Rating: 
Summary: The Real Stuff
Review: Among all the photgraphs, movies and imagery of WWII, Bill Mauldin's cartoons stand high. His work was not written or drawn for a movie theater or a documentary to be seen at home. It was meant to be seen, appreciated and identified with by actual participants in or near Infantry Combat As such his work is the REAL STUFF. That Patton detested him until he met him speaks reams for the accuracy and unglamorous nature of his work. It also timeless for an infantryman of any time or war. Novices see what they will get into and veterans of combat will identify with his visualizations of infantry life and combat.
Rating:
Summary: Fond Memories
Review: As a boy, I wore out my dad's copy of this book; although I was not yet old enough to appreciate the commentary, I did find humor and appreciation for Willie and Joe. When I joined the service for the Vietnam problem, I then saw much of Mr. Mauldin's wisdom, experienced the social divisions, and visited with the horror of man's worst occupation, making war on others. The pages of this book recalled broken buildings, scenes of destroyed nature, and filth beyond belief, and this is what Vietnam was about. Mr. Mauldin truly found the universality of this type of horror, and the humor and wit of Willie and Joe still apply.
Rating:
Summary: A National Treasure
Review: Bill Mauldin died yesterday. And so passes a hero's hero, a man who let the dogfaces (and the Marines and sailors, too) know that somebody appreciated and understood them. Mauldin's talent for the politcal cartoon was without peer. And since he was an ordinary GI himself, his insight, dark humor, and typically American irreverance for authority were beyond compare. His famous Willie and Joe were the prototypes for the heros heralded in books about the "Greatest Generation" five decades later. And Mauldin's writing is equal to his drawing. Should anyone today want to learn about World War II, they should be handed a copy of "Up Front" and told, "Read this first." A couple of years ago, Time Magazine selected their Person of the Twentieth Century and chose Albert Einstein. However, the late Stephen Ambrose argued that the choice should have been "GI Joe." I'll not only agree with that, but think that the Time cover should have featured Bill Mauldin's Willie and Joe.
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Summary: Although war is hell, this WWII memoir is heavenly
Review: Bill Mauldin won a Pulitzer Prize for his WWII cartoons in Stars & Stripes. This book, filled with those cartoons, would be worth the price for them, alone, but the text, genial, insightful, and filled with humor, marks Mauldin as worthy a writer as he is a cartoonist, and that's saying a lot
Rating:
Summary: Like It Was.
Review: Bill Mauldin writes as well as he draws. His writing tells it like it is; his cartoons are what he would like it to be. It was terrible, terrifying, ugly and uncomfortable fighting Germans; but Mauldin makes the experience intelligible to those who weren't there. I see why Eisenhower sent Mauldin to visit Patton. Ike hoped George would understand, finally, why no American general should treat G.I.s like peasants. Patton didn't get it and hated Mauldin for undermining the kind of authority that Patton loved and G.I.'s hated, authority for its own sake. Mauldin's writing and drawings keep a body from getting romantic about war or George Patton, and they ought to be visited by anyone planning to deploy troops. NOTE: The hardcover book is an offset reprint. Make sure all pages are properly inked. Two pages in the one I saw first were inked too lightly to be read.
Rating:
Summary: Like It Was.
Review: Bill Mauldin writes as well as he draws. His writing tells it like it is; his cartoons are what he would like it to be. It was terrible, terrifying, ugly and uncomfortable fighting Germans; but Mauldin makes the experience intelligible to those who weren't there. I see why Eisenhower sent Mauldin to visit Patton. Ike hoped George would understand, finally, why no American general should treat G.I.s like peasants. Patton didn't get it and hated Mauldin for undermining the kind of authority that Patton loved and G.I.'s hated, authority for its own sake. Mauldin's writing and drawings keep a body from getting romantic about war or George Patton, and they ought to be visited by anyone planning to deploy troops. NOTE: The hardcover book is an offset reprint. Make sure all pages are properly inked. Two pages in the one I saw first were inked too lightly to be read.
Rating:
Summary: Great war book about nothing but soldiers
Review: Cartoonists have an incredible ability to capture human situations with simple drawings and a bit of text and Bill Mauldin was one of the most unique. He is best known for his drawings of Joe and Willie, two combat veterans slogging their way through WWII. In his drawings, you see the despair, fatigue and determination of dirty, tired men who always seem able to take the next objective and move one step closer to the end of the war. Whatever they are doing, there is a perpetual slump in their shoulders, clearly demonstrating an overpowering weariness with the war and what it all means.
Mauldin was drawing from personal experience, having spent a great deal of time on the bitterly contested Italian front, particularly at the Anzio landing. The book is a combination of narrative and cartoons that he drew while in the field. To his credit, Mauldin also ran afoul of some superior officers, which fortunately did little to alter his tactics. As one of his editorial superiors told him, "If you aren't making somebody mad, you're probably not worth reading."
This is a view of the war that is not about combat as much as the deprivation that the fighting foot soldiers endured. Days of being wet, eating cold food and sleeping in water were routine for the men who fought. His description of their joy in being able to bed down covered with hay in a barn is a classic definition of a simple pleasure.
Many books have been written about World War II in Europe and more continue to be published as additional material is released from the archives of nations. This is one that will not be improved upon as it does not involve decisions made by political or military leaders. It is about the simple soldiers who fought their way across Europe and endured because they had to.
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Summary: Great cartoons, very good writing
Review: I bought "Up Front" to see those Willy-and-Joe cartoons that my dad liked so much, and was pleasantly surprised by the rich writing and the uncanny observations. Mauldin doesn't write so much as draw with words. He writes about no battles or incidents in specific, but where most "generalized" war stories fail, his succeeds because of the universality of his experiences as a G.I.--and his wonderful cartoons. Mauldin couldn't have known it at the time, but "Up Front" is truly a wonderful piece of primary history.
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Summary: Captures the essence of war through humor
Review: I enjoyed reading Up Front as a youngster -- we had a first edition at home until I lent it to a friend and it disappeared. Much later, while serving as a combatant in Southeast Asia, I could vividly recall each cartoon in Mauldin's book and was astonished how accurately he had captured the essence of war through the dry humor of his cartoons. I recommend Mauldin's book both for those who have experienced war as well as for those who believe that war is a glorious experience.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: I first read and re-read Up Front over twenty years ago. Unfortunately, I have not had the opportunity to read it since. However, coming across this section, I still recall specifics of the text and memorable cartoons such as Willie and Joe in a cave with a poor hound dog outside in the rain peering in. "Let 'im in. I wanna critter that I can feel sorry fer." An exceptional book.
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