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Typewriter Battalion: Dramatic Frontline Dispatches from World War II
Stenbuck, Jack, Ed., Typewriter Dramatic Frontline Dispatches From World Wa
- GenresHistory
416 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
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June 22, 2012
Part of what is interesting about this is how undisciplined and sometimes cliched was some of the best reporting to come out of World War Two.
Many of these dispatches begin with "I rode" a bomber over Greece or "I have an incredible story to tell". In composite you can imagine readers back home getting tired of it. Just tell the story.
Some are guilty of using the "you" construction of narration, as a replacement for the first person "I" ... always discouraged in grade school English class.
A lot of it is in a style and lacking in detail that would call for heavy editing today. A gunner is merely hit in the leg without a description of the blood and gore that would flood through a B-17 in that moment.
But there are some reporting gems in here about bombing runs, beach landings, the trading that went into finding a motor for a broken refrigerator ... even an essay about what a general does in battle. In total, this is a collection worth reading. It's a peephole into an incredible time in history.
Ernie Pyle is in here, John Lardner ... even Walter Cronkite whose piece is good, but unfortunately opens with the line, "It was a hell 26,000 feet above the earth ..."
Many of these dispatches begin with "I rode" a bomber over Greece or "I have an incredible story to tell". In composite you can imagine readers back home getting tired of it. Just tell the story.
Some are guilty of using the "you" construction of narration, as a replacement for the first person "I" ... always discouraged in grade school English class.
A lot of it is in a style and lacking in detail that would call for heavy editing today. A gunner is merely hit in the leg without a description of the blood and gore that would flood through a B-17 in that moment.
But there are some reporting gems in here about bombing runs, beach landings, the trading that went into finding a motor for a broken refrigerator ... even an essay about what a general does in battle. In total, this is a collection worth reading. It's a peephole into an incredible time in history.
Ernie Pyle is in here, John Lardner ... even Walter Cronkite whose piece is good, but unfortunately opens with the line, "It was a hell 26,000 feet above the earth ..."
Displaying 1 of 1 review