Noble Common Reader Editions Series has published a new edition of Here Is Your War ($9.95 hardback Barnes & Noble), with a new introduction.

It is still relevant today to folks who are concerned with the war in Iraq.

Folks who want to support the troops can read this book and get a close look at the world of the enlisted men fighting in North Africa during WWII.  The equipment may change but this book will give those folks a close look at the hardships the troops face.

Folks who don’t agree with the reasons for starting the Iraq war will find that this book shows the grief and frustrations the soldiers must handle.  The rank and file members of the Army can sometimes be just as upset with the “brass” as with the enemy.  The folks in the Pentagon have only one enemy.  The guys in the foxholes sometimes seem to be fighting two groups of adversaries simultaneously: the chain of command for more efficiency and the enemy for obvious reasons.

Good writing is timeless and this book proves that a collection of newspaper columns can still be very compelling reading sixty-two years after being written.

Now, if the disk jockey will play Bless Them All, we’ll sail out of here for this week.  Come back again next week, until then we wish our readers and the members of the armed forces, the luck of the Irish.  Have a good (and safe) week.