Retired journalism professor Owen V. Johnson first heard of Ernie Pyle during his youth. He read a few books on the famed journalist and admired Pyle’s work for many years.
When he became a professor at IU, he widened his knowledge through a collection of Pyle’s personal letters. This was the beginning step toward writing his book, “At Home with Ernie Pyle,” a culmination of 17 years of research, now available through retailers and IU Press.
According to the news release on the Viewpoints website, the book unites the letters and Pyle’s writings about Indiana and its people throughout the first half of the 20th century.
Johnson immersed himself in Pyle’s world: walking in his footsteps and reading extensively across a variety of platforms.
Chapters of the book highlight Indianapolis and Evansville, Indiana, as well as the Artists’ Colony of Brown County, according to the release. The subjects range from politics and art to the people of his hometown in Dana.
There are also sections on people related to IU, as Pyle studied here from 1919 to 1923.
The book began as an assignment for Johnson’s intensive freshman seminar in 1998. The students, according to the release, were assigned to visit the Lilly Library and read a couple of the letters, columns and an article in a major publication such as “Life” or “Look” magazine.
In each category, students also had to look at both peacetime and wartime examples. The letters themselves showed what Johnson called a different side of Pyle. They were “very raunchy, very honest and very direct.”
The work started as a book on Pyle’s correspondence, according to the release. The magnitude of the subject matter: including 1,300 letters and 3,000 pages of manuscript, proved to be too much.
What Johnson discovered was a disconnect between what others claimed Pyle described and what he actually portrayed in his work.
While some saw his work as praise or celebration heroism, Johnson said he found a man presenting the ordinary soldiers’ and sometimes generals’ perspectives.
He also looked into Pyle’s life in Indiana via his columns and found a narrative reflecting the transition from rural, agrarian lifestyle of the past to industrialization’s impacts on the region through the 20th century.
Johnson worked with the Lilly Library and IU Archives as well as students in The Media School throughout this project.
Sanya Ali
