Mollie & Other War Pieces (Witnesses to War)

By A.J. Liebling

Book Overview

A. J. Liebling's coverage of the Second World War for the New Yorker gives us a fresh and unexpected view of the war -- stories told in the words of the soldiers, sailors, and airmen who fought it, the civilians who endured it, and the correspondents who covered it. The hero of the title story is a private in the Ninth Army division known as Mollie, short for Molotov, so called by his fellow G.I.s because of his radical views and Russian origins. Mollie was famous for his outlandish dress (long blonde hair, riding boots, feathered beret, field glasses, and red cape), his disregard for army discipline, his knack for acquiring prized souvenirs, his tales of being a Broadway big shot, and his absolute fearlessness in battle. Killed in combat on Good Friday, 1943, Mollie (real name: Karl Warner) was awarded the Silver Star posthumously. Intrigued by the legend and fascinated by the man behind it, Liebling searched out Mollie's old New York haunts and associates and found behind the layers of myth a cocky former busboy from Hell's Kitchen who loved the good life. Other stories take Liebling through air battles in Tunisia, across the channel with the D-Day invasion fleet, and through a liberated Paris celebrating de Gaulle and freedom. Liebling's war was a vast human-interest story, told with a heart for the feelings of the people involved and the deepest respect for those who played their parts with heroism, however small or ordinary the stage. Book jacket.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805209573
• ISBN13: 9780805209570
• Release Date: August 1989
• Publisher: Schocken
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A real enemy, a real war, real soldiers and a real reporter

Bison Books has done lovers of Americana a great service by re-publishing this collection of short war-pieces by the great Joe Liebling. It was originally published by Schocken (Liebling's only book in that house?) in 1964, shortly after his death. These days, most readers would know Liebling's New York City pieces, full of sociologically outlandish characters, comically drawn. The soldiers (and others) Liebling describes in North Africa are people rather than characters, and the outlandishness arises from the situation of war. The comedy is replaced with a deeper humor. The reviewer of February 19th 2006 says "everyone is [Liebling's] friend", and everyone was his friend, in the war zone; readers used to an acerbic Liebling will find a different sort of journalist here, more kind-hearted, odd as that word may seem when used of the guy who wrote the old 42nd Street grotesque, "The Jollity Building". And more truthful as well; the New York City writings are naturalistic but synthetic, recombinant and illustrative. These soldiers in "Mollie", American, British, or French, are real as well as realistic, with real families and neighborhoods who noticed when they didn't come back. Journalistic ethics and military credentials demanded veracity . As well as a kind heart.

A Wonderful Book.

The publishers notes (above) give you the details. But this book is a keeper. Liebling has a warm and caring and unpretentious style of writing. Everyone is his friend. He doesnt hide any of the nasty details about war or people, rather, what's missing is the self-righteous indignation and arrogance and insolence that characterizes modern journalism's judgments about people and events. Liebling takes people and events as they come and as they are. Liebling didnt believe he was superior to the people he wrote about, and he didnt pretend to be a General. You'll enjoy reading his tales.