Military Audiobooks | History

Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold True Story of American Submar

"No espionage missions have been kept more secret than those involving American submarines. Now, Blind Man's Bluff shows for the first time how the Navy sent submarines wired with self-destruct charges into the heart of Soviet seas to tap crucial underwater telephone cables. It unveils how the Navy's own negligence might have been responsible for the loss of the USS Scorpion, a submarine that disappeared, all hands lost, thirty years ago. It tells the complete story of the audacious attempt to steal a Soviet submarine with the help of eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes, and how it was doomed from the start. And it reveals how the Navy used the comforting notion of deep sea rescue vehicles to hide operations that were more James Bond than Jacques Cousteau. Blind Man's Bluff contains an unforgettable array of characters, including the cowboy sub commander who brazenly outraced torpedoes and couldn't resist sneaking up to within feet of unaware enemy subs. It takes us inside clandestine Washington meetings where top submarine captains briefed presidents and where the espionage war was planned one sub and one dangerous encounter at a time. Stretching from the years immediately after World War II to the present-day operations of the Clinton Administration, it is an epic story of daring and deception. A magnificent achievement in investigative reporting, it feels like a spy thriller, but with one important difference'everything in it is true. Read by Tony Roberts."

Annette L. Drew, Christopher Drew, Sherry Sontag (Author), Tony Roberts (Narrator)

Audiobook

Bradley: A Biography

"Known by his troops in World War II as "The GI General" because of his close identification with the men under his command, Omar Bradley commanded the Twelfth US Army Group in Europe. By the spring of 1945, this group contained four field armies, twelve corps, forty-eight divisions, and more than 1.3 million men, the largest exclusively American field command in US history. A mild mannered man, General Bradley created the impression less of a soldier than of a teacher, which he was during much of his early career in the Army. He earned a reputation as an eminent tactician and rose through the ranks to become a five-star general."

Alan Axelrod (Author), William Hughes (Narrator)

Audiobook

MacArthur

"Douglas MacArthur is best remembered for his adaptability that hoisted him to his greatest accomplishments. Adaptability now reigns as the most indispensable trait for high military leadership in an era of technological leaps that guarantee the nature of war will radically change during the span of an ordinary career. No American figure better exemplifies this trait than the man who was commissioned before the Wright Brothers' first flight but became a keen exponent of an entirely new dimension in warfare. He was also in charge of the US occupation of Japan, the most successful occupation in history."

Richard B. Frank (Author), Tom Weiner (Narrator)

Audiobook

Grant: A Biography

"In this addition to the Palgrave Great Generals Series, John Mosier brings to life the brilliant military strategist Ulysses S. Grant. A modest and unassuming man, Grant never lost a battle, leading the Union to victory over the Confederacy during the Civil War, ultimately becoming president of the re-united states. Grant revolutionized military warfare by creating new leadership strategies and by integrating new technologies in classical military strategy. In this compelling biography, Mosier reveals the man behind the military legend, showing how Grant's creativity and genius off the battlefield shaped him into one of our nation's greatest military leaders."

John Mosier (Author), Brian Emerson (Narrator)

Audiobook

Pershing: A Biography

"In this persuasive biography, Jim Lacey sheds light on General Pershing's legacy as the nation's first modern combat commander, setting the standard for today's four-star officers. When the US entered into World War I in 1917, they did so with inadequate forces. In just over a year, Pershing built and hurled a one-million-man army against forty battle-hardened German divisions, defending the hellish Meuse-Argonne and turning the tide of the war. With focus and clarity, Lacey traces Pershing's development from Indian fighter to guerrilla warrior against the Philippine insurgency to victorious WWI commander."

Jim Lacey (Author), Tom Weiner (Narrator)

Audiobook

Patton: A Biography

"George S. Patton was a general who achieved greatness in his field by contradicting his own nature. A cavalryman steeped in romantic military tradition, he nevertheless pulled a reluctant American military into the most advanced realms of highly mobile armored warfare. An autocratic snob, Patton created unparalleled rapport and loyalty with the lowliest private in his command. An outspoken racist, he led the only racially integrated US military unit in World War II. A profoundly insecure individual, he made his Third Army the most self-confident and consistently victorious fighting force in the European theater. An exuberantly profane man, he prayed daily and believed God had destined him for military greatness. Alan Axelrod delivers a fascinating account of Patton's extraordinary life and legacy."

Alan Axelrod (Author), Brian Emerson (Narrator)

Audiobook

Saddam’s Bombmaker: The Daring Escape of the Man Who Built Iraq’s Secret Weapon

"Saddam's Bombmaker is the true saga of one man's journey through the circles of hell. Educated at MIT and Florida State University, dedicated to a life of peaceful teaching in America, Iraqi scientist Dr. Khidhir Hamza relates how Saddam's regime ordered him home, seduced him into a pampered life as an atomic energy official, and forced him to design a bomb. The price of refusal was torture. With the cynical help of US, French, German, and British suppliers and experts, he secretly developed Baghdad's nuclear bomb and kept it hidden from UN inspectors after the Gulf War. The tale of his escape, his first bungled contact with CIA agents, and his flight abroad will keep listeners riveted toward a climax worthy of a well-crafted spy thriller."

Khidir Hamza (Author), Simon Vance (Narrator)

Audiobook

LeMay: A Biography

"Packed with breathtaking air battles and ground tactics, this new addition to the Great Generals Series features the controversial command and strategies of the former Air Force Chief of Staff. Curtis LeMay was a terrifying, complex, and brilliant general. In World War II, he ordered the firebombing of Tokyo and was in charge when atomic bombs were dropped on Japan. He was responsible for tens of thousands of civilian deaths, a fact he liked to celebrate by smoking Cuban cigars. But LeMay was also the man who single-handedly transformed the American Air Force from poorly trained and badly equipped pilots into one of the fiercest weapons of the war. Over the last decades, most US military missions were carried out entirely through use of the Air Force. This is LeMay's legacy."

Barrett Tillman (Author), Tom Weiner (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Secret War against Hitler

"William Casey, former director of the CIA, gives an autobiographical account of his World WarII service with the OSS (Office of Strategic Services, which later evolved into the CIA) and the role such early intelligence organizations played in the defeat of Hitler. Casey recounts how the Allies gathered intelligence, thwarted Germany's atomic bomb development, and convinced German intelligence that the Normandy D-day landings were to be a diversionary move while the main landing was to take place in Calais. Casey wrote this book because, as he says, 'I believe that it is important today to understand how clandestine intelligence, covert action, and organized resistance saved blood and treasure in defeating Hitler. These capabilities may be more important than missiles and satellites in meeting crises yet to come.'"

William Casey (Author), Peter Kjenaas (Narrator)

Audiobook

Echoes of the Mekong

"In 1967, Peter Huchthausen, a river patrol officer on Vietnam's Mekong River Delta, rescued a badly wounded Vietnamese child, Nguyen Thi Lung. He arranged for the girl's treatment and education, only to lose track of her when her town was overrun by the North Vietnamese during the Tet Offensive. After the war, Lung led a difficult and shadowy life under the communist regime, until she managed to get the attention of a reporter. The reporter published her story and then assisted her departure from Vietnam, while Huchthausen sponsored her entry into the United States. In alternating chapters, Huchthausen and Lung recall the experience of war on the Mekong River, and Lung relates the terrifying years that followed. Echoes of the Mekong casts a fresh light on the American involvement in Vietnam as it follows two people caught in the war from youth to maturity."

Nguyen Thi Lung, Peter A. Huchthausen (Author), Lloyd James, Marguerite Gavin (Narrator)

Audiobook

Ship of Ghosts: The Story of the USS Houston, FDR's Legendary Lost Cruiser, and the Epic Saga of of

"NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 'Son, we’re going to Hell.' The navigator of the USS Houston confided these prophetic words to a young officer as he and his captain charted a course into U.S. naval legend. Renowned as FDR’s favorite warship, the cruiser USS Houston was a prize target trapped in the far Pacific after Pearl Harbor. Without hope of reinforcement, her crew faced a superior Japanese force ruthlessly committed to total conquest. It wasn’t a fair fight, but the men of the Houston would wage it to the death. Hornfischer brings to life the awesome terror of nighttime naval battles that turned decks into strobe-lit slaughterhouses, the deadly rain of fire from Japanese bombers, and the almost superhuman effort of the crew as they miraculously escaped disaster again and again–until their luck ran out during a daring action in Sunda Strait. There, hopelessly outnumbered, the Houston was finally sunk and its survivors taken prisoner. For more than three years their fate would be a mystery to families waiting at home. In the brutal privation of jungle POW camps dubiously immortalized in such films as The Bridge on the River Kwai, the war continued for the men of the Houston—a life-and-death struggle to survive forced labor, starvation, disease, and psychological torture. Here is the gritty, unvarnished story of the infamous Burma–Thailand Death Railway glamorized by Hollywood, but which in reality mercilessly reduced men to little more than animals, who fought back against their dehumanization with dignity, ingenuity, sabotage, will–power—and the undying faith that their country would prevail. Using journals and letters, rare historical documents, including testimony from postwar Japanese war crimes tribunals, and the eyewitness accounts of Houston’s survivors, James Hornfischer has crafted an account of human valor so riveting and awe-inspiring, it’s easy to forget that every single word is true."

James D. Hornfischer (Author), Marc Cashman (Narrator)

Audiobook

Once Upon a Town

"During World War II, American soldiers from every city and walk of life rolled through North Platte, Nebraska on troop trains, en route to Europe and the Pacific. The tiny town transformed its modest railroad depot into the North Platte Canteen -- a place where soldiers could enjoy coffee, music, home-cooked food, magazines, and friendly conversation during a stopover that lasted only a few minutes. It provided homesick military personnel with the encouragement they needed to help them through the difficult times ahead. Every day of the war, the Canteen -- staffed and funded entirely by local volunteers from the community of twelve thousand -- was open from 5 a.m. until the last troop train of the day pulled away after midnight. By war's end they provided welcoming words, friendship, and baskets of food to more than six million GIs. Based on interviews with North Platte residents and the GIs who once passed through, Bob Greene unearths and reveals a classic, lost-in-the-mists-of-time American story of a grateful country honoring its brave and dedicated sons."

Bob Greene (Author), Fritz Weaver (Narrator)

Audiobook

Military Audiobooks in History