Download Top 100 Full Audiobooks in History, 20th Century

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Title: No Silent Night

Author: Leo Barron, Don Cygan

Narrator: Paul Hecht

Format: Unabridged

Length: 14 hrs and 32 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-06-13

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 14 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

On Christmas Eve, the holiest of nights for the many Christian peoples of Europe, Adolf Hitler was unleashing the full fury of his remaining Luftwaffe bomber force on Bastogne. For hundreds of German and American soldiers facing off in the siege, the events of Christmas 1944 would destroy any sense of holiness and peace on Earth. For the soldiers on both sides, and for the brave people of Bastogne, this would be no silent night.

Members Reviews:

Inside the outside perimeter of Bastogne

Marvelous detail on all the battle fronts around Bastogne Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 1944. This work relates how the action of a relatively few turned the tide Hitler's final push. Unfortunately, the impact of so many deaths of young men on both sides of the battle had a depressing effect on this writer.

Recommended as a valuable addition to all those with a special interest in detailed histories of the great battles of WWII.

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Title: Secret Germany

Subtitle: Stauffenberg and the True Story of Operation Valkyrie

Author: Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh

Narrator: Fleet Cooper

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-25-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 11 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

By July of 1944, the Third Reich's days were numbered. Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, a general staff insider with open eyes (and access to the Fuhrer), was convinced that assassinating Hitler was the only way to prevent the destruction of the Fatherland and the deaths of millions. On July 20, he hid a bomb-stuffed briefcase at a high-level meeting. The explosion tore through the room, but a table leg spared Hitler from the blast. The result was a witch hunt, a wave of executions, and a further pointless year of war. Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh deliver an exhilarating and definitive portrait of the anti-Nazi movement (called "Secret Germany") that almost killed Hitler. Secret Germany is the story of "World War II's boldest plot-that-failed" (Time), a coup that was a moral and spiritual necessity.

©2008 Michael Baigent and the estate of Richard Leigh (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Editorial Reviews:

Secret Germany tells the story of the 1944 assassination plot that failed to kill Hitler and overturn his murderous regime. Fleet Cooper is up to the task of narrating the intense events that immediately surrounded the July 20 bombing by the German resistance movement, as well as the complex background - both historical and esoteric - that informed the unsuccessful coup. Coopers exemplary handle of the material in this often cerebral book takes listeners deep behind enemy lines, where Operation Valkyrie was executed, and then punished mercilessly. Hitler and his Gestapo accused and "exterminated" thousands of people in the aftermath of the uncovered plot, including Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, his fellow conspirators, and members of their families.

Members Reviews:

False Advertising

Reader beware. Most of this audiobook has nothing to do with the July plot to kill Hitler headed by Claus von Stauffenberg. This audio book deals mostly with biographies of German philosophers, poets, composers, authors, and artists for the last 350 years. The central character of the second half of this book is not Stauffenberg, but that of Stephan George, a 20th century poet / philosopher. It is from George that we learn of the meaning of "Secret Germany"

Additionally, this book is in serious need of editing. In the first 45 minutes of this book, the author has killed Hitler twice and is beginning to retell it again for the third time. Historical fact checking was obviously overlooked ( example: German invasion of Poland began on Sept 1st 1939 but the book incorrectly states the war as beginning Sept 4th.) Central characters to the July 1944 plot aren't even mentioned or glossed over with little information. ( examples Generals Erich Fellgiebel and Friedrich Olbricht and Field Marshall Erwinn Rommel)

Fleet Cooper did a decent job presenting this audio book.

I was disappointed with this listen. I would suggest bypassing this audiobook.

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Title: White Bread

Subtitle: A Social History of the Store-Bought Loaf

Author: Aaron Bobrow-Strain

Narrator: Kris Koscheski

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs

Language: English

Release date: 01-10-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 32 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

How did white bread, once an icon of American progress, become "white trash"? In this lively history of bakers, dietary crusaders, and social reformers, Aaron Bobrow-Strain shows us that what we think about the humble, puffy loaf says a lot about who we are and what we want our society to look like.

White Bread teaches us that when Americans debate what one should eat, they are also wrestling with larger questions of race, class, immigration, and gender. As Bobrow-Strain traces the story of bread, from the first factory loaf to the latest gourmet pain au levain, he shows how efforts to champion "good food" reflect dreams of a better society - even as they reinforce stark social hierarchies.

In the early 20th century, the factory-baked loaf heralded a bright new future, a world away from the hot, dusty, "dirty" bakeries run by immigrants. Fortified with vitamins, this bread was considered the original "superfood" and even marketed as patriotic - while food reformers painted white bread as a symbol of all that was wrong with America. The history of America's 100-year-long love-hate relationship with white bread reveals a lot about contemporary efforts to change the way we eat.

Today, the alternative food movement favors foods deemed ethical and environmentally correct to eat, and fluffy industrial loaves are about as far from slow, local, and organic as you can get. Still, the beliefs of early twentieth-century food experts and diet gurus, that getting people to eat a certain food could restore the nation's decaying physical, moral, and social fabric, will sound surprisingly familiar. Given that open disdain for "unhealthy" eaters and discrimination on the basis of eating habits grow increasingly acceptable, White Bread is a timely and important examination of what we talk about when we talk about food.

Members Reviews:

Balanced but cautious

Would you listen to another book narrated by Kris Koscheski?

Perhaps; however some of his pronunciations were glaringly wrong. Especially mention of Albert Camus (mispronounced as Kay-muss).

Any additional comments?

Concise and focused history of bread (homemade, industrial, and artisinal), told through the prism of social history and what those loaves represented. Definitely interesting and telling to see how ideas of what was healthy and wholesome morphed over time, and how our daily bread could represent everything from racial purity (and fear of its disappearance) to the fitness of citizens to fight. The author obviously loves the subject and is quite balanced in his recounting of bread's social and nutritional history, showing rationality when evaluating both science and junk science. His take on the gluten-free movement and its current dearth of scientific proof (more anecdotal evidence than double-blind studies) typifies the balance he tries to bring to the topics. Overall, the author is incredibly cautious, being sure to temper descriptions of the various food movements (especially the more recent ones) by granting that they often came from a desire to do good but acknowledging that they nonetheless often end up being elitist.

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Title: World War Two

Subtitle: A Short History

Author: Norman Stone

Narrator: Derek Perkins

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 7 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-08-13

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 17 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

After the unprecedented destruction of the Great War, the world longed for a lasting peace. The victors, however, valued vengeance even more than stability and demanded a massive indemnity from Germany in order to keep it from rearming. The results, as eminent historian Norman Stone describes in this authoritative history, were disastrous.

In World War Two, Stone provides a remarkably concise account of the deadliest war of human history, showing how the conflict roared to life from the ashes of World War One. Adolf Hitler rode a tide of popular desperation and resentment to power in Germany, promptly making good on his promise to return the nation to its former economic and military strength. He bullied Europe into giving him his way, and in so doing backed the victors of the Great War into a corner.

Following the invasion of Poland in 1939, Britain and France declared war on Germany - a decision that, Stone argues, was utterly irrational. Yet Hitler had driven the world mad, and the rekindling of European hostilities soon grew to a conflagration that spread across the globe, fanned by political and racial ideologies more poisonous - and weaponry more destructive - than the world had ever seen. With commanding expertise, Stone leads listeners through the escalation, climax, and mournful denouement of this sprawling conflict.

World War Two is an invaluable contribution to our understanding of the 20th century and its defining struggle.

Critic Reviews:

"Novices will receive a painless introduction, but educated readers should not pass up the highly opinionated prologue and epilogue and the author's trademark acerbic commentary throughout." (Kirkus)

Members Reviews:

An informative read

I am enjoying the book but i am battling with the author's style of writing. Sentences can be rather lengthy, curiously punctuated and/or split in a manner that often requires a second look. Without having read other short histories of WWII (or a detailed history of WWII) I cannot really comment on whether the content is especially good or accurate. However, there is still plenty of information in the book which has improved my understanding of WWII.

A Jumping Off Point

As with his volume on World War I, Mr. Stone provides tremendous information. For an American reader, he provides both the European perspective as well as references to events not usually included in American histories of the war. The reader is given reference to events in smaller European countries that are necessary for a more comprehensive grasp of the details of the war.

Four Stars

good

A great brief history of the 2nd World War!

I recommend it highly! A chronological masterpiece of the 2nd World War replete with all the main characters of that era!

Brief & punchy, Stone's summary of WW2 is a fine achievement but not recommended as a `beginners' guide'

Historian Norman Stone has set himself the challenging task of writing a condensed history of WW2 in just over 200 pages, and the result is an impressive if imperfect summary of that epic conflict covering all the essentials but necessarily skimping on the details.

In nine densely written chapters, the author attempts a roughly chronological narrative of the global conflict emphasising the far-reaching consequences of political and strategic decisions, i.e.

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Title: Batavia

Author: Peter FitzSimons

Narrator: Richard Aspel

Format: Unabridged

Length: 17 hrs

Language: English

Release date: 12-13-12

Publisher: Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 137 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

The story begins in 1629, when the pride of the Dutch East India Company, the Batavia, is on its maiden voyage en route from Amsterdam to the Dutch East Indies, laden down with the greatest treasure to leave Holland. The magnificent ship is already boiling over with a mutinous plot that is just about to break into the open when, just off the coast of Western Australia, it strikes an unseen reef in the middle of the night. While Commandeur Francisco Pelsaert decides to take the longboat across 2,000 miles of open sea for help, his second-in-command Jeronimus Cornelisz takes over, quickly deciding that 250 people on a small island is unwieldy for the small number of supplies they have.

Quietly, he puts forward a plan to 40 odd mutineers how they could save themselves, kill most of the rest, and spare only a half-dozen or so women, including his personal fancy, Lucretia Jansz - one of the noted beauties of Holland - to service their sexual needs. A reign of terror begins, countered only by a previously anonymous soldier, Wiebbe Hayes, who begins to gather to him those are prepared to do what it takes to survive....

Members Reviews:

Great Australian History

What did you love best about Batavia?

It was unbelievable! However it was true! This story just proves that fact is stranger than fiction.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The Dutch soldier who rescued many of the passengers and crew from the depravity of Jeronemus and the mutineers.

Which scene was your favorite?

The description of the executions of the mutineers including the summing up in the epilogue. Justice was crude and rough in the 17th century!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I was amazed by the events that took place.

Disaster, Mutiny, Murder, Survival

After being recommended this book by my father-in-law, I was intrigued to hear this stunning tale of disaster. Peter Fitzsimons has crafted a terrific retelling of the ill-fated voyage of the Dutch East India Company's flagship vessel. Eloquently narrated by Aspel, the story seems so fantastic that one cannot deny that truth IS stranger than fiction.

From the telling of the VOC's founding, to the Batavia's journey and subsequent shipwrecking on the Abrolhos Islands, to the murderous tyrannical short-lived island regime of Jeronimus Cornelisz, this tale is both amazing and horrifying.

Every Australian should read of this disaster that took place off the coast of Western Australia. It paints a chilling portrait of just how far power can corrupt those who have naught to fear from the outside world. Murderous executions, sexual slavery, survival and heroism: these are all present in this adventure that many have forgotten or are not even aware of.

Although told in present tense and actual dialogue spoken could be contested, Fitzsimons states this at the beginning of the book. It makes for a vivid story that places the reader there at every chilling moment.

History brought to life with excitement and grief

This story once underway is amazing, edge of your seat, can't stop listening stuff. What makes it so riveting is that it is a true story that could be a horror movie in the Hostel series but set in the 1600's.

Peter FitzSimons has filled the gaps in the historical accounts of the Batavia shipwreck in a way that is seamless to the reader / listener and that shows respect to the people who suffered in this tragedy.

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Title: Beyond Courage

Subtitle: The Untold Story of Jewish Resistance During the Holocaust

Author: Doreen Rappaport

Narrator: Emily Beresford, Jeff Crawford

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 35 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-11-12

Publisher: Candlewick on Brilliance Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 17 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

Under the noses of the German military and French police, Georges Loinger smuggles Jewish children out of occupied France into Switzerland. In Belgium, Youra Livchitz and two other resisters ambush a train destined for a death camp, allowing scores of Jews to flee from the cattle cars. Four brothers lead more than 1,200 ghetto refugees deep into the Byelorussian forest, where they build a partisan fighting force and self-sufficient village. Forced to make detonators for German bombs, Estusia Wajcblum smuggles out gunpowder, grain by grain, to be used to blow up the crematoriums in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Despite debilitating wounds to both his feet, 14-year-old Idel Kagan helps dig an escape tunnel out of a forced labor camp in Poland. Sarika Yehoshua forms an all-girl unit of guerrilla fighters in the mountains of Greece, teaching them to shed their traditional ways and become soldiers. And 12-year-old Motele Shlayan entertains German officers with his violin moments before setting off a bomb.

Through meticulously researched and stirring accounts some well known and some chronicled here in book form for the first time Doreen Rappaport brings to light the defiance of tens of thousands of Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II. These resisters answered the genocidal madness and unspeakable depravity that was Hitlers Holocaust with the greatest weapons of all courage, ingenuity, the will to survive, and the resolve to save others or to die trying.

Members Reviews:

Extraordinary book

This author has written many books for children. My favorite is "Secret Seder." But this book is different. It's aimed at middle school and above and tells a different story from the usual horrible holocaust stories. This one tells about Jewish resistance against the Nazis. It would make a great Chanukah present for that middle or high schooler in your life

riveting, powerful, essential

Rappaport has gathered, scrupulously, sensitively and with great power, what must be the comprehensive account of Jewish resistance during the Holocaust. There are the stories many of us know and those that were buried by history, all of them stirring, mesmerizing. The clear, sober telling underscores the extraordinary heroism of her subjects. Rappaport has honored their memory and ourselves by uncovering these episodes and presenting them with such care. The book is beautifully designed and produced, as well. It is essential for children and adults.

Four Stars

Sad but true stories of the Jew's during WWll

Quite Surprising.

I bought this as an audiobook, so I could listen to it while commuting to and from work. I did not realize it was written for ages 10+. While the choice of words, and the sentence structure, may be at a Middle School level, it was quite well-written. Many of the stories were new to me, and, others were presented in a way that added new material.

I would highly recommend this book, to adults.

Inspiring

In this incredibly well researched book, author Doreen Rappaport brings together the tales of heroic men, women, and children (unbelievably young children, in many cases) who bravely and ingeniously defied Nazi rule and domination during the Holocaust.

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Title: City of Scoundrels

Subtitle: The 12 Days of Disaster That Gave Birth to Modern Chicago

Author: Gary Krist

Narrator: Rob Shapiro

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-17-12

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 79 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

When 1919 began, the city of Chicago seemed on the verge of transformation. Modernizers had an audacious, expensive plan to turn the city from a brawling, unglamorous place into "the Metropolis of the World". But just as the dream seemed within reach, pandemonium broke loose and the citys highest ambitions were suddenly under attack by the same unbridled energies that had given birth to them in the first place.

It began on a balmy Monday afternoon when a blimp in flames crashed through the roof of a busy downtown bank, incinerating those inside. Within days, a racial incident at a hot, crowded South Side beach spiraled into one of the worst urban riots in American history, followed by a transit strike that paralyzed the city. Then, when it seemed as if things could get no worse, police searching for a six-year-old girl discovered her body in a dark North Side basement.

City of Scoundrels captures the tumultuous birth of the modern American city, with all of its light and dark aspects in vivid relief.

Critic Reviews:

"[An] eager narrative that delivers vivid reading." (Kirkus Reviews)

Members Reviews:

Great History of a Great City

I loved every detailed moment of this fascinating tour de force. There are times that you can feel the heat and wish for just a hint of a breeze off the lake. Some of the characters will make you cringe as with all great cities, Chicago is known for political corruption on a grand scale, but the sleaze might just make you squirm. I am very happy to say there are some good characters too, thank goodness. Get ready for a trip through history and let this wonderful city envelope you in all it's moods.

Kind of a slow start but a big finish

I absolutely loved the story! It took a little bit to get to the meat of it but once it gets to the 12 days in the title it's a whirlwind of a story. Highly recommended read.

Crashed like a Blimp

Krist wrote a gripping prologue but then the narrative crashed to the ground on the first page of the first chapter. Bogged down by detail, it is dry and dull. All the helium leaked out of the story and it never took off again.

Appropriate for our times

Reminds me of Trump and his presidential start, why don't we learn from past mistakes?

CITY OF SCOUNDRELS

If you could sum up City of Scoundrels in three words, what would they be?

ACCURATELY, HISTORICAL, ACCOUNTS

What other book might you compare City of Scoundrels to and why?

DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY - ERIK LARSON

(Dealt with Chicago at the turn of the century, but with different things!)

Which scene was your favorite?

TOO MANY, TO SAY. MAYOR WAS A REAL "CREEP!"

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

CHICAGO- 12 DAYS and HOW THEY SURVIVED IT!

Any additional comments?

EXCELLENT READ, IF YOU'RE INTO HISTORICAL NON-FICTION

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Title: Final Countdown: NASA and the End of the Space Shuttle Program

Author: Pat Duggins

Narrator: Pat Duggins

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-05-12

Publisher: University Press Audiobooks

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 53 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

The Space Shuttle was once the cornerstone of the U.S. space program. However, each new flight brought us one step closer to the retirement of the shuttle in 2010. Final Countdown is the riveting history of NASA's Space Shuttle program, its missions, and its demise. It also examines the plans and early development of the space agency's next major effort: the Orion Crew Exploration Capsule.

Journalist Pat Duggins, National Public Radio's resident "space expert", chronicles the planning stages of the shuttle program in the early 1970s, the thrill of the first flight in 1981, construction of the International Space Station in the 1990s, and the decision in the early 2000s to shut the program down.

As a rookie reporter visiting the Kennedy Space Center hangar to view the Challenger wreckage, Duggins was in a unique position to offer a poignant eyewitness account of NASA's first shuttle disaster. In Final Countdown, he recounts the agency's struggle to rebound after the Challenger and Columbia tragedies, and explores how politics, scientific entrepreneurship, and the human drive for exploration have impacted the program in sometimes unexpected ways.

Duggins has covered 86 shuttle missions, and his 20-year working relationship with NASA has given him unprecedented access to personnel. Many spoke openly and frankly with him, including veteran astronaut John Young, who discusses the travails to get the shuttle program off the ground. Young's crewmate, astronaut Bob Crippen, reveals the frustration and loss he felt when his first opportunity to go into space on the first planned space station was taken away.

Final Countdown is a story of lost dreams, new hopes, and the ongoing conquest of space.

Critic Reviews:

"Final Countdownartfully merges excellent reporting with great writing to chronicle the highs and lows of the Space Shuttle program, along with rare astronaut anecdotes about what it's really like to fly to space and back." (Aviation Week & Space Technology)

"Final Countdownprovides a very personal look at America's manned space program from a veteran reporter who has covered the shuttle's ups and downs for more than 20 years. Duggins brings an insider's perspective to a complex topic." (Bill Harwood, CBS Space Correspondent)

"Pat Duggins knows of what he writes. Final Countdown is a solid read." (Jay Barbree, NBC's veteran space correspondent)

Members Reviews:

Great Technical story

A great general overview, with lots of nuts and bolts for the technically inclined.

We now know just how dangerous the Shuttle was,

it must have felt like driving a 17,000 mph Mack truck,

with bad steering, a stuck gas pedal, and no brakes.

End of the Shuttle

This is a short book that makes a nice break from reading extremely long books. I have been a fan of the space program since it started. I try to read as much about NASA as I can, thus I grabbed this book to read. Duggins provides us with the reasons for the end of the shuttle program. As well, it covers major milestones for the program. It is neither a concise history nor a program review. Rather, Duggins book takes the reader on a human perspective. It is, the social issues come more to the fro than those of a technical nature.

The authors fondness for the space industry comes through in the book.

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Title: Voyagers of the Titanic

Subtitle: Passengers, Sailors, Shipbuilders, Aristocrats, and the Worlds They Came From

Author: Richard Davenport-Hines

Narrator: Robin Sachs

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-06-12

Publisher: HarperAudio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 115 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

Late in the night of April 14, 1912, the mighty Titanic, a passenger liner traveling from Southampton, England, to New York City, struck an iceberg four hundred miles south of Newfoundland. Its sinking over the next two and a half hours brought the shipmythological in name and size100 years of infamy.

Of the 2,240 people aboard the ship, 1,517 perished either by drowning or by freezing to death in the frigid North Atlantic waters. What followed the disaster was tantamount to a worldwide outpouring of grief: In New York, Paris, London, and other major cities, people lined the streets and crowded around the offices of the White Star Line, the Titanics shipping company, to inquire for news of their loved ones and for details about the lives of some of the famous people of their time.

While many accounts of the Titanics voyage focus on the technical or mechanical aspects of why the ship sank, Voyagers of the Titanic follows the stories of the men, women, and children whose lives intersected on the vessels fateful last day, covering the full range of first, second, and third classfrom plutocrats and captains of industry to cobblers and tailors looking for a better life in America.

Richard Davenport-Hines delves into the fascinating lives of those who ate, drank, reveled, dreamed, and died aboard the mythic ship: from John Jacob Astor IV, the wealthiest person on board, whose comportment that night was subject to speculation and gossip for years after the event, to Archibald Butt, the much-beloved military aide to Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft, who died helping others into the Titanics few lifeboats. With magnificent prose, Voyagers of the Titanic also brings to life the untold stories of the ships middle and third classesclergymen, teachers, hoteliers, engineers, shopkeepers, counterjumpers, and clerkseach of whom had a story that not only illuminates the fascinating ship but also the times in which it sailed. In addition, Davenport-Hines explores the fascinating politics behind the Titanics creation, which involved larger-than-life figures such as J. P. Morgan, the ships owner, and Lord Pirrie, the ships builder.

The memory of this tragedy still remains a part of the American psyche and Voyagers of the Titanic brings that clear night back to us with all of its drama and pathos.

Members Reviews:

Thorough, panoramic

"Voyagers of the Titanic," as its title implies, focuses on the people rather than the technical aspects of the wreck. Davenport-Hines organizes the stories into groups: among them the shipbuilders, the ship's officers, and the first, second, and third class passengers. I was particularly pleased to see so much attention being given to second class, which was given short shrift in the movie "Titanic" and in many other accounts of the disaster.

Up to the point where the iceberg strikes, each chapter is filled with interlocking mini-biographies of the people involved. The narrative is organized loosely in a kind of "six degrees of separation" style: branching out through the passenger list and giving a vivid sense not only of the people but of the world they inhabited.

The author reaps the benefits of this careful preparation in his narration of the disaster itself.

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Title: Ortona

Subtitle: Canada's Epic World War II Battle

Author: Mark Zuehlke

Narrator: William Dufris

Format: Unabridged

Length: 14 hrs and 36 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-06-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 17 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

In one furious week of fighting in December 1943, the First Canadian Infantry Division took Ortona, Italy, from elite German paratroopers ordered to hold the medieval port at all costs. When the battle was over, the Canadians emerged victorious despite heavy losses. Over 2,500 Canadians died or were wounded there. Military historian Mark Zuehlke blends reminiscences of the Canadians, Germans, and Italians who were there together with a blow-by-blow account of the fighting to create a harrowing, ultimately hopeful rendering of one of World War II's defining moments.

Editorial Reviews:

A nine-time finalist for the prestigious Audie Awards for audiobook performance, performer William Dufris brings his authoritative but gentle tone to a harrowing account of hand-to-hand warfare during a decisive World War II Battle.

Ortona is the story of Canadas heartbreaking but ultimately heroic contribution to the Allied war effort in the port town of Ortona, Italy, over one week in December 1943. Master Canadian military historian and novelist Mark Zuehlke has assembled his chronicle from a wealth of sources, including interviews with soldiers from all sides of the conflict. For its studious evocations of the battle itself to the lovingly rendered details of the men involved, Ortona is sure to be of interest to any student of the "peak experience" that is warfare.

Members Reviews:

Ortona

I enjoyed this book very much. We usually don't hear about what other countries did in WWII.I would recommend this book to others.

A must read

Another great read. Mark sets a high bar for everyone of his books and meets it every time. I really enjoyed this one and is a must read for all Canadians.

My Grandfather's Battle

I enjoyed this audio book very much. The story of what the Canadians went through to break through the German lines was one I only heard of from my mother as my grandfather passed away when I was five.

While the performer did mispronounce some Canadian terms and institutions, his tempo and pace kept you on the edge of the story as it progressed.

I would recommend this book to all people who want to understand what it was truly like in the Second World War. It was not the glamor that we see in the old movies.

Thank you for producing this.

Ortona the Story I didn't know

I was amazed that I hadn't heard about the epic battle in Italy and the heroic efforts by Canadian troops including the Loyal Edmonton's...fantastic and fantastically narrated!

Amazing story, poor choice in narrator

This book is a well put together and written account of the Canadian battle for Ortona.

What is notable is that a non-Canadian narrator was selected. names of institutions and places are badly mispronounced, and he continuously pronounces 'lieutenant' in the American way, rather than that of the Commonwealth (pronounced: Lef-tenant)". As other comments mentioned, he also struggles at times with common English words.

These mistakes take away from the story, and make it feel less of a Canadian Epic, and more of an American teacher trying to give you a history lesson.

Great piece of literature, but maybe next time have a Canadian read a Canadian book by a Canadian author about a Canadian battle.