The Military category has 1,612 audiobooks on Listento.it, with an average listener rating of 4.6★ across 5,283 ratings. The most-rated is The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.
All the King's Men
Summary
The unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Saul David's comprehensive history, All the King's Men: The British Soldier from the Restoration to Waterloo, read by the actor Sean Barrett. "The British soldier," wrote a Prussian officer who served with Wellington, "is vigorous, well fed, by nature highly brave and intrepid, trained to the most vigorous discipline, and admirably well-armed... These circumstances explain how this army ... has never yet been defeated in the field." From the Restoration of Charles II in 1660 to the Downfall of Napoleon in 1815, Britain won a series of major wars against France that enabled her to lay the foundations of a global empire. By Waterloo, she was the paramount maritime and industrial power in the world, and would remain so for much of the nineteenth century. This is the story of that extraordinary century and a half of martial success and the people who made it possible: the soldier-kings William III and the first two Georges; the generals Marlborough, Wolfe, Moore and Wellington; and the ordinary British redcoats who - despite harsh service conditions that included low pay, poor housing, inadequate food and brutal discipline - rarely let their commanders down in battles as far afield as Blenheim, Plassey, Quebec and Waterloo.
©2012 Saul David (P)2012 Penguin Books Ltd
Strong Men Armed
Summary
Written by Robert Leckie, whose wartime exploits are featured in the Tom Hanks/Steven Spielberg HBO miniseries The Pacific, Strong Men Armed is the perennial bestselling classic account of the U.S. Marines' relentless drive through the Pacific during World War II. As scout and machine-gunner for the First Marine Division, Leckie fought in all its engagements until his wounding at Peleliu. In Strong Men Armed, Leckie uses firsthand experience and impeccable research to re-create the nightmarish battles of the Pacific campaign---from Guadalcanal to Okinawa---as ships, men, and guns moved over vast distances to fight an enemy that was willing to defend to its last man. Here is the whole sweeping epic of the Marines who battled---and won---on the bloody beaches at Guadalcanal, the unforgiving reefs at Tarawa, the rain-soaked mud of New Britain, the dark gray soil and deadly caves of Mount Suribachi, and the muddy slopes of Shuri Castle on Okinawa. It is a masterful narrative by a writer the New York Times praised as possessing the "rare gift of capturing all that is human in the most inhuman of man's activities."
©1990 Robert Leckie (P)2010 Tantor
The First Wave
Summary
A National Best Seller Alex Kershaw, author of The Longest Winter and The Liberator, returns with an utterly immersive, adrenaline-driven account of D-Day combat. “Meet the assaulters: Pathfinders plunging from the black, coxswains plowing the whitecaps, bareknuckle Rangers scaling sheer rock.... Fast-paced and up close, this is history’s greatest story reinvigorated as only Alex Kershaw can.” (Adam Makos, New York Times best-selling author of Spearhead and A Higher Call) Beginning in the predawn darkness of June 6, 1944, The First Wave follows the remarkable men who carried out D-Day’s most perilous missions. The charismatic, unforgettable cast includes the first American paratrooper to touch down on Normandy soil; the glider pilot who braved antiaircraft fire to crash-land mere yards from the vital Pegasus Bridge; the brothers who led their troops onto Juno Beach under withering fire; as well as a French commando, returning to his native land, who fought to destroy German strongholds on Sword Beach and beyond. Listeners will experience the sheer grit of the Rangers who scaled Pointe du Hoc and the astonishing courage of the airborne soldiers who captured the Merville Gun Battery in the face of devastating enemy counterattacks. The first to fight when the stakes were highest and the odds longest, these men would determine the fate of the invasion of Hitler’s Fortress Europe - and the very history of the 20th century. The result is an epic of close combat and extraordinary heroism. It is the capstone of Alex Kershaw’s remarkable career, built on his close friendships with D-Day survivors and his intimate understanding of the Normandy battlefield. For the 75th anniversary, here is a fresh take on World War II's longest day. Praise for The First Wave: “Masterful...readers will feel the sting of the cold surf, smell the acrid cordite that hung in the air, and duck the zing of machine-gun bullets whizzing overhead. The First Wave is an absolute triumph.” (James M. Scott, best-selling author of Target Tokyo) “These pages ooze with the unforgettable human drama of history's most consequential invasion.” (John C. McManus, author of The Dead and Those About to Die)
©2019 Alex Kershaw (P)2019 Penguin Audio
Bismarck
Summary
A gripping tale of heroism - and doom - on the high seas.... The sinking of the German battleship Bismarck - a masterpiece of engineering, well-armored with a main artillery of eight 15-inch guns - was one of the most dramatic events of World War II. She left the port of Gotenhafen for her first operation on the night of 18 May 1941, yet was almost immediately discovered by Norwegian resistance and Allied air reconnaissance. British battlecruiser Hood was quickly dispatched from Scapa Flow to intercept the Bismarck, together with new battleship Prince of Wales. They were ordered to find the ship quickly because, on their way from the USA, several large convoys were heading for Britain. On 24 May, Bismarck was found off the coast of Greenland, but the ensuing battle was disastrous for the British. The Hood was totally destroyed within minutes (with only three crewmen surviving), and Prince of Wales was badly damaged. The chase resumed until the German behemoth was finally caught, this time by four British capital ships supported by torpedo-bombers from the carrier Ark Royal. The icy North Atlantic roiled from the crash of shellfire and bursting explosions until finally the Bismarck collapsed, sending nearly 2,000 German sailors to a watery grave. Tamelander and Zetterling's work rests on stories from survivors and the latest historical discoveries. The book starts with a thorough account of maritime developments from 1871 up to the era of the giant battleship, and ends with a vivid account, hour by hour, of the dramatic and fateful hunt for the mighty Bismarck, Nazi-Germany's last hope to pose a powerful surface threat to Allied convoys.
©2009 Niklas Zetterling & Michael Tamelander (P)2013 Audible, Inc.
Dark Sun
Summary
The author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb lays bare the secret heart of the Cold War. Richard Rhodes' landmark history of the atomic bomb won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award and the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award. Now, in this majestic new masterpiece of history, science, and politics, he tells for the first time the secret story of how and why the hydrogen bomb was made, and traces the path by which this supreme artifact of 20th-century technology became the defining issue of the Cold War. From the day in 1941 when the first word of Anglo-American atomic-bomb research arrived in Moscow to the week of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, DARK SUN is full of unexpected -- and sometimes hair-raising -- revelations based on previously undisclosed Soviet and U.S. sources, including: How the Soviets were able to produce a carbon copy of the first U.S. atomic bomb How the SAC fought for independent control of U.S. nuclear weapons -- while flying deliberately provocative daytime missions over Soviet cities How the first and only direct nuclear confrontation between the superpowers was also very nearly the last Following the lives of the atomic scientists on both sides of the Iron Curtain, Dark Sun is the definitive work on the hydrogen bomb, showing why the world wars that devastated the first half of the century can never happen again.
©1996 Richard Rhodes (P)2004 Simon & Schuster
Bomber Command
Summary
With an introduction read by Max Hastings. Bomber Command's offensive against the cities of Germany was one of the epic campaigns of the Second World War. More than 56,000 British and Commonwealth aircrew and 600,000 Germans died in the course of the RAF's attempt to win the war by bombing. The struggle began in 1939 with a few score primitive Whitleys, Hampdens and Wellingtons, and ended six years later with 1,600 Lancasters, Halifaxes, and Mosquitoes razing whole cities in a single night. Max Hastings traced the developments of area bombing using a wealth of documnets, letters, diaries, and interviews with key surviving witnesses. Bomber Command is his classic account of one of the most controversial struggles of the war. Max Hastings, author of over 20 books, has been editor of the Daily Telegraph and the Evening Standard. He has received many awards for his journalism and was knighted in 2002.
©1979 Max Hastings (P)2014 Audible Studios
Happily Never After
Summary
There’s a new Prince in town. And he thinks he’s my happily ever after. If only I believed in those. Lance Jacobs. Roseboro’s new Most Eligible Bachelor. He’s the stuff fairy tales are made of. Tall, handsome, strong. A dyed in the wool American hero.... And if my scheming stepmother has anything to do with it, he’ll be married to my stepsister before he can tap out S-O-S. But he only has eyes for me. And though my attention is tied up in my new bakery, I know he wants me. I’ll admit that he makes my heart race, my body pulse, and my mind think of things that are definitely not as sweet as my famous cupcakes. I can’t help but think Lance would make a great Mr. Right...now. I don’t trust him to be more than that. Don’t trust any man after having my heart broken one too many times. Even if he does make me want to break all my rules. Makes me want to take a chance. To believe again. Could he finally be my happily ever after? From USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post bestselling author Lauren Landish comes Happily Never After, a new modern adult Cinderella retelling. Prepare for laugh-out-loud moments, twists you'll never see coming, and swoon-worthy alphaness.
©2019 Lauren Landish (P)2019 Lauren Landish
Last Stands
Summary
What are we willing to die for? Michael Walsh restores the dignity of lost concepts like honor, duty, sacrifice, and patriotism for our unheroic age. What is heroism? What are its moral components - altruism, love, self-sacrifice? Why was it once celebrated, and now often dismissed as anachronistic? In this dramatic account of last stands in history - famous or otherwise - Walsh explores the stakes that led men at very different times and places to face overwhelming odds and certain death for the sake of family, home and country. In Last Stands, Walsh writes about battles in which a small group faced overwhelming odds, and all too often died to the last man - battles like Thermopylae, the Ronceveaux Pass, the Alamo, the siege of Malta, Little Big Horn, Stalingrad, Rorke’s Drift, and the Warsaw Ghetto - explaining why they were fought, what their ultimate outcome was, and their afterlife in history, myth, and culture.
©2020 Michael Walsh (P)2020 Blackstone Publishing
Overlord
Summary
With an introduction read by Max Hastings. The famous D-Day landings of 6 June, 1944, marked the beginning of Operation Overlord, the battle for the liberation of Europe. Republished as part of the Pan Military Classics series, Max Hastings’ acclaimed account overturns many traditional legends in this memorable study. Drawing together the eyewitness accounts of survivors from both sides, plus a wealth of previously untapped sources and documents, Overlord provides a brilliant, controversial perspective on the devastating battle for Normandy. Max Hastings, author of over 20 books, was born in 1945. He was a scholar at Charterhouse and University College, Oxford, before working as foreign correspondent for newspapers and BBC television, reporting from over 50 countries. He was editor of the Daily Telegraph for almost a decade, and then for six years edited the Evening Standard. He has won many awards for his journalism, particularly for his dispatches from the South Atlantic in 1982. He was knighted in 2002.
©1984 Max Hastings (P)2014 Audible Studios
Brave Battalion
Summary
This is the story of the average Canadian who volunteered for the Canadian Expeditionary Force told through the lens of one battalion - the 16th Battalion (Canadian Scottish) of the 1st Canadian Infantry Division. This Highland Regiment fought in the Ypres Salient and in the Somme, at Vimy, Passchendaele, and Amiens. It suffered the first gas attack; its ranks were decimated as it fought at virtually every major battle in the European theatre. From the declaration of war to the cessation of hostilities, Zuehlke follows the battalion from marshalling and training in Canada, across the Atlantic to England, and then landing in Europe. In graphic detail he takes the reader into the trenches and onto the shell-pocked battlefields, through assaults on ridges and wooded valleys. Brave Battalion is not a sweeping history of the conflict. It is rather the story of war on the ground as told through the accomplishments of a band of brothers - the Canadian Scottish - who came to represent the best of what Canada sent into battle.
©2008 Mark Zuehlke (P)2013 Audible, Inc.
The British Are Coming
Summary
One of AudioFile Magazine's Best Audiobooks of 2019 One of Kirkus Reviews' Best Books of the Year for 2019 One of Amazon.com's Best Books of the Year for 2019 One of the New York Times Book Review Notable Books of the Year for 2019 One of Publishers Weekly's Best Books of the Year for 2019 "The winning combination of George Newbern's engaging narration and Rick Atkinson's vivid new work of history - the first in a planned trilogy about the American Revolution - brings to life what could have been a dry account of Revolutionary battles." (AudioFile Magazine) This program includes a bonus introduction, read by the author, and exclusive to the audiobook. For the book's maps and illustrations, visit the Revolution Trilogy website at revolutiontrilogy.com From the best-selling author of the Liberation Trilogy comes the extraordinary first volume of his new trilogy about the American Revolution. Rick Atkinson, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning An Army at Dawn and two other superb books about World War II, has long been admired for his deeply researched, stunningly vivid narrative histories. Now, he turns his attention to a new war, and in the initial volume of the Revolution Trilogy, he recounts the first 21 months of America’s violent war for independence. From the battles at Lexington and Concord in spring 1775 to those at Trenton and Princeton in winter 1777, American militiamen and then the ragged Continental Army take on the world’s most formidable fighting force. It is a gripping saga alive with astonishing characters: Henry Knox, the former bookseller with an uncanny understanding of artillery; Nathanael Greene, the blue-eyed bumpkin who becomes a brilliant battle captain; Benjamin Franklin, the self-made man who proves to be the wiliest of diplomats; George Washington, the commander in chief who learns the difficult art of leadership when the war seems all but lost. The story is also told from the British perspective, making the mortal conflict between the redcoats and the rebels all the more compelling. Full of riveting details and untold stories, The British Are Coming is a tale of heroes and knaves, of sacrifice and blunder, of redemption and profound suffering. Rick Atkinson has given stirring new life to the first act of our country’s creation drama.
©2019 Rick Atkinson (P)2019 Macmillan Audio
Need for Speed
Summary
Need for Speed is the continuation of Solo and Panther’s story and should only be heard after book one, Danger Zone. They train to serve their country. They strive to be the best. But only a select few can be.... The Elite Mateo Morgan Call Sign: Solo Reckless, arrogant, and bold, Solo is as known in the US Navy for his bad-boy reputation as he is for his skills as a fighter pilot. It’s a surprise to his peers, then, when he’s chosen to train and compete at the most prestigious naval aviation academy in the world. Mission Rules: 1. Kick everyone’s ass. 2. Do whatever it takes to win. 3. Do your best to distract the competition. 4. Especially when that competition is a gorgeous blue-eyed perfectionist who makes your blood run hot. Grant Hughes Call Sign: Panther Disciplined, smart, and confident, Panther can’t afford not to play by the rules. As the son of a top Navy commander, all eyes are on him, and being anything less than number one is unacceptable. Mission Rules: 1. Keep it safe in the air. 2. Prove you’re more than Commander Hughes’s son. 3. No distractions. Stay focused. 4. Don’t fall for your competition - especially not the rebellious heartbreaker with lips made for sinning. In the heat of the hot California sun, tempers flare and desires ignite as Solo and Panther try to resist their attraction while fighting to be number one. With passion this intense, the question remains: Who’s gonna come out on top?
©2020 Ella Frank & Brooke Blaine (P)2020 Audible, Inc.
Road to Nowhere
Summary
From USA Today best-selling author M. Robinson. "I once read that every warrior hoped an honorable death would find him. I always went looking for mine, but not even the Reaper wanted me. I was trained to kill. I was trained to not ask why. To take orders and just march in line. Hoo-ah motherf--ker." "Life or death. Ride or die. And I'm not only talking about the military. I'm talking about the life that led me on the road to nowhere. My life. I fought for my brothers." "I fought for my family. I fought for my country. And I fought for her...Never realizing I might die for them too."
©2016 Author M. Robinson (P)2017 Author M. Robinson
The Pirate Coast
Summary
After Tripoli declared war on the United States in 1801, Barbary pirates captured 300 U.S. sailors and marines. President Jefferson sent navy squadrons to the Mediterranean, but he also authorized a secret mission to overthrow the government of Tripoli. He chose an unlikely diplomat, William Eaton, to lead the mission, but before Eaton departed, Jefferson grew wary of the affair and withdrew his support. Astoundingly, Eaton persevered, gathering a ragtag army, including eight U.S. Marines, and leading them on a brutal march across 500 miles of desert. After surviving sandstorms, treachery, and near death from thirst, Eaton achieved a remarkable victory on "the shores of Tripoli", as commemorated in the Marine Corps Hymn. His triumph gained freedom for the American hostages and newfound respect for the young United States, but for Eaton, the aftermath wasn't sweet. When he dared to reveal that the president had abandoned him, Jefferson set out to crush him.
©2005 Richard Zacks (P)2005 Blackstone Audiobooks
Beauty: Learning to Live
Summary
This isn't your everyday Beauty and the Beast story. Our love story was tragic, until it wasn't.... Once upon a time I fell in love with a beast. I fell fast. I fell hard. I loved him intensely and I trusted him completely - until he ripped my heart to shreds. Love isn't a fairy tale. It's messy. It's dirty. It's painful, and it's ugly. Until it's not.... This is Book 2 and the final book of the Beast & Beauty Devil's Blaze Duet. Book 1: Beast must be heard first.
©2017 Jordan Marie (P)2018 Insatiable Press
India's Wars
Summary
India's armed forces play a key role in protecting the country and occupy a special place in the Indian people's hearts, yet standard accounts of contemporary Indian history rarely have a military dimension. In India's Wars, serving Air Vice Marshal Arjun Subramaniam seeks to rectify that oversight by giving India's military exploits their rightful place in history. Subramaniam begins India's Wars with a frank call to reinvigorate the study of military history as part of Indian history more generally. Part II surveys the development of the India's army, navy, and air force from the early years of the modern era to 1971. In Parts III and IV, Subramaniam considers conflicts from 1947 to 1962 as well as conflicts with China in 1962 and Pakistan in 1965 and 1971. Part V concludes by assessing these conflicts through the lens of India's ancient strategist, Kautilya, who is revered in India as much as Sun Tzu is in China. Not merely a wide-ranging historical narrative of India's military performance in battle, India's Wars also offers a strategic, operational and human perspective on the wars fought by independent India's armed forces. Subramaniam highlights possible ways to improve the synergy between the three services and argues in favor of the declassification of historical material pertaining to national security. The author also examines the overall state of civil-military relations in India, leadership within the Indian armed forces as well as training, capability building and other vitally important issues of concern to citizens, the government and the armed forces. This objective and critical analysis provides policy cues for the reinvigoration of the armed forces as a critical tool of statecraft and diplomacy. Listeners will come away from India's Wars with a greater understanding of the international environment of war and conflict in modern India. Laced with veterans' intense experiences in combat operations and deeply researched and passionately written, it unfolds with surprising ease and offers a fresh perspective on independent India's history.
©2016 Arjun Subramaniam (P)2018 Audible, Inc.
The Last Battle
Summary
Author of The Great War, as well as celebrated accounts of the battles of the Somme, Passchendaele, Jutland, and Gallipoli, historian Peter Hart now turns to World War One's final months. Much has been made of - and written about - August 1914. There has been comparatively little focus on August 1918 and the lead-up to November. Because of the fixation on the Great War's opening moves and the great battles that followed over the course of the next four years, the endgame seems to come as a stunning anticlimax. At the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the guns simply fell silent. The Last Battle definitively corrects this misperception. As Hart shows, a number of factors precipitated the Armistice. After four years of bloodshed, Germany was nearly bankrupt, and there was a growing rift between the military High Command and political leadership. But it also remained a determined combatant, and France and Great Britain had equally been stretched to their limits; Russia had abandoned the conflict in the late winter of 1918. However complex the causes of Germany's ultimate defeat, Allied success on the Western Front, as Hart reveals, tipped the scales - the triumphs at the Fifth Battle of Ypres, the Sambre, the Selle, and the Meuse-Argonne, where American forces made arguably their greatest contribution. The offensives cracked the Hindenburg Line and wore down the German resistance, precipitating collapse. Final victory came at great human cost and involved the combined efforts of millions of men. Using the testimony of a range of participants, from the Doughboys, Tommies, German infantrymen, and French poilus who did the fighting, to those in command during those last days and weeks, Hart brings intimacy and sweep to the events that led to November 11, 1918.
©2018 Peter Hart (P)2018 Tantor
Hiroshima
Summary
On August 6, 1945, Hiroshima was destroyed by the first atom bomb ever dropped on a city. This book, John Hersey's journalistic masterpiece, tells what happened on that day. Told through the memories of survivors, this timeless, powerful and compassionate document has become a classic "that stirs the conscience of humanity" (The New York Times). Almost four decades after the original publication of this celebrated book, John Hersey went back to Hiroshima in search of the people whose stories he had told. His account of what he discovered about them is now the eloquent and moving final chapter of Hiroshima.
©1946, 1985 John Hersey (P)2019 Random House Audio
The Philippine-American War
Summary
If you want to discover the captivating history of the Philippine-American War between 1899-1902, then pay attention... The Philippine-American War of 1899-1902 was a dramatic, world-changing conflict that shaped the century to come and revealed the early stirrings of America’s drive for global power. The conflict and its aftershocks continue to influence the Philippines and the wider region to this day, leaving a legacy of governance, society, and economic organization. The Philippines today is an important American ally and a counterbalance to the growing Chinese power in South Asia, but the history between the United States and the Philippines has not always been as friendly as some may imagine. In fact, American-Filipino history is soaked in blood and defined by brutal, devastating combat. In The Philippine-American War (1899-1902), you will discover topics such as: Manifest Destiny vs. Self-Determination The Waning Power of Spain An Uneasy Alliance Filipinos Prepare for Independence or War February 4, 1899: War Breaks Out Major Campaigns of the War America’s Military Government in the Philippines Escalation: The Naval Blockade and Fierce American Campaigns The War Hits Home The Capture of Aguinaldo Filipinos Are Defeated Guerilla Fighting Continues after the Official End of the War And much, much more! So, if you want to learn more about the Philippine-American War (1899-1902), scroll up and click the "buy now" button!
©2019 Captivating History (P)2019 Captivating History
BLAI2E: Blaire Part 2
Summary
From top 100 and international Amazon best-selling author Anita Gray comes an emotionally addictive dark romance series of suspense, hope, and true love. "Captivating Dark Romance" (Anna Zaires, New York Times best-selling author) Bought. Conditioned. Sold to the enemy. My name is Blaire. I'm head of security to a man who controls the Russian underworld in Europe. His name is Maksim, and he's my master. He bought me 10 years ago and conditioned me with brutality to worship and protect him. And I have protected him. I've slain everyone who has tried to do him harm. Everyone but a man he loans me to; a man who hreatens to break me and everything in which I believe. You're going to need a strong stomach and a strong heart to follow my story, because take my word for it, it's no fairy tale. BLAIRE is part one in the Dark Romance series. BLAI2E, part two in the Dark Romance series, is available as an audiobook and eBook (enrolled in KU). BLAIR3, part three in the Dark Romance series, is coming soon. BL4IRE, part four in the Dark Romance series, is coming soon.
©2018 Anita Gray (P)2018 Anita Gray