When a machine-gun bullet ended the life of war correspondent Ernie Pyle in the final days of World War II, Americans mourned him in the same breath as they mourned Franklin Roosevelt. To millions, the loss of this American folk hero seemed nearly as great as the loss of the wartime president.

If the hidden horrors and valor of combat persist at all in the public mind, it is because of those writers who watched it and recorded it in the faith that war is too important to be confined to the private memories of the warriors. Above all these writers, Ernie Pyle towered as a giant. Through...

Whether dodging sniper fire, accompanying strategic bombing raids over enemy territory, challenging the Pentagon's version of events, or crossing the frontlines to interview figures at the heart of the conflict, war correspondents have served as the eyes and ears of the nation, conveying the facts, the brutality and the drama of warfare, and shaping public opinion in the process. Now for the first time, in Reporting America at War, the nation's most respected reporters share their stories to create a fascinating oral history.

Now available in paperback--as seen on PBS, America's greatest and most influential combat journalists tell their own harrowing and revealing stories about the experience of covering war.
At the turning points of modern American history, from the beaches of Normandy to the jungles of Southeast Asia, war correspondents have served as our eyes and ears--sometimes even as our conscience. Courageous and controversial, they have captured war in all its brutality, folly, and drama. In the process, they have both reflected and altered America's sense of itself.
In this...