David Chrisinger
Award-Winning Author and Teacher Who Believes Everyone Has a Story That Matters
David Chrisinger is the Executive Director of the Harris Writing Workshop at the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy and teaches memoir writing for The War Horse. His latest books and essays cover the intersection of conflict, trauma, and the stories we tell about ourselves. Read more
Featured books
Book Contributions
Chapter: More Genteel Than Grim: Letters Home from WWI
Beyond Their Limits of Longing
Introduction
Brave Men
"Making Sense of the Unknown"
Proud to Be: Writing by American Warriors, Volume 5
"The Perils of Spilling Your Guts"
Why We Write: Craft Essays on Writing War
"If You Want to Go Far, Go Together"
Retire the Colors
"That Which Is Unforgotten"
Proud to Be: Writing by American Warriors, Volume 4
Articles Featured In
Events
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Reviews
Chrisinger’s use of “Ernie,” rather than Pyle, creates an intimate connection between readers and subject. With other writers that approach might seem presumptuous and also outrage purist writing teachers, but given the familiar tone of Pyle’s columns, in this instance, it works.
Claude R. Marx, The Common Reader
Displaying Pyle’s detailed snapshots of victory, levity, fatigue, death, and grief . . . The compelling story of ‘America’s most beloved war correspondent,’ who lost his life recording soldiers’ real experiences.
Review, Kirkus
In this intriguing and admiring biography, Chrisinger retraces war correspondent Ernie Pyle’s steps through the European and Pacific theaters of WWII . . . Chrisinger’s deep admiration for his subject comes through, as does his belief in the power of storytelling as a force for good . . . A fascinating portrait of a reporter who gave everything to get the story.
Review, Publisher's Weekly
When it comes to Pyle and the war, the book is very good. The reporter was a prolific letter-writer, and Mr. Chrisinger draws heavily and judiciously from Pyle’s correspondence with two close friends and with his wife.
Ben Yagoda, Wall Street Journal
Chrisinger teases out the exquisite, often painful balancing act Pyle had to perform as a war correspondent . . . An excellent reassessment of a singular American journalist.
Booklist, (starred review)
A prescient and engrossing story, Chrisinger intricately weaves moments of memoir and hard journalism with incredibly granular and well-rendered studies of Pyle’s life, the parts of war he witnessed, and the people he met, knew, and loved.
Rachel Kambury, Wrath-Bearing Tree
Essay & Articles
NEWS
Audiobook Preview of “Stories Are What Save Us”
Audiobook Preview of “The Soldier’s Truth”
The Chronicler of the Grunts in the Good War
