Customer Reviews

Mud & Guts: A Look at the Common Soldier of the American Revolution

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58 pages illus. This pamphlet was taken on my Mr Mauldin in 1974 as a Bicentenial project for the National Park Service. Mr Mauldin intended this to be a Willy & Joe in Three cornered hats. He admits in the text that he was overwhelmed by what he thought he knew of the The Revolution, and what there is to know. He performed extensive research on the subject, and was not able to complete the work until 1978. Mauldin's excellent sense of humor shines throughout the text without sacrificing accuracy (He mentioned several very obscure battles within the text); providing an enjoyable semi-serious look at the life of the common soldier of the Revolutionary War times, while poking some fun at the officers (George Washington does not escape unscathed) Of course the cartoons are irresistable.

Mud & Guts is an unusual little book about the common Revolutionary War soldier. Bill Mauldin admits he is no historian; he is, rather, a political cartoonist who offered up his wares to The Stars and Stripes during World War II and served as a correspondent during several later armed conflicts. This book grew out of a request from the National Park Service for a book about the experience of the common soldier during the American Revolution - in honor of the 200th anniversary of American independence. The book was not finished until 1978, but it certainly does make for an interesting look at the subject matter.

The book is basically split down the middle, half text and half political cartoons. Personally, I didn't find any of the cartoons particularly engaging. The text, on the other hand, did touch on some interesting things. There's just not much focus to any of it, though, as the book is too short to cover anything in detail. For the most part, it all comes down to a string of anecdotes (such as a description of cootie races at Valley Forge) - but Mauldin does succeed to some degree in conveying the hard reality of life for all of the anonymous men who secured this country's independence. He talks about the horrible conditions, the lack of food and drink, the ferocity of hand-to-hand combat, and the medical woes for anyone unlucky enough to take a hit on the battlefield - if the wound didn't get you, the almost unavoidable infection would. Mauldin has some interesting things to tell us, but the brevity of the book constrains him to basically just jump around from one story to another without marshalling any strong sense of cohesiveness. Of course, my opinion reflects the fact that I look at this subject through an historian's eyes, and Mauldin freely admits he's no historian. The book is definitely worth reading for anyone interested in sneaking a few revealing glances at the reality of life as a common soldier of the American Revolution.

Mud and Guts: A Look at the Common Soldier of the American Revolution. BOOK. 1978. Provides an informal study in text and cartoons of American troops in the Revolution, with particular emphasis on the life of the common foot soldier. This publication may be purchased at a special price of $471.00 per 100 copies when mailed to one address. 0-16-061670-0
S/N 024-005-01153-6 -- $8.50

That's right...you can buy a copy for only $8.50 from the Government Bookstore and you can do it online!

http://bookstore.gpo.gov/sb/sb-144.html

Bill Mauldin, the pulitzer-winning cartoonist Stars and Stripes fame, wrote this book about the life of Soldiers in the days of the Revolution and illustrated it with some original artwork. The cartoons are great and Mauldin's insight (he served in the European Theater of operations in WWII) help to make this a fun read.

Bill Mauldin is most known for his World War II "Willie and Joe" cartoons and his editorial cartoons. In this volume, he takes a look at a different war -- the American Revolution -- and offers a tasty and insightful slice of history. Even those with little enthusiasm for history will find this a readable, laugh-out-loud look at events that continue to shape the American psyche.