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Title: Striking Through Clouds

Subtitle: The War Diary of No. 514 Squadron, RAF

Author: Simon Hepworth, Andrew Porrelli

Narrator: Simon Hepworth

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-09-14

Publisher: Mention the War Publications

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

Formed on 1st September, 1943, as part of the expansion of Bomber Command No. 3 Group, 514 Squadron specialised in blind bombing techniques in the drawn out and bloody campaign against Nazi Germany.

For the vast majority of its war, 514 Squadron was stationed at RAF Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire, operating Lancaster bombers. Aircrew members were drawn not just from Britain but also Canada, Australia, and New Zealand amongst others. Over 400 members of the squadron were to lose their lives in the two years of the squadron's existence, which saw the loss on operations of 66 aircraft, with another 14 being written off in accidents. Thrown into the Battle of Berlin in the winter of 1943-4, 514 Squadron also played a pivotal role in supporting the Allied bridgehead in Normandy after D-Day, before reverting to attacks on German infrastructure, including transport facilities and oil production plants.

Striking Through Clouds is the day-by-day contemporaneous account of the operations of 514 Squadron. Recorded by squadron officers, this was a dispassionate but comprehensive account of the war effort of the squadron and its members. It serves as the official record of the squadron's day to day war. It provides a stark testament to the courage, sense of duty and, so often, the sacrifice of bomber aircrews, 55,573 of whom, with an average age of 22 years, would not return from operations. Seven decades later, the number of survivors is diminishing but the memory of these heroes will not be allowed to fade.

Members Reviews:

A diary

This book is exactly what it claims to be, a war diary. More exciting than a reading of a phone directory, but only slightly. Sounds like it was recorded in someone's bathroom.

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Title: The 25-Year War

Subtitle: America's Military Role in Vietnam

Author: General Bruce Palmer Jr.

Narrator: Gregg A. Rizzo

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-26-14

Publisher: University Press Audiobooks

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

On April 30, 1975, Saigon and the government of South Vietnam fell to the communist regime of North Vietnam, ending - for American military forces - exactly twenty-five year of courageous but unavailing struggle. The author is a professional soldier who experienced the Vietnam war in the field and in the highest command echelons. General Palmer's insights into the key events and decisions that shaped American's military role in Vietnam are uncommonly perceptive. America's most serious error, he believes, was committing its armed forces to a war in which neither political nor military goals were ever fully articulated by our civilian leaders.

Our armed forces, lacking clear objectives, failed to develop an appropriate strategy, instead relinquishing the offensive to Hanoi. Yet an achievable strategy could have been devised, Palmer believes. Moreover, our South Vietnamese allies could have been bolstered by appropriate aid but were instead overwhelmed by the massive American military presence. Compounding these errors were the flawed civilian and military chains of command. The result was defeat for America and disaster for South Vietnam. General Palmer presents here an insider's history of the war and an astute critique of America's military strengths and successes as well as its weaknesses and failures.

Members Reviews:

The 25 Year War: America's Military Role in Vietnam

This informed me that our USA involvement in SE Asia began in 1950 under President TRuman. TRhis was good to know how it all started. We all know about the big buildup under President Johnson. Book was very informative.

The closing comments of the book on how we should have done things differently turned me off. It is best to put Vietnam behind us.

Five Stars

Bought this book for school.

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Title: Hitler's Europe Ablaze

Subtitle: Occupation, Resistance, and Rebellion during World War II

Author: Phillip Cooke (editor), Ben H. Shepherd (editor)

Narrator: Eric Martin

Format: Unabridged

Length: 14 hrs and 24 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-18-14

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

Local resistance to German-led Axis occupation occurred throughout the European continent during World War II, taking a wide range of forms - noncooperation and disinformation, sabotage and espionage, and armed opposition and full-scale partisan warfare. It is a key element in the experience and the national memory of those who found themselves under Axis government and control. But for decades there has been no systematic attempt to give readers a panoramic yet detailed view of the make-up, actions, and impact of resistance movements from Scandinavia down to Greece and from France through to Russia. This authoritative and accessible survey, written by a group of the leading experts in the field, provides a reliable, in-depth, up-to-date account of the resistance in each region and country along with an assessment of its effectiveness and of the Axis reaction to it. An extensive introduction by the editors Philip Cooke and Ben H. Shepherd draws the threads of the varied movements and groups together, highlighting the many differences and similarities between them. True Stories of Resistance in World War II is a significant contribution to the frequently heated debates about the importance of individual resistance movements and thought-provoking reading for everyone who is interested in or studying occupied Europe during the World War II.

Members Reviews:

Great book to understand what went on behind enemy lines

This is a good book and the chapters are divided by nations. This is a must read for those who want to know more about the resistance groups of WW2. The resistance was very important and they played their part behind enemy lines

Five Stars

Fascinating look at Nazi Resistance.

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Title: Winners and Losers

Subtitle: Battles, Retreats, Gains, Losses, and Ruins From the Vietnam War

Author: Gloria Emerson

Narrator: Coleen Marlo

Format: Unabridged

Length: 19 hrs and 31 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-11-14

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

Now an American classic, this is a Vietnam book unlike any other, written by a woman who, after two years of covering the war for The New York Times, comes home wanting to once more love her country and to understand it. In four years of interviews that Newsweek called superb, Emerson traveled across America to speak to people who fought the war or who fought against it, to those who paid little attention and to others whose lives were changed by it. Her reporting on a small town in Kentucky, which suffered high losses, is considered a remarkable inquiry into the meaning of war and its effects on us. Winners & Losers is not just a book about the American experience, for she writes about the Vietnamese people as well with the same insight and brilliance that characterized her reporting during the war, which held her, and so many others, long after it was over.

Critic Reviews:

Sensitive, moral, compelling... a book of genuine greatness and largeness of spirit. (Chicago Tribune)

Members Reviews:

You don't win National book award without being a great book

This is a great, great profound masterpiece of a book. Easily in the top 5 of books written on the war. It won the national book award for nonfiction in 1978. Read it when it first came out in 1978, when I was 18. I just started reading it again. The second reading has really moved me. She gets as close to the Kantian âthing-in-itselfâ about the war as anybody has yet.

Emerson has done a great and beautiful job on writing how the Vietnam War affected and damaged all involved: soldiers, mothers, fathers, South and North Vietnamese. She covers all the sides with heart wrenching, absurd, & terrifying stories of the war.

Now if youâre the less curious and educated type that just likes to read the rah, rah, raw combat books on Vietnam, you may not like it, or you can expand your small mind and read it. If the shoe fits.....

Five Stars

Great History!!

Four Stars

The book is bought for my colleague. It is new. He likes it.

Read It Now

Gloria Emerson's early loose calculation of the closing costs of Vietnam remains extraordinarily valuable. When our government leaps before it understands/examines, then insists upon continuing long after many bright people have recognized a sequence of policy errors, this is what can happen. Episodic/impressionistic, widest possible scope, home & away. Strikingly even-handed, though Emerson developed a very strong set of opinions. Wonderful book. Terrifying war/time.

Silver Stars

The system of rating books by the number of stars which a reader is willing to bestow is perfect for this book. In a section called "Odd Things, But Not Forgotten," the reader is thoroughly informed of how a general was awarded a silver star, how the New York Times sent a reporter named Gloria Emerson to the Awards and Decorations Section to see why the men had made up the perfect dream when they didn't have the kind of documentation normally associated with acts of valor, and how newspaper readers responded to the story. The high point for me was a poem by a draftee, which ended with the perfect attitude for a military mind. "Let me go into battle, / a hero I shall be.

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Title: Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier

Author: The Supreme Court of the United States

Narrator: uncredited

Format: Original Recording

Length: 56 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-07-14

Publisher: Oyez

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

The Spectrum, the school-sponsored newspaper of Hazelwood East High School, was written and edited by students. In May 1983, Robert E. Reynolds, the school principal, received the pages proofs for the May 13 issue. Reynolds found two of the articles in the issue to be inappropriate, and ordered that the pages on which the articles appeared be withheld from publication. Cathy Kuhlmeier and two other former Hazelwood East students brought the case to court.

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Title: Resister

Subtitle: A Story of Protest and Prison During the Vietnam War

Author: Bruce Dancis

Narrator: Elliott Walsh

Format: Unabridged

Length: 14 hrs and 42 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-03-14

Publisher: University Press Audiobooks

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

Bruce Dancis arrived at Cornell University in 1965 as a youth who was no stranger to political action. He grew up in a radical household and took part in the 1963 March on Washington as a 15-year-old. He became the first student at Cornell to defy the draft by tearing up his draft card and soon became a leader of the draft resistance movement. He also turned down a student deferment and refused induction into the armed services. He was the principal organizer of the first mass draft-card burning during the Vietnam War, an activist in the Resistance (a nationwide organization against the draft), and a cofounder and president of the Cornell chapter of Students for a Democratic Society. Dancis spent 19 months in federal prison in Ashland, Kentucky, for his actions against the draft.

In Resister, Dancis not only gives listeners an insider's account of the antiwar and student protest movements of the 60s but also provides a rare look at the prison experiences of Vietnam-era draft resisters. Intertwining memory, reflection, and history, Dancis offers an engaging firsthand account of some of the eras most iconic events. Along the way, Dancis also explores the relationship between the topical folk and rock music of the era and the political and cultural rebels who sought to change American society.

The book is published by Cornell University Press.

Critic Reviews:

"Bruce Dancis, a hero of draft resistance, casts light from fresh angles on the movement's inner life, the course of Cornell's radicals, and the imprisonment that was a price paid for honor." (Todd Gitlin, Columbia University)

"Dancis's impassive, observant tone is essential to who he is: a profoundly decent and thoughtful man, with an unshakable moral compass, and an intent to do the right thing with precision and follow-through." (Los Angeles Review of Books)

Members Reviews:

Very interesting book which does a terrific job in describing events of the late 1960's

Very interesting book which does a terrific job in describing events of the late 1960's. Though I personally knew the author during the time period reflected by the book, I also note that my personal political views, now and back then (even though I did oppose the war) are very different from those of Bruce Dancis. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn what it was like to be growing up and going to college during the Vietnam War.

By 'Resisting' Bruce Dancis Stood Up For His Beliefs and Showed Others They Could Do the Same

The world as Bruce Dancis knew it had become a place that was not full of easy decisions yet definitely had its share of consequences.

In his book RESISTER he takes the reader back to the 60s and what it was like to take a stand and be a voice for a group of individuals who wondered if they were being ignored and not considered at all. Though he had to know his actions would open the door to followers, it seems in the book at least that being a leader was not something that Bruce was seeking to be.

When he was talking about his work in East Harlem he wrote this: We have shown (or have tried to show) that there is another world outside of East Harlem. I believe that this groundwork is necessary for a true and meaningful organization to grow on this block.

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Title: An Unsung Hero: Coming of Age in the Dust Bowl

Subtitle: A Greatest Generation Account, Book 1

Author: William M. Forsythe

Narrator: Todd Gaddy

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 15 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-17-14

Publisher: Michael R Lewis

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

Growing in a small Texas town in the midst of the Great Depression, pummeled by the mighty dust storms so devastating that the region was known as the Dust Bowl, and coping with a diagnosis of tuberculosis at age 15, Jimmy Ray Lewis and his family experienced hardship, loss, and community rejection. This audiobook is the story of forgiveness, family strength, and faith that life would be better if they could just keep on keeping on.

It is a story of a simple life before modern bathrooms, electricity, paved roads and highways, or radios when neighbors helped neighbors and a person's word was his bond. A time when the audible utterance of the words damn or hell could result in ejection from a store or cafe. Jimmy and friends entertained themselves with homemade stilts and scooters, warred across the neighborhood with rubber guns, and the worst Halloween prank was putting a potato in a neighbor's exhaust pipe. The era and the values it represented became the foundation shared by the members of the Greatest Generation.

Members Reviews:

Coming of Age during the Depression

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I would recommend this audiobook to anyone who lived during the depression as well as the generation that followed (Baby boomers). I sincerely believe that most people in their 20s-40's today would not relate/identify with this memoir because life has changed so dramatically since then.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I believe this audiobook would be more effective if it was shorter in some parts and more extended in others. For instance, I found the chapters related to tuberculosis very interesting and would have liked to hear more about this, whereas I was not as engaged when the narrator went into detail about family history.

What three words best describe Todd Gaddys voice?

Consistent, clear, and genuine. The narration for this audiobook was solid. Throughout the book, Todd constantly "popped his P's" - overemphasis on words that began with "p" or with the letter "p" in them. The narrator also had a hard emphasis on "s" words throughout. These issues along with background static noise was moderately distracting to the overall experience of the audiobook.

Any additional comments?

This audiobook provides an informative perspective of what it was like to live in the Texas panhandle during the depression and the era of WWII. It describes a time when life was much more simpler, yet harder with regards to lack of modern conveniences, manual labor, and financial hardship.

I'm somewhat perplexed by the title "An Unsung Hero." I believe the title should just say "Coming of Age in the Dust Bowl." There is no indication that the main subject of the book did anything "heroic" in nature. He struggled and dealt with adversity like everyone else living during this era. I don't think anyone living back then would think of themselves as a "hero," but merely did what they had to in order to survive.

Wonderful Book!

If you could sum up An Unsung Hero: Coming of Age in the Dust Bowl in three words, what would they be?

Hopeful. Amusing. Brilliant!

What other book might you compare An Unsung Hero: Coming of Age in the Dust Bowl to and why?

Agatha Christies's "An Autobiography".

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Title: We Shall Not Be Moved

Subtitle: The Jackson Woolworth's Sit-In and the Movement It Inspired

Author: M.J. O'Brien

Narrator: Mike McCartney

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13 hrs and 27 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-12-14

Publisher: University Press Audiobooks

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

Once in a great while, a certain photograph captures the essence of an era: Three people - one black and two white - demonstrate for equality at a lunch counter while a horde of cigarette-smoking hotshots pour catsup, sugar, and other condiments on the protesters' heads and down their backs. This iconic image strikes a chord for all who lived through those turbulent times of a changing America.

The photograph, which plays a central role in the audiobook's perspectives from frontline participants, caught a moment when the raw virulence of racism crashed against the defiance of visionaries. Sadly, this same sit-in and the protest events it inspired led to the assassination of Medgar Evers, who was leading the charge in Jackson for the NAACP.

We Shall Not Be Moved puts the Jackson Woolworth's sit-in into historical context. Part multifaceted biography, part well-researched history, this gripping narrative explores the hearts and minds of those participating in this harrowing sit-in experience. It was a demonstration without precedent in Mississippi - one that set the stage for much that would follow in the changing dynamics of the state's racial politics, particularly in its capital city.

The book is published by the University Press of Mississippi.

Critic Reviews:

"Michael O'Brien has written a detailed history and fascinating study of one of the iconic moments of the modern civil rights movement and the powerful effect it had... Readers will enjoy this behind-the-scenes look at an important event in movement history." (From the foreword by Julian Bond, chairman emeritus, NAACP)

"It's all here: solid research, relevant history, honed prose. Masterpiece is not too grand a word to describe the excellence of M. J. O'Brien's enduring work." (Colman McCarthy, former columnist for the Washington Post and now director, Center for Teaching Peace, Washington, D.C.)

Members Reviews:

I honestly don't know how to capture in words how excellent I think this book is

OK....so I'm biased...after all, the author is my beloved brother in law..ï¿ but that aside, I honestly don't know how to capture in words how excellent I think this book is. The research is beyond extensive and included interviews with most if not all living members from the '63 Woolworth's sit-in. His approach is incredibly objective given the horrific things he was writing about - which is critical when one is writing about history since a writer of history's job is to paint the picture of what happened - not to reflect or share personal opinion as one might in an op-ed. Given his values of inclusiveness, tolerance and the fact that he is the father of 3 African American children, many of the interviews and a lot of the research must have been excruciating for him to get through...and yet he did and from that...this incredible book.

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Title: The Catonsville Nine

Subtitle: A Story of Faith and Resistance in the Vietnam Era

Author: Shawn Francis Peters

Narrator: Sean Runnette

Format: Unabridged

Length: 15 hrs and 21 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-14-14

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

On May 17th, 1968, a group of Catholic antiwar activists burst into a draft board in suburban Baltimore, stole hundreds of Selective Service records (which they called "death certificates"), and burned the documents in a fire fueled by homemade napalm. The bold actions of the ''Catonsville Nine'' quickly became international news and captured headlines throughout the summer and fall of 1968 when the activists, defended by radical attorney William Kunstler, were tried in federal court.

In The Catonsville Nine, Shawn Francis Peters, a Catonsville native, offers the first comprehensive account of this key event in the history of 1960's protest. While thousands of supporters thronged the streets outside the courthouse, the Catonsville Nine - whose ranks included activist priests Philip and Daniel Berrigan - delivered passionate indictments of the war in Vietnam and the brutality of American foreign policy. The proceedings reached a stirring climax, as the nine activists led the entire courtroom (the judge and federal prosecutors included) in the Lord's Prayer.

Peters gives listeners vivid, blow-by-blow accounts of the draft raid, the trial, and the ensuing manhunt for the Berrigans, George Mische, and Mary Moylan, who went underground rather than report to prison. He also examines the impact of Daniel Berrigan's play, The Trial of the Catonsville Nine, and the larger influence of this remarkable act of civil disobedience. More than 40 years after they stormed the draft board, the Catonsville Nine are still invoked by both secular and religious opponents of militarism.

Based on a wealth of sources, including archival documents, the activists' previously unreleased FBI files, and a variety of eyewitness accounts, The Catonsville Nine tells a story as relevant and instructive today as it was in 1968.

Members Reviews:

Well-written and insightful

Very thorough study of the action that was one of the most significant of the Vietnam war era. What's especially good is how he follows every one of the nine main participants how they came to participate through their time in jail and their lives afterward. All told journalistically, not academically. Highly recommended.

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Title: Red Dusk and the Morrow: Adventures & Investigations in Soviet Russia

Author: Paul Dukes

Narrator: Peter Owen

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-10-14

Publisher: Spokenworld Audio/Ladbroke Audio Ltd

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 6 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

Paul Dukes was sent into Russia in 1918, shortly after the Bolshevik Revolution, by C (the mysterious head of the British secret service). His mission: to pull together the British spy networks operating against the new regime. With its spies and diplomats thrown out at the start of the Red Terror, Britains espionage efforts were left to a British businessman with no previous experience as a spy.

Dukes operated under a variety of covers, the most daring of which was as a member of the Cheka secret police. On his return, the government publicised his account of Bolshevik terror to justify a joint US-UK military attack on northern Russia.

Members Reviews:

I think for an autobiography it had too many opinions ...

I think for an autobiography it had too many opinions,and too much didactic advice in the Second part of the book. His description of his activities in Soviet Russia is outstanding. The privation he describes after 1917,the conditions in which people lived and the miasma of fear is deeply disturbing,considering the stated objectives of the Revolution.

British Eyewitness to the Aftermath of the Russian Revolution, & 1920 Polish-Bolshevik War. The Jewish âBrainsâ Behind Communism

The author, an official of the British intelligence service, visited the new Soviet Union, ânot to conspire but to inquireâ. (p. viii). He talked to many of the locals, and was an eyewitness to a battle in the 1920 Polish-Bolshevik War. (More on this later). [My review is based on the original 1922 edition.]

Sir Paul Dukes illustrates the farcical nature of Communist ideology with a photograph of a Russian peasant by his cattle and chickens (pp. 146-147), along with the title: âA typical peasant âbourgeois-capitalistâ. A drawing (pp. 146-147) has the following title: âPeasants hiding their grain from Bolshevist requisitioners.â [These kulaks later became famous for their resistance to collectivization].

The author is fairly candid about what is sometimes called the Zydokomuna [Judeo-Bolshevism], as elaborated below. He shows that Jewish influence is greater than just the large number of Jews in high positions: It also owes to the high intelligence of Jews, and to their elitist mindset. However, Dukes tries to soften its impact by alleging that there were just as many anti-Communist Jews as there are pro-Communist ones, and that the former were afraid to express themselves. [Even if true, this exculpation will not do. Jews who accuse Poland do not think that Polish rescuers of Jews, during the Shoah, âcancel outâ the Polish denouncers of Jews. Neither, then, do Jewish anti-Communists âcancel outâ the Jewish Communists and their crimes. Besides, a lot of the Jewish anti-Communists were entrepreneurs who were afraid of losing their property to the Communists.]

--------The following [EXCEPT FOR THE TITLES] are direct quotes--------

THE LARGELY-JEWISH TRIUMVIRATE RULING OVER THE USSR

Leo Bronstein, the genius of the Red army, now universally known by his more Russian-sounding pseudonym of Trotzky, is the second of the triumvirate of âLenin, Trotzky [Bronshteyn], and Zinoviev [Apfelbaum],â who guide the destinies of the Russian and the World revolution. That the accepted order of precedence is not âTrotzky, Lenin, and Zinovievâ must be gall and wormwood to Trotzkyâs soul.