Books: Worm's Eye Ernie's War

Edited by David Nichols Random House; 432 pages; $19.95

Ernie Pyle, the best-known, most-admired newspaper correspondent of World War II, spent most of his time with the infantry, often in the front lines and under fire. He wrote down the names and hometowns of G.I.s he found eating cold C rations in muddy foxholes, and his stories rarely mentioned anyone above the rank of captain. It was, as he said, a "worm's-eye view" of the war, and in this deftly edited collection of his dispatches, Pyle's view of what is now an ancient campaign returns as a haunting narrative. A column written from Tunisia in 1943 was titled "The God-Damned...

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