Brave Men

Praise

“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

“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