BOOKS MEDIA ENTERTAINMENT BESTSELLERS AUTHORS BOOK PUBLISHING LIBRARIES IN CRISIS Michael Giltz Freelance writerGET UPDATES FROM MICHAEL GILTZ Follow Veterans , Vietnam , Veterans Day , World War II , Books , Veterans Day Books , Veterans Day Reading , Books News 4 8 1 2React Inspiring Funny Typical Important Outrageous Amazing Innovative BeautifulVeterans Day: Five Books to Read THE THINGS THEY CARRIED BY TIM O'BRIEN ($14.95 PAPERBACK; HOUGHTON MIFFLIN) MATTERHORN BY KARL MARLANTES ($15.95 PAPERBACK; GROVE PRESS) WHAT IT IS LIKE TO GO TO WAR BY KARL MARLANTES ($25; ATLANTIC MONTHLY PRESS) WILLIE & JOE: THE WW II YEARS BY BILL MAULDIN ($39.99 PAPERBACK; FANTAGRAPHICS ) WILLIE & JOE BACK HOME BY BILL MAULDIN ($29.99; FANTAGRAPHICS ) Today is Veterans Day, so I've been leading up to it by reading some of the current and classic works about war and soldiers.</p><p> You can't go wrong with any of them or a hundred other books one might name.</p><p> These are just the few that happened to snag my attention in the last few weeks.</p><p> FOLLOW US Which Lit Character Would You Have Over For...Funniest 'Literary Turducken' On Twitter The Joy of MiniaturesHow Do You Build A Truly Green City?EDITION: U.S.</p><p> November 24, 2011 Penguin Backtracks On Kindle Withdrawal More In Books: Quick Travel Reads...</p><p> Thanksgiving Guests ...</p><p> READ: Unseen Miss Marple...</p><p> Funniest 'Literary Turduckens' OnTwitter Like 63 Posted: 11/11/11 05:44 PM ET SHARE THIS STORY Submit this storyGet Books Alerts Sign UpPHOTO GALLERIESCONNECT FRONT PAGE POLITICS BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT TECH MEDIA LIFE & STYLE CULTURE COMEDY HEALTHY LIVING WOMEN LOCAL MORELike 8KKindle Bestsellers Libraries In Crisis eReaders NYR Smarter Ideas More Log inYou can't go wrong with The Things They Carried , acclaimed as a modern masterpiece the day it was released in 1990 and, if anything, it's reputation has only grown.</p><p> The Tim O'Brien collection of short stories is a favorite "handseller" of independent bookstores.</p><p> That is, it's one of those books they will always recommend to lovers of good fiction looking for a discovery.</p><p> It's based on O'Brien's experience inthe Vietnam War.</p><p> That's also the source for the work of Karl Marlantes, who quietly set up shop on the bestseller list withthe novel Matterhorn last year.</p><p> Now he's returned with What It Is Like To Go To War , a nonfiction work about his experience in war and how ill-prepared most 19-year-old kids are to endure it.</p><p> It's alreadyappearing on lists of the best books of the year and is a fascinating companion piece to Matterhorn .MOST POPULAR ON HUFFPOST 1 of 2 Fox News Viewers Know Less Than People Who Watch No News: Study Loyal Dog Refuses To Leave Owner's Grave, Goes Week Without Food Charlie Angus What if They Declared an Emergency and No One Came? Kris Humphries: Husband From Hell? Kirstie Alley Looking Good Bourbon Distillery To Obama: 'Give Us The Bird' Jenny From The Block's Fiat Commercial A Sham Justin Takes Paternity Test, Then Serenades Selena Jack Wagner Confronted By Long Lost Daughter DON'T MISS HUFFPOST BLOGGERS 1 of 5 Dr.</p><p> Peggy Drexler We Can Be Thankful for Each Other Dylan Ratigan This Thanksgiving, Occupy Yourself MOST DISCUSSED RIGHT NOWLike 310K Like 39K Like 41K Recommend 739 Like 182 Like 156 Like 3K Recommend 597 Like 180 WATCH: 8 Sexiest MTV Moments Of The 80s The Etymology Of Muppet But today I want to talk art inspired by another war: the cartoons of Bill Mauldin.</p><p> At one point, this man who made the cover of Time magazine twice was perhaps the most famous average soldier in the world (as compared to generals like Patton and Eisenhower).</p><p> Mauldin's Willie & Joe were grunts, regular footsoldiers who sat in the mud, complained about the food and otherwise captured the cynical, direct, let'sget this job done right so we don't have to do it again attitude that soldiers embodied during WW II.</p><p> First and foremost, Willie & Joe are funny.</p><p> Fantagraphics has put the WW II years out in paperback, but I've got the also available hardcover, a great looking slipcase in army green with two fat volumes of hiscaptivating artwork.</p><p> Never having served (or even fired a gun), it's an absorbing glimpse into the day-to- day life of soldiers while it was happening and the end not known.</p><p> It's easy to identify with: employees in any capacity gripe about their bosses.</p><p> But the more specific Mauldin is, the more biting and fascinatinghis work is.</p><p> The strip was a remarkable outlet for frustrations and annoyance and genuine anger: it didn't just poke fun at the higher-ups; it revealed problems and gripes that needed to be addressed.</p><p> Seeing Willie & Joe endure the same craziness was surely comforting.</p><p> But this wasn't just an easy way to redirectattention from the actual problems they faced.</p><p> And while the war was on, people at home took just asmuch comfort in their sad sack endurance.</p><p> It was wildly popular among civilians as well as soldiers; being able to joke about the hardships meant they'd be okay in the end, right? Finally, it's Willie & Joe: Back Home that moved me the most.</p><p> The cover shows a soldier without a place to stay, sleeping on a park bench and covered in a poster saying "Welcome Home" to the soldiers.</p><p> Too often, soldiers are praised and appreciated in the heat of battle but treated like an annoyance once thefighting has stopped.</p><p> Bill Mauldin wasn't even sure anyone would want to hear about Willie & Joe onceWorld War II had been won and, indeed, the strip faded in popularity, especially as Mauldin tackled social issues and kept a spotlight on the poor treatment of soldiers, who deserved better.</p><p> Clearly, veterans don't get two votes at the ballot box despite their service and the risking of life and limb when called to duty.</p><p> But sometimes even that one vote, that one voice is begrudged, whether it's theveteran in Oakland sent to the hospital by cops during an apparently peaceful protest in the Occupymovement or a soldier getting booed during a Presidential debate because he identified himself as gay and said he wanted to serve his country without having to lie. it's all happened before.</p><p> Todd DePastino's excellent essay details Mauldin's career, his artistic achievements and the battles he fought within himself and with his syndicators over this series.</p><p> Mauldin is always funny, but those with a rosy image of WW II will be surprised by the complex world shownhere: sometimes veterans are chagrined to discover that jobs they were assured would be waiting for them have disappeared while other times they're disconcerted to see the person who is going to be fired to make way for them.</p><p> Again and again, veterans are forgotten, forced to travel home by riding the railsor wondering where the crowds are that greeted vets after the victory in Europe but have moved on bythe time the Pacific boys head home.HOT ON FACEBOOK 1 of 3 HOT ON TWITTER 1of 2 HUFFPOST'S BIG NEWS PAGES Holidays Diary Weird News Business Racism Roman Polanski Buy a link here Sponsored Links 57 Year Old Mom Looks 27 Local Mom Reveals $5 Wrinkle Trick that is Angering Botox Doctors! www.Daily-Lifestyles.com Black Friday Leaked Ads SignUp & Get Black Friday Leaked Ads & Doorbuster Deals emai...</p><p> BlackFriday2011.com Official Obama Website Stand with Barack Obama now to say: "wecan’t wait.</p><p> Join the campaign.</p><p> BarackObama.com How to Talk to Little Girls Like 291K The Pioneering Genius Of Anne McCaffrey Like 269 theellenshow RetweetI'm so thankful for @MarloThomas and Jennifer Aniston and theincredible work they do for children.</p><p> You can help them. http://t.co/8e6dE micaelsilva RetweetFox News Viewers Know Less ThanPeople Who Don't Watch Any News: Study http://t.co/QL8AVm9xThis was bad enough as far as some newspapers were concerned, but Mauldin really lost them when he continually focused on social issues.</p><p> Mauldin skewered the prejudice that treated a returning vet as a Japbecause of how he looked, never mind where he was born or where he fought.</p><p> He mocked the VFW, at the time held hostage according to Mauldin by the soldiers of a different era who blocked moves to give WW II vets real say in the organization and then publicly supported hateful agendas like segregation that had nothing to do with the group as such.</p><p> Mauldin could tease young college students fired up by social consciousness but turn around and be blistering over the vicious prejudice and hatred of lynching.</p><p> People turned away.</p><p> Where were the easy laughs of Willie & Joe? Papers dropped him, even as Mauldin found the right voice to balance his heart with his humor.</p><p> By December 31, 1946 it was all over.</p><p> Willie & Joe were home but forgotten.</p><p> Mauldin had just won the Pulitzer Prize one year earlier but no one wanted to hear him now.</p><p> In the 1950s he would focus on editorial cartooning with great success.</p><p> And Willie & Joe were still beloved by the greatest generation, given tribute by Charles Schulz in his Peanuts strip on Veterans Day in 1998.</p><p> Willie & Joe and Mauldin made it onto a stamp in 2010, seven years after he died.</p><p> And now Fantagraphics has captured Mauldin's most enduring characters in two releases that do him justice.</p><p> If Veterans Day proves the spur to dive into any of these books (or the many others I might have mentioned), then that's just one more reason to say thanks to the people who have served in the past and do so today.</p><p> BOOKS I'VE READ -- 2011 Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand *** 1/2 The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin ****Two Adolescents by Alberto Moravia *** 1/2 King Solomon's Mines by H.</p><p> Rider Haggard ** 1/2 Cart & Cwidder by Diana Wynne Jones ** 1/2A Game Of Thrones by George R.R.</p><p> Martin ****A Clash Of Kings by George R.R.</p><p> Martin ***1/2 Just A Dream by Chris Van Allsburg * 1/2 The Good Book: A Humanist Bible by A.C.</p><p> Grayling *** Dodsworth in Rome by Tim Egan *** Prince Valiant Vol. 1: 1937-1938 by Hal Foster *** Prince Valiant Vol. 2: 1939-1940 by Hal Foster ***Prince Valiant Vol. 3: 1941-1942 by Hal Foster *** 1/2A Storm Of Swords by George R.R.</p><p> Martin *** 1/2 Queen Of The Falls by Chris Van Allsburg ** 1/2 A Feast For Crows by George R.R.</p><p> Martin *** 1/2The Greater Journey: Americans In Paris by David McCullough *** The Great Night by Chris Adrian ** 1/2 Empire State Of Mind by Zack O'Malley GreenburgThe Little Red Pen by Janet Stevens & Susan Stevens Crummel * 1/2 21: The Story Of Roberto Clemente by Wilfred Santiago ** 1/2 The Siege Of Washington by John Lockwood & Charles Lockwood *** Malcolm X; A Life Of Reinvention by Manning Marable **** Dawn, Dusk or Night by Yasmina Reza ** 1/2 Unforgivable by Phillipe Djian ** On Being: A Scientist's Exploration Of The Great Questions Of Existence by Peter Atkins **Mygale by Thierry Jonquet ** Berlin, 1961: Kennedy, Kruschev And The Most Dangerous Place On Earth by Frederick Kempe *** 1/2 High Strung: Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe and the Untold Story Of Tennis's Fiercest Rivalry by Stephen Tignor ** 1/2 Death At La Fenice by Donna Leon ** 1/2 Death In A Strange Country by Donna Leon ***My Friend Flicka by Mary O'Hara ***Drive by James Sallis ** The Magicians by Lev Grossman *** The Magician King by Lev Grossman ** 1/2The Buddha In The Attic by Julie Otsuka **** Fly By Night by Frances Hardinage ***Thunderhead by Mary O'Hara *** 1/2The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler ** 1/2 TV Issues scotland MORE BIG NEWS PAGES »Cocktail Hour Under The Tree Of Forgetfulness by Alexandra Fuller *** 1/2 East Of The West by Miroslav Penkov *** Sum: Forty Tales From The Afterlives by David Eagleman *** Green Grass Of Wyoming by Mary O'Hara ***A Dance With Dragons by George R.R.</p><p> Martin *** 1/2 Willie & Joe Back Home by Bill Mauldin *** The Cut By George Pelecanos ** 1/2Grand Pursuit by Sylvia Nasar ***/ A Matter For Men: War Of the Chtorrs by David Gerrold **A Rage For Revenge: War Of The Chtorrs by David Gerrold * 1/2The Shootist by Glendon Swarthout ***Sea Of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh *** 1/2 River Of Smoke by Amitav Ghosh *** 1/2 When The Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka *** 1/2The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway *** 1/2 Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson *** 1/2 Cousins: A Memoir by Athol Fugard **The Art Of Fielding by Chad Harbach ***The Rings Of Saturn by W.G.</p><p> Sebald **** Siddhartha by Herman Hesse * 1/2 The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides ** 1/2 John Henry Days by Colson Whitehead *** Prince Valiant Vol. 4: 1943-1944 by Hal Foster *** Civilization: The West and the Rest by Niall Ferguson ** 1/2 Charles Dickens: A Life by Claire Tomalin *** The House Of Silk by Anthony Horowitz ** 1/2 George F.</p><p> Kennan: An American Life by John Lewis Gaddis *** Thanks for reading.</p><p> Michael Giltz is the co-host of Showbiz Sandbox , a weekly pop culture podcast that reveals the industry take on entertainment news of the day and features top journalists and opinion makers as guests.</p><p> It's available free on iTunes.</p><p> Visit Michael Giltz at his website and his daily blog.</p><p> Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called Popsurfing and also available for free on iTunes.</p><p> Link to him on Netflix and gain access to thousands of ratings and reviews .</p><p> NOTE: Michael Giltz is provided with free copies of books to consider for review, including digital and physical galleys as well as final review copies.</p><p> He typically does not guarantee coverage andinvariably receives far more books than he can cover.</p><p> Follow Michael Giltz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/michaelgiltz Buy a link here Sponsored Links 57 Year Old Mom Looks 28 Huffington Post Readers: Mom Reveals $4 Wrinkle Trick Angering Doctors MUST-SEE.TheHigherLifestyle.com New Trick in TENNESSEE If you drive 25 mi/day or less you better read this...</p><p> Insurance.Comparisons.org Overstock 52" TVs: $59.96 Get a 52" LED TV for just $59.96.</p><p> Limit 1 A Customer.</p><p> Grab Yours Now. www.dealfun.com/tvs $9 Car Insurance Trick? I discovered the 1 car insurance trick your agent will NEVER tell you. www.TruthAboutCarInsurance.com Related News On Huffington Post: Jim Gaffigan Answers 'What Would You Be Like In The Military?' At Stand Up For Heroes (VIDEO) Just in time for Veterans Day, Jim Gaffigan told us what he would be like if he were forced to join the military today.</p><p> Gaffigan...</p><p> Iraq War Veteran Tammy Duckworth Leaves Students With Plenty To Think About Iraqi War veteran Tammy Duckworth began this Veterans Day in the warmembrace of the students and staff at York High School and Edison TOP LINKS ON THIS TOPIC 1 of 4 AMACOM Books Blog Veterans Day: European, Pacific, Wives and Books « The Anchoress IUniverse PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BEST- SELLERS Which Lit Character Would You Have Over...</p><p> Fake Squid, Psychiatric Patients, And Other Muppet...</p><p> The WhoreElementary....</p><p> Mitt Romney: Maybe Veterans' Health Care Should Be Privatized WASHINGTON -- Mitt Romney floated an eyebrow-raising suggestion on Veterans Day: privatize veterans' health care.</p><p> Speaking with a dozen vets inan occasionally emotional roundtable... 11/11/11 Baby Born At 11:11 To Vet On Veteran's Day MOUNT HOLLY, N.J. -- Jacob Anthony Saydeh (say-DAH') won't have any trouble remembering precisely when he was born.</p><p> Virtua Memorial hospital in Mount Holly, N.J.,...</p><p> Read more from Huffington Post bloggers: Abigail Tarttelin: Book Review: The Uncoupling by Meg Wolitzer: Your Christmas Shopping Done For the last few weeks I've been on a thriller chase, so to speak, so this week's book, The Uncoupling by New Yorker Meg Wolitzer, is a welcome break, kind of like a soy frap = fluffy, light, and curious.</p><p> Around the Web: Amazon.com: Veterans: Books Veterans Book Project Veterans' Day - Kids Books - Children's Literature for Veteran's Day Recommended Books for Veterans Day How to Donate Books to Soldiers and Veterans | eHow.com Jim Towey: The Death Book for Veterans - WSJ.com More in Books...</p><p> BOOKS MEDIA ENTERTAINMENT BESTSELLERS AUTHORS BOOK PUBLISHING LIBRARIES IN CRISIS ascamacho Veterans Day weekend was a great time for me at the Northern VA Christmas Market! I signed a record # of books -http://www.ascamacho.com 1 day ago from web madeljurke http://t.co/UTNwKGPb Books for Veterans Day Week: New Bio of Eisenhower, Grant's Final Battle ... - Tucson Citizen 6 days ago from web FRONT PAGE POLITICS BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT TECH MEDIA LIFE & STYLE CULTURE COMEDY HEALTHY LIVING WOMEN LOCAL MOREAdvertise | Log In | Make HuffPost your Home Page | RSS | Careers | FAQ User Agreement | Privacy | Comment Policy | About Us | About Our Ads | Contact Us Copyright © 2011 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. | "The Huffington Post" is a registered trademark of TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.</p><p> All rights reserved.</p><p> Part of AOL Lifestyle
