American Hero: The Life and Death of Audie Murphy [Hardcover]

Charles Whiting (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 30, 2000

In a major new biography, veteran military historian and WII biographer, Charles Whiting combines both talents to tell the tale of barefoot Texan share-cropper's son, who could barely read and write, but became not only the US Army's most decorated soldier in its 250 - year history, but also the star of forty Paramount produced movies: most of which are shown on TV screens around the world to this very day. The gentle-eyed, baby-faced hero had won every decoration the United States had to offer before he was eligible to vote and killed 240 enemy soldiers in the process. Luck made him a movie star. Always he tried to improve himself, but time and time again he was relegated to the 'horse operas', where as he wisecracked cynically, "it was the same old movie, only they changed the colour of the horse." But there was a price to pay for his heroism in drugs, nervous tension and Murphy's addiction to violence. Even as a middle-aged movie star, he always slept with a .45 beneath his pillow, plagued by nightmares of the war. Murphy had been an ordinary boy, who had volunteered to go to fight and did so with exceeding bravery in the last 'good war'. He paid highly for that bravery and sense of duty to a country which had given him nothing save "malnutrition", as he used to quip. He was that last American Hero, who did as President Kennedy proclaimed, " Don't ask what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country." Even before his young life had really commenced, he had become a legend. But in the end 'Tinseltown' and the 'feather merchants' of Hollywood broke him. As Time magazine commented on his death; "Audie Murphy belonged to an earlier, simpler time, one in which bravery was a cardinal and killing was a virtue... We shall not see his like again."

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: J Whiting Books (October 30, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0953867706
• ISBN-13: 978-0953867707
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #330,384 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

80 of 81 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Forgotten Hero, April 16, 2003

By 

Edward P. Matos "edmatos52" (Laredo, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: American Hero: The Life and Death of Audie Murphy (Hardcover)

This is a great, yet tragic, account of the life of a young man, Audie Murphy, who was forever damaged by war and forgotten by the country he loved and fought so gallantly and proudly for during the Second World War.

Surprisingly enough there is very little literature on America's most highly decorated World War II soldier and so Charles Whiting's book, "American Hero: The life and Death of Audie Murphy" is very much welcomed and appreciated.

In his book, Whiting tells the story of Audie Murphy, war hero, Hollywood movie star, and complex human being. It is a sad account, poignantly told by a writer who has clearly done his homework before putting pen to paper. Whiting covers Audie Murphy from his poverty stricken childhood years in Texas to the war in Europe, to Hollywood, and finally into the abyss of American memory.

"American Hero" gives the reader a rare opportunity to peek into the life of an American hero who was awarded every decoration America has to offer. Whiting portrays the story of a young Audie Murphy wounded in combat during World War II, his ability to recuperate from his physical injuries, and his inability to recover from the psychological and emotional scars inflicted upon him by the war. The author theorizes that it was the effects of "Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder" that plagued Audie Murphy's life from the battlefields of Europe to the last days of his all-too-short life. Murphy's extreme boredom with life, his reclusiveness, mood swings, gambling, temperament, depression, battle with addiction to sleeping pills, marital infidelities and other behaviors are keenly linked to behaviors attributed to PTSD. But most importantly, Whiting clearly shows the reader the portrait of a young man abandoned and forgotten by the country he so dearly loved and defended to his death in 1971. I could not help but to choke up with emotion at the author's thoughts on Audie Murphy's death and burial at Arlington National Cemetery. "At last America's most decorated soldier was alone with the `glorious dead'. Now he would rest forever...."

People who wish to read about American heroism and its cost should read "American Hero: The life and Death of Audie Murphy"; it's a great book and should be made into a movie. . . .

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Biography But Many Typos, March 26, 2009

By 

Joseph Castellano "Avid reader" (San Jose, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: American Hero: The Life and Death of Audie Murphy (Hardcover)

Whiting's biography of Audie Murphy provides an excellent review of his heroic exploits in the European Theater of Operations during World War II. I found it to be more complete that Murphy's own book, "To Hell and Back." The stories of Murphy's problems dealing with his adjustment to civilian life after the war as well as his career in the film industry are also compelling. However, Whiting mentions nothing about Murphy's education during peacetime and only a passing mention that he joined the National Guard after the outbreak of the Korean War. In a TV documentary I saw many years ago, Murphy was reported to have attended Texas A & M University and rose to the rank of Major in the Army reserves.

The other problem with this book is the poor job of editing that was done. It is fraught with many typographical errors.

In any case, the book is well written and does give insight into the problem of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, which was not recognized as such during Audie Murphy's life and times.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Audie Murphy deserves much more., April 13, 2007

By 

Personnalité- ( S. Robert Tod. ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: American Hero: The Life and Death of Audie Murphy (Hardcover)

I used to watch his films when I was a child and I still am a fan of him mainly because of his heroism as a soldier. If you want to see his truly heroism just watch "To hell and back". There you are going to see what was "a true war hero" and understand that a soldier like this won't born in this world anymore. He was not an ordinary soldier, he was the best one. I agree that this book doesn't match his importance to American history, but where many men that have never attended to any war get rich writing books about their times as protesters in front of Lincoln Monument, it's easy to understand why American people want to forget this kind of a man. Mainly because he was not graduated in any great university. Soldiers have been dying for countries that don't give a damn for them at all. But as a first book about this great American is a good choice, buy it.