'Mollie' (originally written as a series of articles called 'The Quest for Mollie' in New Yorker magazine in 1945) tells the story of a young US soldier, known to his compatriots as 'Mollie' (short for Molotov), who had been a larger-than-life figure to all in uniform who knew him. Liebling, a war correspondent at the time, came across him after he had been presumably killed by a sniper in Tunisia, and works hard to learn as much about him as possible, starting with the incredible (but apparently close to true) episode in which he captured almost 600 Italian fighters, convincing them that they really didn't want to fight and die in this war. He is described in ways that make the reader believe this was a cross between a rogue and a clown whose swagger came with its own backstory.

Liebling tries hard to establish Mollie's real name, stitching together bits and pieces of biographical information, setting aside the nuggets of truth from the slurry of mythologized fable, like panning for gold. His exploits had him written up for a Distinguished Service Cross (which was denied) and a Silver Star (which he was awarded, albeit posthumously). With that to go on, as well as Mollie's statements to the effect that he was something of a 'Broadway big-shot' ("Just ask anybody around Forty-fourth Street," he used to say. "They all know me..."), Liebling had a task ahead of him.

Liebling eventually sleuths out the truth, and is able to visit Mollie's only surviving relative. I won't spoil the climax, but it's a very fine piece of writing that we are presented with.