Military Audiobooks | History

Heroes Among Us: Firsthand Accounts of Combat from America's Most Decorated Warriors in Iraq and Afg

"Over 1 million Americans have served in Iraq and Afghanistan in the past four years, but fewer than 500 from this group have earned a Silver Star, Navy Cross, Air Force Cross, Distinguished Service Cross, or the Medal of Honor. Those who have been awarded these distinguished honors all demonstrated an extraordinary courage under fire in the worst of circumstances. These Americans come from all branches of the military. They also come from all over the country and all walks of life, representing the entire spectrum of races and creeds. But what unites them are their deeds of consummate bravery, beyond the call of duty. Heroes Among Us tells their extraordinary true stories of valor, honor, and sacrifice."

Major Chuck Larson (Author), Lloyd James (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Art of War, with eBook

"'All warfare is based on deception. Thus, when able to attack, we must seem unable. Hold out bait to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him. If he is in superior strength, evade him. If your opponent is quick to anger, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.' Written before Alexander the Great was born, this Chinese treatise on war has become one of the most influential works on the subject. Read widely in the east since its appearance 2,500 years ago, The Art of War first came to the West with a French Jesuit in 1782. It has been studied by generals from Napoleon to Rommel, and it is still required reading in most military academies of the world. Although it was meant to be a practical guide to warfare in the age of chariots, many corporate and government leaders have successfully applied its lessons to battles in the modern dog-eat-dog world. Sun Tzu covers all aspects of war in his time, from strategy and tactics to the proper use of terrain and spies. In this version, Sun Tzu's lessons are brought to life with commentaries from ancient Chinese history, which illustrate both the philosophy and the principles of his teachings."

Sun Tzu (Author), Scott Brick, Shelly Frasier (Narrator)

Audiobook

Iwo Jima: World War II Veterans Remember the Greatest Battle of the Pacific

"On February 19, 1945, nearly 70,000 American soldiers invaded a tiny volcanic island in the Pacific. Over the next thirty-five days, approximately 28,000 soldiers died, including nearly 22,000 Japanese and 6,821 Americans, making Iwo Jima one of the costliest battles of World War II. Bestselling oral historian Larry Smith dug deep for exclusive stories from Iwo Jima veterans, including the last surviving flag raiser on Mount Suribachi, a Navajo "code talker," a retired general, two Medal of Honor recipients, B-29 flyers, and other die-hard Marines who secured the island. Along the way, Smith investigates the controversy surrounding the famous photograph by Joe Rosenthal and presents the groundbreaking story of Japanese General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, rumored to have committed suicide rather than submit to capture. Iwo Jima is an unprecedented look at this pivotal battle and an inspiring study in courage, perseverance, and humanity."

Larry Smith (Author), Dick Hill (Narrator)

Audiobook

One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War

"In October 1962, at the height of the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union appeared to be sliding inexorably toward a nuclear conflict over the placement of missiles in Cuba. Veteran Washington Post reporter Michael Dobbs has pored over previously untapped American, Soviet, and Cuban sources to produce the most authoritative book yet on the Cuban missile crisis. In his hour-by-hour chronicle of those near-fatal days, Dobbs reveals some startling new incidents that illustrate how close we came to Armageddon. Here, for the first time, are gripping accounts of Khrushchev’s plan to destroy the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo; the accidental overflight of the Soviet Union by an American spy plane; the movement of Soviet nuclear warheads around Cuba during the tensest days of the crisis; the activities of CIA agents inside Cuba; and the crash landing of an American F-106 jet with a live nuclear weapon on board. Dobbs takes us inside the White House and the Kremlin as Kennedy and Khrushchev agonize over the possibility of war. He shows how these two leaders recognized the terrifying realities of the nuclear age while Castro–never swayed by conventional political considerations–demonstrated the messianic ambition of a man selected by history for a unique mission. Dobbs brings us onto the decks of American ships patrolling Cuba; inside sweltering Soviet submarines and missile units as they ready their warheads; and onto the streets of Miami, where anti-Castro exiles plot the dictator’s overthrow."

Michael Dobbs (Author), Bob Walter (Narrator)

Audiobook

All Hands Down: The True Story of the Soviet Attack on the USS Scorpion

"Forty years ago, in May 1968, the submarine USS Scorpion sank under mysterious circumstances, with a loss of ninety-nine lives. The tragedy occurred during the height of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union and only weeks after the sinking of a Soviet sub near Hawaii. Now, drawing on hundreds of hours of interviews, many with exclusive sources in the naval and intelligence communities, as well as recently declassified United States and Soviet intelligence files, Kenneth Sewell and Jerome Preisler explain what really happened to Scorpion. In January 1968, a US intelligence ship, USS Pueblo, was seized by North Korea. Among other items, the North Koreans confiscated a valuable cryptographic unit that was capable of deciphering the navy's top-secret codes. Since a traitor named John Walker had begun supplying the navy's codes to the KGB, the Russians were able to read highly classified naval communicationsonce the KGB acquired the crypto unit from the North Koreans. Then, in March, the Soviet sub K-129 mysteriously sank near Hawaii, hundreds of miles from its normal station in the Pacific. Soviet naval leaders mistakenly believed that a US submarine was to blame for the loss, instigating a plot for revenge. A trap was set: several Soviet vessels gathered in the Atlantic, their behavior suspicious. It would only be a matter of time before a US sub was sent to investigate. That sub was the Scorpion. Using the top-secret codes and the deciphering machine, the Soviets were able to intercept and decode communication between the navy and Scorpion, the final element in carrying out the planned attack. All Hands Down shows how the Soviet plan was executed and explains why the truth of the attack has been officially denied for forty years. Sewell and Preisler debunk various official explanations for the tragedy and bring to life the personal stories of some of the men who were lost when Scorpion went to the bottom. This engrossing true story is more exciting than any novel."

Jerome Preisler, Kenneth Sewell (Author), Malcolm Hillgartner (Narrator)

Audiobook

Roberts Ridge: A True Story of Courage and Sacrifice on Takur Ghar Mountain, Afghanistan

"For the US Navy's elite team of SEALs, the mission seemed straightforward enough: take control of a towering, 10,240-foot mountain peak called Takur Ghar, a key post in their plan to smash Taliban al Qaeda in eastern Afghanistan. But the enemy was waiting, and when the Special Forces chopper was shredded by enemy fire, a red-haired SEAL named Neil Roberts was thrown from the aircraft. Roberts' fellow SEALs were determined to bring him out-no matter what the cost. This harrowing true account captures in dramatic detail their seventeen-hour battle, fought against near-impossible odds, to save one of their own. This is a gripping you-are-there account based on stunning eyewitness testimony and painstaking research by journalist Malcolm MacPherson."

Malcolm Macpherson (Author), Joe Barrett (Narrator)

Audiobook

Churchill, Hitler and 'The Unnecessary War': How Britain Lost Its Empire and the West Lost the World

"Were World Wars I and II–which can now be seen as a thirty-year paroxysm of slaughter and destruction–inevitable? Were they necessary wars? Were the bloodiest and most devastating conflicts ever suffered by mankind fated by forces beyond man’s control? Or were they products of calamitous failures of judgment? In this monumental and provocative history, Patrick Buchanan makes the case that, if not for the blunders of British statesmen–Winston Churchill first among them–the horrors of two world wars and the Holocaust might have been avoided and the British Empire might never have collapsed into ruins. Half a century of murderous oppression of scores of millions under the iron boot of Communist tyranny might never have happened, and Europe’s central role in world affairs might have been sustained for many generations. Among the British and Churchillian blunders were: • The vengeful Treaty of Versailles that mutilated Germany, leaving her bitter, betrayed, and receptive to the appeal of Adolf Hitler • Britain’s capitulation, at Churchill’s urging, to American pressure to sever the Anglo-Japanese alliance, insulting and isolating Japan • The greatest blunder in British history: the unsolicited war guarantee to Poland of March 1939–that guaranteed the Second World War Certain to create controversy and spirited argument, CHURCHILL, HITLER AND “THE UNNECESSARY WAR” is a grand and bold insight into the historic failures of judgment that ended centuries of European rule and guaranteed a future that no one who lived in that vanished world could ever have envisioned."

Patrick J. Buchanan (Author), Don Leslie (Narrator)

Audiobook

American Heroes: In the Fight Against Radical Islam

"In American Heroes, New York Times bestselling author Oliver North offers an inspiring, first-hand account of the extraordinary young American volunteers defending us against radical Islamic terror. Since 9-11-01, North and his award-winning War Stories documentary team have made a dozen extended trips to Afghanistan, Iraq and the Philippines covering U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen, Guardsmen and Marines for FOX News Channel. With extensive experience as a decorated military officer, a counter-terrorism expert and as a documentary filmmaker embedded with American combat units, he has a unique perspective on the enemy we face and the qualities of those who protect us.American Heroes offers a close-up of this generation’s “citizen-soldiers” who have chosen the path of the patriot and gone into harm’s way for their countrymen. North’s unprecedented access, his grasp of history and his lucid reports from the crucible of combat make this a stirring chronicle of courage, commitment, compassion and faith.Thank God for American heroes.“Real heroes are selfless. Those who serve America in harm’s way in the war against radical Islam have that quality in abundance. And so do their families and loved ones at home. Yet, they rarely get the attention or coverage they deserve. Despite the way they are too often presented, the men and women in uniform today are overwhelmingly good. I never cease to be amazed at the self-discipline of these brave young Americans. They can endure the adrenaline-pumping violence of an enemy engagement—and then, just minutes later, help children get safely to school. No nation—ours included—has ever had a military force better than the one we have today.” —Oliver North"

Oliver North (Author), Phil Gigante (Narrator)

Audiobook

Easy Company Soldier: The Legendary Battles of a Sergeant from World War II's 'Band of Brothers'

"Elite paratrooper Sgt. Don Malarkey takes us not only into the World War II battles fought from Normandy to Germany, but into the heart and mind of a soldier who lost his best friend during the nightmarish engagement at Bastogne. Drafted in 1942, Malarkey arrived at Camp Toccoa in Georgia and was one of the one in six soldiers who earned their Eagle wings. He went to England in 1943 to provide cover on the ground for the largest amphibious military attack in history: Operation Overlord. In the darkness of D-day morning, Malarkey parachuted into France and within days was awarded a Bronze Star for his heroism in battle. He fought for twenty-three days in Normandy, nearly eighty in Holland, thirty-nine in Bastogne, and nearly thirty more in and near Haugenau, France, and the Ruhr pocket in Germany. Easy Company Soldier is his dramatic tale of those bloody days fighting his way from the shores of France to the heartland of Germany, and the epic story of how an adventurous kid from Oregon became a leader of men."

Bob Welch, Don Malarkey (Author), John Bedford Lloyd (Narrator)

Audiobook

Wiser in Battle

"Amidst all of the criticisms of America's war in Iraq, one essential voice has remained silent . . . until now. In his groundbreaking new memoir, Wiser in Battle, LTG (Ret) Ricardo S. Sanchez, former Commander of Coalition Forces in Iraq, reports back from the front lines of the global War on Terror to provide a comprehensive and chilling exploration of America's historic military and foreign policy blunder. With unflinching candor, Sanchez describes the chaos on the Iraqi battlefield caused by the Bush Administration's misguided command of the military, as well as his own struggle to set the coalition on the path towards victory. Sanchez illuminates the fallout of the communication breakdown between the leadership on the battlefield and the politicians in Washington. The first book written by a former on-site commander in Iraq, Wiser in Battle is essential reading for all who wish to understand the current war and the American military's role in the new century."

Ricardo S. Sanchez (Author), Ricardo S. Sanchez (Narrator)

Audiobook

Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat: The Dire Warning: Churchill’s First Speech as Prime Minister

"On May 13, 1940, Winston Churchill stood before the House of Commons to deliver his first speech as prime minister. Europe was in crisis: three days earlier, Germany had invaded France and the Low Countries. Facing only feeble resistance, Hitler’s armies were rapidly sweeping westward. Churchill had little support within the British government when he rose to address it that day. He lacked confidence, both in himself and in his ability to lead his nation to victory, for he recognized far earlier than most the military genius of Adolph Hitler, and the potency of the German military. In Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat, the eminent historian and master storyteller John Lukacs recreates this pivotal moment in world history, and reveals Churchill as he has rarely been seen before: as a man both unsure of himself and deeply fearful of his nation’s defeat."

John Lukacs (Author), John Lee (Narrator)

Audiobook

Trigger Men: Shadow Team, Spider-Man, the Magnificent Bastards, and the American Combat Sniper

"Combat veteran and author Hans Halberstadt takes readers deeper inside the elusive world of snipers than ever before, from recruitment and training to the brutality of the killing fields. Shadow Team is probably the most productive sniper team in American military history, accounting for 276 confirmed kills in a six-month span with no casualties of its own. The team's leader made what was—and may still be—the longest range kill with a 7.62mm rifle. For the first time ever, team members explain what it's like to kill a man and what it takes to become one of the elite. The tragic tale of Headhunter Two is altogether different. This four-man sniper team from a regiment known within the Corps as the Magnificent Bastards was killed in 2004 in Ramadi, Iraq. Their deaths not only caused a reevaluation of sniper tactics and techniques but also created a desire for vengeance that was exacted nearly two years later in dramatic fashion. Based on hundreds of hours of exclusive interviews, Halberstadt gets inside the sniper mind and shows how snipers think and interact with each other, how missions are planned and executed, how the weapons work, and even what happens when a bullet finally strikes its target. There are only a few hundred snipers from all the services put together in combat at any one time, making this true inside story a rare and important event."

Hans Halberstadt (Author), Johnny Heller (Narrator)

Audiobook

Military Audiobooks in History