The Price of Valor: The Life of Audie Murphy, America's Most Decorated Hero of World War II

Written by David Smith

Narrated by Tom Perkins

When he was seventeen years old, Audie Murphy falsified his birth records so that he could enlist in the Army and help defeat the Nazis. When he was nineteen, he single-handedly turned back the German Army at the Battle of Colmar Pocket by climbing on top of a tank with a machine gun, a moment immortalized in the classic film To Hell and Back, starring Audie himself. In the first biography covering his entire life-including his severe PTSD and his tragic death at age forty-five-the unusual story of Audie Murphy, the most decorated hero of World War II, is brought to life for a new generation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Apr 20, 2015
• ISBN: 9781494582203

David Smith

David Smith is Economics Editor of the Sunday Times and the author of a number of books including The Dragon and the Elephant [9781847650474] and classic guide to economics Free Lunch [9781781250112].

Reviews for The Price of Valor

[vladimiro sousa · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Interesting story of an interesting life. Some of this guys trully were a cut appart!

[elizajane_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An engaging read. I hadn't known anything about Audie Murphy before reading this book except, of course, his being the most decorated WWII hero and of his being an actor afterwards. It's a sad story. He was deeply affected by what we now call PTSD and was only 19 when he came home from the war. His story is one that we should keep alive and unfortunately he has become someone most people have never heard of today. The book is well written, though not a page-turner, but certainly captivating and worth the read.

[nickhowes · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The full, tragic story of Audie Murphy, most decorated American soldier in history turned movie star. This first-rate boo covers his origins, military experiences, movie career, and his unending postwar battle with PTSD. Murphy wrote an autobiography, To Hell and Back, which is less about heroism than the loss of his friends. He reluctantly agreed to do the movie version, given the unenviable opportunity to relive the death of his mother and loss of friends in combat during filming. His PTSD was severe, waking up from nightmares, pounding on the walls sleeping with a gun under his pillow, and enduring the loss of joy and anticipation due to deadened senses. The last led Murphy to a gambling problem that cleaned him out by the time he died in a plane crash at 46. Very touching account.