Audiobooks by Neal Bascomb

Faster: How a Jewish Driver, an American Heiress, and a Legendary Car Beat Hitler's Best

For fans of The Boys in the Boat and In the Garden of Beasts, a pulse-pounding tale of triumph over Hitlers fearsome Silver Arrows during the golden age of auto racing. They were the unlikeliest of heroes. René Dreyfus, a former top driver on the international race car circuit, had been banned from the best teamsand fastest carsby the mid-1930s because of his Jewish heritage. Charles Weiffenbach, head of the down-on-its-luck automaker Delahaye, was desperately trying to save his company as the world teetered at the brink. And Lucy Schell, the adventurous daughter of an American multi-millionaire, yearned to reclaim the glory of her rally-driving days. As Nazi Germany launched its campaign of racial terror and pushed the world toward war, these three misfits banded together to challenge Hitlers dominance at the apex of motorsport: the Grand Prix. Their quest for redemption culminated in a remarkable race that is still talked about in racing circles to this daybut which, soon after it ended, Hitler attempted to completely erase from history. Bringing to life this glamorous era and the sport that defined it, Faster chronicles one of the most inspiring, death-defying upsets of all time: a symbolic blow against the Nazis during historys darkest hour.

Neal Bascomb (Author), Edoardo Ballerini (Narrator)

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The Escape Artists: A Band of Daredevil Pilots and the Greatest Prison Break of the Great War

Neal Bascomb, New York Times best-selling author, delivers the spellbinding story of the downed Allied airmen who masterminded the remarkably courageous-and ingenious-breakout from Germany's most devilish POW camp In the winter trenches and flak-filled skies of World War I, soldiers and pilots alike might avoid death, only to find themselves imprisoned in Germany's archipelago of POW camps, often in abominable conditions. The most infamous was Holzminden, a land-locked Alcatraz of sorts that housed the most troublesome, escape-prone prisoners. Its commandant was a boorish, hate-filled tyrant named Karl Niemeyer who swore that none should ever leave. Desperate to break out of "Hellminden" and return to the fight, a group of Allied prisoners led by ace pilot (and former Army sapper) David Gray hatch an elaborate escape plan. Their plot demands a risky feat of engineering as well as a bevy of disguises, forged documents, fake walls, and steely resolve. Once beyond the watch towers and round-the-clock patrols, Gray and almost a dozen of his half-starved fellow prisoners must then make a heroic 150 mile dash through enemy-occupied territory towards free Holland. Drawing on never-before-seen memoirs and letters, Neal Bascomb brings this narrative to cinematic life, amid the twilight of the British Empire and the darkest, most savage hours of the fight against Germany. At turns tragic, funny, inspirational, and nail-biting suspenseful, this is the little-known story of the biggest POW breakout of the Great War.

Neal Bascomb (Author), L.J. Ganser (Narrator)

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The Grand Escape: The Greatest Prison Breakout of the 20th Century

Neal Bascomb, author of The Nazi Hunters, returns with his next thrilling work of narrative nonfiction about a group of Allied POWs who staged an escape for the ages during World War I. Published on the 100th anniversary of the Holzminden escape! At the height of World War I, as battles raged in the trenches and in the air, another struggle for survival was being waged in the most notorious POW camp in all of Germany: Holzminden. A land-locked Alcatraz of sorts, it was home to the most troublesome Allied prisoners--and the most talented at escape. The Grand Escape tells the remarkable tale of a band of pilots who pulled off an ingenious plan and made it out of enemy territory in the biggest breakout of WWI, inspiring their countrymen in the darkest hours of the war.

Neal Bascomb (Author), Simon Vance (Narrator)

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Sabotage: The Mission to Destroy Hitler's Atomic Bomb

The author of the award-winning The Nazi Hunters returns with another thrilling true story of WWII espionage, including Nazis, nukes, fighting, failure, and everyday heroes. April 9, 1940. The invasion begins at night, with German cruisers slipping up a silent fjord. Soon planes full of paratroopers roar over the mountains, and in two months, the Nazis occupy all of Norway. They station soldiers throughout the country. They cripple food supplies to the Norwegian people. And at the Vemork power plant, they gain access to an essential ingredient in the weapon that could end the war: Hitler's very own nuclear bomb. February 24, 1943. When the Allies discover the plans for the bomb, they agree Vemork must be destroyed. But after a British operation fails to stop the Nazis' deadly designs, the task falls to a band of passionate Norwegian commandos -- young men who long to free their country from Nazi rule. Armed with little more than parachutes, skis, explosives, and great courage, they will survive months in the snowy wilderness and execute two desperately dangerous missions. The result? The greatest act of sabotage in all of World War II.

Neal Bascomb (Author), Jason Culp (Narrator)

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The Nazi Hunters: How a Team of Spies and Survivors Captured the World's Most Notorious Nazi

A spy mission, a Holocaust tale, and a first-class work of nonfiction. In 1945, at the end of World War II, Adolf Eichmann, the head of operations for the Final Solution, walked into the mountains of Germany and vanished from view. Sixteen years later, an elite team of spies captured him at a bus stop in Argentina and smuggled him to Israel, resulting in one of the century's most important trials--one that cemented the Holocaust in the public imagination. THE NAZI HUNTERS is the thrilling and fascinating story of what happened between these two events. Survivor Simon Wiesenthal opened Eichmann's case; a blind Argentinean and his teenage daughter provided crucial information. Finally, the Israeli spies--many of whom lost family in the Holocaust--embarked on their daring mission, recounted here in full. Based on the adult bestseller HUNTING EICHMANN, which is now in development as a major film, and illustrated with powerful photos throughout, THE NAZI HUNTERS is a can't-miss work of narrative nonfiction for middle-grade and YA readers.

Neal Bascomb (Author), Jason Culp (Narrator)

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The New Cool

That Monday afternoon, in high-school gyms across America, kids were battling for the only glory American culture seems to want to dispense to the young these days: sports glory. But at Dos Pueblos High School in Goleta, California, in a gear-cluttered classroom, a different type of "cool" was brewing. A physics teacher with a dream - the first public high-school teacher ever to win a MacArthur Genius Award -- had rounded up a band of high-I.Q. students who wanted to put their technical know-how to work. If you asked these brainiacs what the stakes were that first week of their project, they'd have told you it was all about winning a robotics competition - building the ultimate robot and prevailing in a machine-to-machine contest in front of 25,000 screaming fans at Atlanta's Georgia Dome. But for their mentor, Amir Abo-Shaeer, much more hung in the balance. The fact was, Amir had in mind a different vision for education, one based not on rote learning -- on absorbing facts and figures -- but on active creation. In his mind's eye, he saw an even more robust academy within Dos Pueblos that would make science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) cool again, and he knew he was poised on the edge of making that dream a reality. All he needed to get the necessary funding was one flashy win - a triumph that would firmly put his Engineering Academy at Dos Pueblos on the map. He imagined that one day there would be a nation filled with such academies, and a new popular veneration for STEM - a "new cool" - that would return America to its former innovative glory. It was a dream shared by Dean Kamen, a modern-day inventing wizard - often-called "the Edison of his time" - who'd concocted the very same FIRST Robotics Competition that had lured the kids at Dos Pueblos. Kamen had created FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) nearly twenty years prior. And now, with a participant alumni base approaching a million strong, he felt that awareness was about to hit critical mass. But before the Dos Pueblos D'Penguineers could do their part in bringing a new cool to America, they'd have to vanquish an intimidating lineup of "super-teams"- high-school technology goliaths that hailed from engineering hot spots such as Silicon Valley, Massachusetts' Route 128 technology corridor, and Michigan's auto-design belt. Some of these teams were so good that winning wasn't just hoped for every year, it was expected. In The New Cool, Neal Bascomb manages to make even those who know little about - or are vaguely suspicious of - technology care passionately about a team of kids questing after a different kind of glory. In these kids' heartaches and headaches - and yes, high-five triumphs -- we glimpse the path not just to a new way of educating our youth but of honoring the crucial skills a society needs to prosper. A new cool.

Neal Bascomb (Author), Kirby Heyborne (Narrator)

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Hunting Eichmann: How a Band of Survivors and a Young Spy Agency Chased Down the World's Most Notori

Neal Bascomb (Author), Paul Hecht (Narrator)

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Red Mutiny

In 1905 more than seven hundred Russian sailors mutinied against their officers aboard the battleship Potemkin, one of the most powerful battleships in the world. Led by the charismatic firebrand Matyushenko, they risked their lives to take control of their ship and fly the red flag of revolution. What followed was a violent port-to-port chase that spanned eleven harrowing days and came to symbolize the Russian Revolution itself. This pulse-pounding story alternates between the opulent court of Nicholas II and the drama on the high seas. Neal Bascomb combines extensive research and fresh information from Soviet archives to tell the true story of the deadliest naval mutiny in history. Red Mutiny is a terrific adventure filled with epic naval battles, heroic sacrifices, treachery, bloodlust, and the rallying cries of freedom.

Neal Bascomb (Author), John McDonough (Narrator)

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The Perfect Mile: Three Athletes. One Goal. And Less Than Four Minutes to Achieve It

In the tradition of Seabiscuit, this nostalgic audiobook reaches back to the golden age of sport for an utterly captivating narrative of what may be the most remarkable athletic feat of all time. They said no human could ever run a mile in less than four minutes. In 1952, three amazing athletes begged to differ. This is their extraordinary tale.

Neal Bascomb (Author), Nelson Runger (Narrator)

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Higher: A Historic Race to the Sky and the Making of a City

This riveting, true account of the 1929 race to build New York City's tallest skyscraper evokes the glory of an exciting time long past. In the spirit of the Roaring Twenties, two men competed to erect a structure that would reach to the skies. Behind it all were two brilliant architects-men with a common past, but very different visions for the future. Higher is every bit as fascinating as the best fiction.

Neal Bascomb (Author), Richard Davidson, Richard M. Davidson (Narrator)

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