Up FrontThe definitive biography of the greatest cartoonist of the Greatest Generation. "The real war," said Walt Whitman, "will never get in the books." During World War II, the truest glimpse most Americans got of the "real war" came through the flashing black lines of twenty-two-year-old infantry sergeant Bill Mauldin. Week after week, Mauldin defied army censors, German artillery, and Patton's pledge to "throw his ass in jail" to deliver his wildly popular cartoon, "Up Front," to the pages of Stars and Stripes. "Up Front" featured the wise-cracking Willie and Joe, whose stooped shoulders, mud-soaked uniforms, and pidgin of army slang and slum dialect bore eloquent witness to the world of combat and the men who lived—and died—in it.This taut, lushly illustrated biography—the first of two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Bill Mauldin—is illustrated with more than ninety classic Mauldin cartoons and rare photographs. It traces the improbable career and tumultuous private life of a charismatic genius who rose to fame on his motto: "If it's big, hit it." |
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45th Division aid station ain't American Anzio army artillery battalion battle Battle of Naples beachhead Bibb BILL MAULDIN boys brass buddies cartoon civilian combat badges combat soldiers commander Corps depple dogfaces doggie enemy enlisted feel fight foxholes France FRANCE BILL French friends front front-line funny garritroopers Germans grenades Grenoble gripes guys helmet holes infantry infantryman Italian Italy jeep Joe and Willie keep killed krauts live look Luger pistol medics mortar mountains Naples never night officers okay outfit overseas paper paratrooper patrol pick pretty Purple Heart ration dump rear echelon regiment rifle scrounging seen sergeant shells sleep sometimes Stars and Stripes stuff talk tanks tell things throw tired told tough town trench foot troops truck wearing Willie and Joe wish to hell wounded