Texan Audie Murphy was the most highly decorated G.I. of World War II, being awarded almost every medal the Army could offer as well as the Congressional Medal of Honor. His memoir of the war is a classic, still retaining some popularity. Tom Parker brings this terse yet vivid and articulate memoir to life. Able to give each of Murphy’s comrades credible accents and characterizations, Parker’s clear and well-paced reading is a joy. For popular and military collections.AMichael T. Fein, Catawba Valley Community Coll., Hickory, NC
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars Audie Murphy, as he tells it
The bones of his story are here. As with all autobiographies, there is some tweeking of the actual conversations, events, and time periods. Regardless, it is an interesting read, and I take nothing away from this true American hero. So he is not quite the innocent that he wishes to portray, as in the story of the hospitality of the Italian family. It is the innocent that we want to imagine that gained him such celebrity. He earned the right to the Hollywood treatment.
4 Stars What a man can endure.
“To Hell and Back” is an amazing account of Audie Murphy’s real-life military service during WWII. As far as the writing style it definitely lacks flare and, at some points, you feel as though you need to put it down for a while just to take a break the from the abuse of English grammar. However, this man’s heroics and peril he endured during the course of his service is so compelling that it far overshadows any literative misgivings. To think that the man (almost boy actually) came back and was able to be even somewhat normal is nothing short of a miracle. It’s not only worth the money but should also be required reading by every high school history student in this country. This is what it means to be free and what price we sometimes may have to pay in oreder to stay that way.
5 Stars One of the Best War Books Written
This is on of the best books ever written about war. I’m a NCO in the Army and I believe that this book should be a preferred read on any soldiers list. I’ve served in Iraq on the front lines and the emotions that Audie Murphy writes about in this book are still identical in today’s war.
5 Stars Well worth the investment
I found “To Hell and Back” to be well worth the time and investment. While it could have contained more detailed information about the battles it did a great job of tell the human side of Murphy’s campaigns.
5 Stars To Hell and Back
To Hell and Back
One of the great things about reading the Audie Murphy bio is that you hear his voice in your head. You see him on every page, if you have seen his movies and remember his Texas drawl.
What struck me as remarkable was how modest Murphy was in recalling his exploits. We are talking about the most decorated man of World War 2. His humility is probably the biggest drawback in the book. The first half of the book is really a tribute to the men that he served with in the war.
Murphy was orphaned as a child and the state broke up the remaining family. He finds a new family in the army. When you read the first chapters you see his status in the group escalate until he is basically in charge of everyone, but he never mentions how this happened. The infantry does not choose young, short, baby-faced men to lead them into battle: obviously his courage and leadership have propelled him into that role. Instead of telling us how this has happened he recalls his conversations and interactions with his friends. It is not until every single one of them is dead or wounded that he turns his attention to describing his own efforts to win the war. It is really incredible. From that point on the book is non-stop action and you cannot help but wonder how he survives. Did he have a death wish after losing his buddies? He admits to having incredible luck and wonders when it will run out, yet he continues to volunteer for missions out of boredom.
Audie Murphy is the ten on the scales for courage and character. Needless to say I loved the book.
You must log in to post a comment.