Download Top 100 Full Audiobooks in History, 20th Century

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Title: The Vietnam War

Subtitle: An Intimate History

Author: Geoffrey C. Ward, Ken Burns

Narrator: Ken Burns

Format: Abridged

Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-05-17

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

From the award-winning historian and filmmakers of The Civil War, Baseball, The War, The Roosevelts, and others: a vivid, uniquely powerful history of the conflict that tore America apart - the companion volume to the major, multipart PBS film to be aired in September 2017.

More than 40 years after it ended, the Vietnam War continues to haunt our country. We still argue over why we were there, whether we could have won, and who was right and wrong in their response to the conflict. When the war divided the country, it created deep political fault lines that continue to divide us today. Now, continuing in the tradition of their critically acclaimed collaborations, the authors draw on dozens and dozens of interviews in America and Vietnam to give us the perspectives of people involved at all levels of the war: US and Vietnamese soldiers and their families, high-level officials in America and Vietnam, antiwar protestors, POWs, and many more. The book plunges us into the chaos and intensity of combat, even as it explains the rationale that got us into Vietnam and kept us there for so many years. Rather than taking sides, the book seeks to understand why the war happened the way it did, and to clarify its complicated legacy. Beautifully written, this is a tour de force that is certain to launch a new national conversation.

Members Reviews:

Documentary History

The abridged audio book is derived from an a major new US TV series.It includes some interviews from that series and is therefore slightly different from the average audio book.It tells the disastrous story almost entirely from an American as opposed to a Vietnamese perspective.

It provides a useful history but some of the editing is poor with some parts being repeated

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Title: Harnessing the Sky

Subtitle: Frederick "Trap" Trapnell, the U.S. Navy's Aviation Pioneer, 1923-1952

Author: Frederick M. Trapnell Jr., Dana Trapnell Tibbitts

Narrator: Patrick Lawlor

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-15-17

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

A pilot of calculated courage, "Trap" entered the Navy when test pilots were more like stuntmen than engineers. Airplanes had not yet come into their own as weapons of war, and they had an undeveloped role in the fleet. His vision and leadership shaped the evolution of naval aviation through its formative years and beyond.

When the threat of war in 1940 raised an alarm over the Navy's deficiency in aircraft - especially fighters - Trap was appointed to lead the Flight Test Section to direct the development of all-new Navy airplanes. He played a key role in expediting the evolution of the two superb fighters that came to dominate the air war against Japan - the Corsair and Hellcat. After World War II, Trap returned as commander of the Naval Air Test Center to lead the Navy through the challenges of transitioning to jets. Trap was not only the first US Navy pilot to fly a jet, but is also recognized for defining the operating requirements for carrier-based jet propelled aircraft.

Over the course of two decades, Trap tested virtually every naval aircraft prototype and pioneered the philosophy and the methods of the engineering test pilot. He demanded comprehensive testing of each airplane in conditions and maneuvers it would face in wartime fleet operations.

Members Reviews:

Review of Harnessing the Sky

According to the review of this book at Los Altos Town Crier on July 22, 2015.

" a well-written book and thoroughly researched biography"

"sections of Harnessing the Sky deal with the preparations made by the U.S. for better and faster airplanes in the period up to an during World War II". "He helped the manufacturers of both the Corsair and the Hellcat refine their planes -- and 'these airplanes swept the Japanese aviation out of the skies' during the war."

Trap..."was inducted posthumously into the U.S. Naval Aviation Hall of Honor in 1986, considered the highest honor for a naval aviator."

"Harnessing the Sky should be of great interest to World War II buffs, those who enjoy compelling biographies and those who are interested in the history of aviation."

(The airfield at Patuxent River Naval Air Station is named "Trapnell Field" after Frederick "Trap" Trapnell).

There's a movie in here

Wonderful true story about US military aviation maturing after Pearl Harbor into today's epic fighter jets. Fact based, no drama, well-researched.

Good read

Great

Naval Institute Press Delivers Again

Bravo Zulu. Man ....what a leader, Naval Aviator and experienced flight test engineer. We owe him a lot. He got the correct platforms to the fleet ahead of schedule and saved our bacon.

Five Stars

Great book

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Title: The Women Who Flew for Hitler

Subtitle: A True Story of Soaring Ambition and Searing Rivalry

Author: Clare Mulley

Narrator: Christa Lewis

Format: Unabridged

Length: 15 hrs and 3 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-08-17

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 8 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

Hanna Reitsch and Melitta von Stauffenberg were talented, courageous, and strikingly attractive women who fought convention to make their names in the male-dominated field of flight in 1930s Germany. With the war, both became pioneering test pilots and were awarded the Iron Cross for service to the Third Reich. But they could not have been more different, and neither woman had a good word to say for the other.

Hanna was middle-class, vivacious, and distinctly Aryan while the darker, more self-effacing Melitta came from an aristocratic Prussian family. Both were driven by deeply held convictions about honor and patriotism; but ultimately, while Hanna tried to save Hitler's life, begging him to let her fly him to safety in April 1945, Melitta covertly supported the most famous attempt to assassinate the Führer. Their interwoven lives provide vivid insight into Nazi Germany and its attitudes toward women, class, and race.

Acclaimed biographer Clare Mulley gets under the skin of these two distinctive and unconventional women, giving a full - and as yet largely unknown - account of their contrasting yet strangely parallel lives against a changing backdrop of the 1936 Olympics, the Eastern Front, the Berlin Air Club, and Hitler's bunker.

Critic Reviews:

"This compelling work has the drama and suspense of the best movie scripts. It is the perfect choice for lovers of narrative non-fiction, especially those interested in strong females." (Library Journal)

Members Reviews:

Vividly Told Duel Biography

This is a duel biography of two women aviators, Hanna Reitsch (1912-1979) and Countess Melitta Schiller Schenk Gafin von Stauffenberg (1903-1945). Hanna had Aryan looks and Melitta was a brunette from Prussian aristocracy. These women became brilliant pilots in the 1930s when few women were allowed to fly.

Hanna was a supporter of Hitlers new regime and lent her image to a series of publicity articles and collectibles. She dropped out of medical school to pursue flying. She became a test pilot and also flew the famous ME163 rocket plane and was almost killed in the process. She flew all types of planes including helicopters and gliders. She set 40 flight altitude records. She was the first woman to fly a helicopter and was awarded the Military Flying Medal. Hitler awarded her the Iron Cross 1st Class for her courage and commitment to duty. She was the first woman to receive the honor during the war. She was also the first woman to receive the Luftwaffe Pilot/Observer Badge in Gold with Diamonds. and to be awarded the title Flugkapitan (Flight Captain).

Melitta was shy and more conflicted about the regime. Melitta graduated in 1927 cum laude from the Technical University of Munich in aeronautical engineering. She went on to obtain her Ph.D. She became one the Nazis most senior aeronautical engineer and the lead Stuka dive bomber test pilot. She did over 2,000 test dives during the war. Her father had some Jewish blood. She was married to Alexander von Stauffenberg (1905-1964) whose brother, Claus von Stauffenberg (1907-1944), was executed for Operation Valkyrie. She was arrested with all of the family after Valkyrie, but she was released and her husband was sent to a concentration camp. Melitta headed up her own military flight institute which was an unheard-of position for a woman in Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

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Título: La segunda guerra mundial contada para escépticos [World War II for Skeptics]

Autor: Juan Eslava Galán

Narrador: Pau Ferrer

Formato: Unabridged

Duración: 21 hrs and 37 mins

Idioma: Español

Fecha de publicación: 08-07-17

Editor: Audible Studios

Calificaciones: 4.5 de 5 de 3 votos

Categorías: History, 20th Century

Resumen del editor:

En el año 2015 se conmemora el 70 aniversario del final de la segunda guerra mundial, la guerra total de la que todos conocemos los grandes hitos: los turbios inicios del nazismo, la invasión de Polonia, la derrota de Francia, el bombardeo de Pearl Harbor, el Afrika Korps, el holocausto judío, la batalla de Stalingrado, el desembarco de Normandía, la batalla final en Berlín, Hiroshima, Nagasaki. Pero además de todos estos hechos, el oyente encontrará en esta obra historias que los libros no acostumbran a tratar, historias de personas: la de los excéntricos que descifraron el código Enigma; la bailarina judía que hizo striptease ante la cámara de gas; el submarinista alemán que hundió su nave al tirar de la cadena en el retrete; el aviador que ayudó a su enemigo herido a encontrar el camino de la base; la posible homosexualidad de Hitler; las astucias de Stalin; las cuatro amantes diarias de Mussolini; las vacilaciones de Franco; Himmler y sus SS buscando el Grial en España; los españoles en el sitio de Leningrado; las orgías en el bunker del Führer; el japonés que sobrevivió a las dos bombas atómicas...o las inverosímiles peripecias del gato del acorazado Bismarck.

Fiel al estilo característico de las obras de Eslava, el oyente encontrará en este audio libro un relato trepidante que se oye como una novela pero sin dejar de ser historia rigurosa y documentada.

Please note: This audiobook is in Spanish.

Opiniones de los miembros:

Libro ameno y didáctico.

Otro libro excelente del autor del cual soy un fan desde hace años. Muy ameno y didáctico. Salpicado de anécdotas que lo hacen muy entretenido.

Se lee como novela historica

Nada especial en el libro, esta mas enfocado en entretener que en dar detalles sobre los eventos historicos.

La narracion un poco molesta, casi amarillista.

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Título: La primera guerra mundial contada para escépticos [The First World War for Skeptics]

Autor: Juan Eslava Galán

Narrador: Pau Ferrer

Formato: Unabridged

Duración: 9 hrs and 50 mins

Idioma: Español

Fecha de publicación: 08-04-17

Editor: Audible Studios

Calificaciones: 4 de 5 de 3 votos

Categorías: History, 20th Century

Resumen del editor:

1914. Hace ahora cien años...Europa vivía una plenitud dorada. Los adelantos científicos y técnicos prometían un futuro feliz, sin hambrunas ni guerras. Pero un terrorista serbio asesinó, durante un desfile en Sarajevo, al heredero del Imperio austrohúngaro y a su esposa. Ese hecho aislado provocó un efecto dominó que arrastró a la guerra a más de cincuenta países. En cuatro años de contienda, la Gran Guerra arrasó a Europa y arruinó a los cuatro imperios que dominaban a la Tierra. Las consecuencias de aquel cataclismo aún perduran en el mundo inestable que hemos heredado.

A lo largo de estas narraciones, el oyente contemplará los inéditos estragos de la nueva guerra tecnificada que imponen la ametralladora, el tanque, y los gases asfixiantes en los campos de fango y sangre surcados por laberintos de trincheras. Junto a esos horrores, conocerá a la seductora Mata Hari y al legendario Barón Rojo, que brinda con una nueva copa de plata por cada avión derribado. También a Rasputín, el inquietante y corpulento monje que seduce a las damas de la corte rusa. El oyente viajará en el tren sellado que condujo a Lenin a Rusia en compañía de su esposa y de su amante, sobrevolará África en un zepelín, asistirá al asesinato de la familia del zar, se sorprenderá con los pasatiempos de la tropa, con las costumbres de los burdeles, con los espías que pululaban por los hoteles de lujo de Madrid y con mil historias particulares de anónimos muchachos y de futuros grandes hombres que jamás volverían a ser los mismos después de aquella decisiva experiencia.

Please note: This audiobook is in Spanish.

Opiniones de los miembros:

muchos comentarios anticatólicos innecesarios

sin q aporte ningún valor a la historia, el autor aprovecha para meter alguna cornada a la Iglesia. una lástima.

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Title: Fatal Flight

Subtitle: The True Story of Britain's Last Great Airship

Author: Bill Hammack

Narrator: Bill Hammack

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 36 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-10-17

Publisher: Articulate Noise Books

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 12 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

Fatal Flight brings vividly to life the year of operation of R.101, the last great British airship - a luxury liner three and a half times the length of a 747 jet, with a spacious lounge, a dining room that seated 50, glass-walled promenade decks, and a smoking room. The British expected R.101 to spearhead a fleet of imperial airships that would dominate the skies as British naval ships, a century earlier, had ruled the seas. The dream ended when, on its demonstration flight to India, R.101 crashed in France, tragically killing nearly all aboard. Combining meticulous research with superb storytelling, Fatal Flight guides us from the moment the great airship emerged from its giant shed - nearly the largest building in the British Empire - to soar on its first flight, to its last fateful voyage. The full story behind R.101 shows that, although it was a failure, it was nevertheless a supremely imaginative human creation. The technical achievement of creating R.101 reveals the beauty, majesty, and, of course, the sorrow of the human experience.

The narrative follows First Officer Noel Atherstone and his crew from the ship's first test flight in 1929 to its fiery crash on October 5, 1930. It reveals in graphic detail the heroic actions of Atherstone as he battled tremendous obstacles. He fought political pressures to hurry the ship into the air, fended off Britain's most feted airship pilot, who used his influence to take command of the ship and nearly crashed it, and, a scant two months before departing for India, guided the rebuilding of the ship to correct its faulty design. Set against the backdrop of the British Empire at the height of its power in the early 20th century, Fatal Flight portrays an extraordinary age in technology, fueled by humankind's obsession with flight.

Members Reviews:

A great story of the people more than the airship

I really appreciate the time spent developing the characters behind the story. thus was much more interesting than talking about just the ship itself. and oh, what characters!

I would have liked to hear a little more about the fatal flight itself - it seemed to come rather quickly in the book.

The ending explains a few things, and contains one very ironic item I did not know.

Probably better in a visual media

My opinion - don't get it audio form.

The book, I felt, was meandering. It jumps from the main story to anecdotes and side stories far to often.

This was compounded by the fact that pacing of the read was way to fast! It felt breathless, just an onslaught of information.

But worst of all was the imperial measurments. I expected more from Bill Hammack. Maybe, if this book was more story/drama oriented book, but this is loaded with technical data. I know this is a general audiance book, and I know it was written in America, and I know 1930s Britain used well... imperial measurments, but it felt wrong and anachronistic to not include metric.

So get this book in hard form, make your self a nice cup of tea, and read it as it should.

Great book. Detailed and vivid. Will listen again!

Fascinating story, with good narration, even if some pronunciations are weird (American reader). Brings the story to life in a mattrr of fact way thats easy to follow. Will be listening again.

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Title: The Trial of Adolf Hitler

Subtitle: The Beer Hall Putsch and the Rise of Nazi Germany

Author: David King

Narrator: Jeff Harding

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 12 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-06-17

Publisher: Dreamscape Media, LLC

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 11 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

February 26, 1924 was the first day of the greatly anticipated high treason trial that would galvanize Germany - but few in the courtroom that morning anticipated that the leading defendant, General Erich Ludendorff, whose risky offensives during World War I doomed Germany to defeat, would soon be eclipsed by the private first class at his side, Adolf Hitler. Hitler was charged with treason after unsuccessfully trying to seize power in the notorious Beer Hall Putsch in Munich in 1923. Before the trial, Hitler was only a minor, if ambitious, local party leader. Yet, once the proceedings began, his days of relative obscurity were over. Including never-before-published sources, this richly informed, day-by-day account shows how Hitler metamorphosed into a mesmerizing demagogue and used his trial as a stage for Nazi propaganda. Chilling in the hypothetical questions it raises, The Trial of Adolf Hitler illuminates our understanding of Hitler's path to power.

Members Reviews:

New Insights

Had always heard about the treason trial of Hitler but never got many details about the case this book adds new insights into the case and answers the question why Hitler and the codefendants got only Slap's on the wrist for treason.

Great book and finally a great narrator !!

What made the experience of listening to The Trial of Adolf Hitler the most enjoyable?

the story is great and well researched. The narrator is a pleasure to listen to - not distracting from the story at all !!!

Any additional comments?

Hey - Audible listen up - this is a great example of a great all - around book. THIS Narrator is invisible - does not distract from the book at all. So many bad narrators at audible...

Great to have this book that I will surely listen to again !!

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Title: At the Heart of the Reich

Subtitle: The Secret Diary of Hitlers Army Adjutant

Author: Gerhard Engel

Narrator: Stefan Rudnicki

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 56 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-02-17

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 11 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

A revealing account of Hitler's thoughts and actions throughout World War II from one of his closest aides.

Major Gerhard Engel was Hitler's army adjutant from 1938 to 1943. During his years with Hitler, Engel kept a diary. After the war, he added material to shed further light on certain events, military and political decisions, and Hitler's attitude to particular problems. His diary covers the decision-making process behind crucial military actions, including the annexation of Austria, the invasion of Czechoslovakia, and the war against Russia. He also addresses intrigue within Hitler's inner circle and his casual conversations with other key Nazi figures.

At the Heart of the Reich sheds important light on the Fuhrer's core beliefs. It includes the statement made by Hitler in 1941, "I am now as before a Catholic." It also details his views on German Jews and dwells on the extent to which they served in the Wehrmacht. Engel also addresses the deportation of Jews from Salonika and Hitler's order to Himmler to select a destination, the details of which Hitler was apparently unconcerned with. The final part of the diary is mostly devoted to the war against Russia. Engel's reports confirm that the master plan was to take Leningrad and Rostov, then close pincers behind Moscow. The plan was frustrated by senior army commanders' lack of enthusiasm and Hitler's failure to exert firm leadership. Engel depicts Hitler as a vacillating, contrary man. It is not unlikely that this encouraged his generals to impose themselves and argue their plan to rush Moscow, which ultimately contributed to the defeat of the Third Reich.

Members Reviews:

Much more interesting than the von Below memoir.

Fascinating in-the-moment eyewitness descriptions of concrete events - and the author's opinions of them. As an example of the level of detail, an entry for 26 March 1938 where someone first suggests that the Hitler salute be used in the army; the author writes, "I was appalled and asked him if he could imagine a positive reaction particularly from officers and NCOs."

Here's an interesting one that will remind the reader of Ribbentrop's infamous superficial showmanship: 20 May 1938. "F. [this is how the author refers to Hitler in the diary] made fun of the new Foreign Ministry uniforms. Compared them with those of a circus master of ceremonies...He regretted very much that his foreign minister went along with this nonsense."

The author does not have the writing gift of von Hassell (who left an excellent diary before being executed by the Nazis), and his diary might not have the dramatic interest of Ciano's (the foreign minister of Italy, who was executed by Mussolini but whose diary helped hang Ribbentrop). Nevertheless, it is an amazing document.

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Title: MacArthur's Spies

Subtitle: The Soldier, the Singer, and the Spymaster Who Defied the Japanese in World War II

Author: Peter Eisner

Narrator: Peter Eisner

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-02-17

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 11 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

A thrilling story of espionage, daring, and deception set in the exotic landscape of occupied Manila during World War II.

On January 2, 1942, Japanese troops marched into Manila unopposed by US forces. Manila was a strategic port, a romantic American outpost, and a jewel of a city. Tokyo saw its conquest of the Philippines as the key in its plan to control all of Asia, including Australia. Thousands of soldiers surrendered and were sent on the notorious 80-mile Bataan Death March. But thousands of other Filipinos and Americans refused to surrender and hid in the Luzon hills above Bataan and Manila. MacArthur's Spies is the story of three of them and how they successfully foiled the Japanese for more than two years, sabotaging Japanese efforts and preparing the way for MacArthur's return.

From a jungle hideout, Colonel John Boone, an enlisted American soldier, led an insurgent force of Filipino fighters who infiltrated Manila as workers and servants to stage demolitions and attacks.

"Chick" Parsons, an American businessman, polo player, and expatriate in Manila, was also a US Navy intelligence officer. He escaped in the guise of a Panamanian diplomat and returned as MacArthur's spymaster, coordinating the guerrilla efforts with the planned Allied invasion.

And finally there was Claire Phillips, an itinerant American torch singer with many names and almost as many husbands. Her nightclub in Manila served as a cover for supplying food to Americans in the hills and to thousands of prisoners of war. She and the men and women who worked with her gathered information from the collaborating Filipino businessmen; the homesick, English-speaking Japanese officers; and the spies who mingled in the crowd.

Fans of Alan Furst and Ben Macintyre - and anyone who loves Casablanca - will relish this true tale of heroism when it counted the most.

Members Reviews:

A Must For Travelers To Manila

What a gift for those of us who have heard stories of the Filipino Resistance in World War 2 but can't find the whole story! This research cuts to the core of how Americans and Filipinos tried to cope with the Japanese invasion of 1941-1942. I purchased the Audible version and it made the hours fly past!

Forgotten WWII history comes to life!

Peter Eisner does a excellent job of research on this long forgotten part of WWII during the occupation of the Philippines by the Japanese, the resistance that saved many lives of American prisoners, and the soldiers that took to the hills rather than surrender. Its a true story of a very brave woman spy and the network she created, a true hero. The only drawback is that the author reads it himself in a monotone that makes you wish for a real actor. Great for history buffs and those looking for WWII stories still untold.

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Title: Leadership in the Crucible

Subtitle: The Korean War Battles of Twin Tunnels and Chipyong-ni

Author: Kenneth E. Hamburger

Narrator: Bill Nevitt

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-20-17

Publisher: University Press Audiobooks

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 9 votes

Genres: History, 20th Century

Publisher's Summary:

At the pivotal battles of Twin Tunnels and Chipyong-ni in February 1951, UN forces met and contained large-scale attacks by Chinese forces. Colonel Paul Freeman and the larger-than-life Colonel Ralph Monclar led the American 23rd Infantry Regiment and the French Bataillon de Corée, respectively, in the fierce and dangerous battles that followed the precipitous UN retreat down the Korean Peninsula.

In Leadership in the Crucible, Kenneth Hamburger details the actions of the units in the United Nations counteroffensive following the Chinese intervention, including routine patrols, the harrowing battle of Twin Tunnels, and the pivotal siege of Chipyong-ni. From extensive personal interviews and a careful reconstruction of the written record, Hamburger brilliantly analyzes the roles that training, cohesion, morale, logistics, and leadership play in success or failure on the front lines of limited war. He also addresses the vexing problem of when, and at what level, commanders have the right and even the responsibility to question lawful orders they believe are flawed.

In this careful consideration of combat leadership at all levels, Hamburger offers his listeners stories of men sustaining themselves and one another to the limits of human endurance.

Critic Reviews:

"His coverage of fighting in cold winter weather with all its problems is superb. I highly recommend this book." (

Journal of Military History)

"Masterful and thought-provoking...makes a significant contribution to the understanding of combat leadership and of the human element in warfare." (

The Journal of America's Military Past)

Members Reviews:

A must-have book on military leadership

Leadership of the Crucible is an exceptional book on how modern wars are conducted by "ordinary" men. It is a breathtaking account, a faithful depiction of this (unfortunately) largely forgotten war. Many reasons push me to rank this book as an authoritative, reference type of books.

First, the quality of the background work is astounding. The author obviously didn't spare himself any time in researching his subject, interviewing veterans, collecting pictures of actual places, digging into books and articles.

Second, his objectivity as a historian is spotless with a clean, detached narration that (almost) never take sides on the doings and decisions of these men who put their lives at stake amidst while fighting in chaos.

Third, the clarity of his writing, as well as the use of simple yet reliable overview maps makes understanding of complex tactical situations an easier task. The narration feels as if events are actually unfolding right in front of the eyes, although these events took place over half a century ago. Readers will undoubtedly finish their reading by a "I have learnt something today!"...

Fourth, he manages to treat a series of high-fame events in a very efficient way by locating them in the chronological chain of events that made the Korean War.