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.
Wars Within a War
Summary
The 12 essays in Wars within a War explore the internal stresses that posed serious challenges to the viability of the opposing sides in the Civil War as well as some of the ways in which wartime disputes and cultural fissures carried over into the postwar years and beyond.Comprised of contributions from leading scholars, this volume extends the discussion of controversies far past the death of the Confederacy in the spring of 1865. Contributors address, among other topics, Walt Whitman's poetry, the handling of the Union and Confederate dead, the treatment of disabled and destitute northern veterans, Ulysses S. Grant's imposing tomb, and Hollywood's long relationship with the Lost Cause narrative.Reflecting a variety of approaches and methodologies, these essays provide a starting point for anyone interested in how Americans have argued about the prosecution, meaning, and memory of the war.
©2009 Joan Waugh (P)2009 Audible, Inc.
Thrilling Days in Army Life
Summary
Thrilling Days in Army Life describes encounters between Indians and the frontier Army. In 1868, George A. Forsyth led 50 scouts to search out Cheyennes who were raiding Kansas. In this book, he relates the six-day siege that pitted his men against 750 Cheyennes and Sioux in what came to be known as the Battle of Beecher Island. Forsyth had an action-packed career. In 1882, he led a dangerous raid as his Fourth Cavalry pursued the Chiricahua Apaches from New Mexico into Mexico. During the Civil War, Forsyth was an aid to Major General Philip H. Sheridan, and he describes a dramatic ride to the rescue of Union troops at Cedar Creek. He then ends this book with an eyewitness account of the surrender of the Confederacy at Appomattox Court House.
Public Domain (P)2009 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Revolution on the Hudson
Summary
No part of the country was more contested during the American Revolution than the Hudson River. In 1776 King George III sent the largest amphibious force ever assembled to seize Manhattan and use it as a base from which to push up the Hudson River Valley for a rendezvous at Albany with an impressive army driving down from Canada. George Washington and other patriot leaders shared the king's fixation with the Hudson. In fact one of the few things that scholars have agreed upon is that the British strategy, though disastrously executed, should have been effective. Until now no one has argued that this plan of action was lunacy from the start. Revolution on the Hudson makes the bold new argument that Britain's attempt to cut off New England never would have worked and ultimately cost the crown her colonies. It unpacks intricate military maneuvers, introduces the personalities presiding over each side's strategy, and reinterprets the vagaries of colonial politics to offer a thrilling response to one of our most vexing historical questions: How could a fledgling nation have defeated the most powerful war machine of the era?
©2016 George C. Daughan (P)2016 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books
Chasing Pancho Villa: Wild Side Series No. 7
Summary
In 1916, Pancho Villa crossed into New Mexico and attacked the town of Columbus, killing civilians and soldiers, burned the town, and stole supplies. He fled back to Mexico hiding in the mountains of Chihuahua. President Woodrow Wilson sent Major General Blackjack Pershing and Lieutenant George Patton into Mexico to exact revenge in what was called the Mexican Expedition. In this story, Patton uses airplanes and vehicles in a first for warfare and the last calvary charge on horseback chases Pancho through rugged Mexican mountains and canyons. Many soldiers in this campaign were Buffalo Soldiers, units of black man who excelled in Indian warfare. This true short story is a composite of stories told to me by two tough old Texans who were in the Mexican border wars. Names have been changed, but most of the events are real.
©2013 Gordon England (P)2015 Gordon England
Their Backs Against the Sea
Summary
In the midst of the largest banzai attack of the war, US Army Lt. Col. William O'Brien, grievously wounded and out of ammunition, grabbed a sabre from a fallen Japanese soldier and flailed away at a small army of assailants, screaming to his men, "Don't give them a damn inch!" When his body was recovered the next day, 30 dead enemies were piled around him. The Battle of Saipan lasted 25 hellish days in the summer of 1944, and the stakes couldn't have been higher. If Japan lost possession of the island, all hope for victory would be lost. For the Americans, its capture would result in secure air bases for the new B-29s that would put them within striking distance of the Japanese homeland. The outcome of the war in the Pacific lay in the balance. In this gritty, vivid narrative, award-winning author Bill Sloan fuses fresh interviews, oral and unit histories, and unpublished accounts to describe one of the war's bloodiest and most overlooked battles of the Pacific theater. Combining grunt's-view grit with big picture panorama (and one of the ugliest interservice controversies of the war), Their Backs Against the Sea is the definitive dramatic story of this epic battle - and an inspiring chronicle of some of the greatest acts of valor in American military history. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©2017 Bill Sloan (P)2017 Hachette Audio
Fights on the Little Horn
Summary
This remarkable book synthesizes a lifetime of in-depth research into one of America's most storied disasters, the defeat of Custer's 7th Cavalry at the hands of the Sioux and Cheyenne Indians, as well as the complete annihilation of that part of the cavalry led by Custer himself. The author, Gordon Harper, spent countless hours on the battlefield itself as well as researching every iota of evidence of the fight from both sides, white and Indian. He was, thus, able to recreate every step of the battle as authoritatively as anyone could, dispelling myths and falsehoods along the way. Harper himself passed away in 2009, leaving behind nearly two million words of original research and writing. In this book, his work has been condensed for the general public to observe his key findings and the crux of his narrative on the exact course of the battle. Though author Gordon Harper is no longer with us, his daughter Tori Harper, along with author/historians Gordon Richard and Monte Akers, have done yeoman's work in preserving his valuable research for the public.
©2014 Gordon Clinton Harper (P)2019 Tantor
Leadership
Summary
This bold, wide-ranging collection brings together some of the most noted military minds, past and present, to examine the crucial role of leadership in combat. Written while Christopher Kolenda was a faculty member in the history department at West Point, it covers both classic and modern concepts of leadership and uses case studies from Alexander the Great through World War II to illustrate principles of leadership in concrete historical contexts.
©2001 Christopher D. Kolenda (P)2014 Tantor
A Death in San Pietro
Summary
By the time Mark Clark's Fifth Army reached the small village of San Pietro north of Naples in the first week of December 1943, a tough but rapid sweep through Sicily came to a muddy halt. On the slopes of a distant mountain, the death of a single platoon captain, Henry Waskow, epitomized the struggle. A Death in San Pietro chronicles the quietly heroic and beloved Captain Waskow and his company as they make their way into battle. Waskow's 36th ("Texas") Division would ultimately succeed in driving the Germans off the mountains; but not before eighty percent of Waskow's company is lost in action. For Americans back home, two of the war's most lasting artistic expression brought horrified focus to the battlefield, already dubbed "Purple Heart Valley" by the men of the 36th. Pulitzer Prize-winner Ernie Pyle's dispatch about Waskow's death and filmmaker John Huston's award-winning documentary of the battle rivets - and shocks - the nation, bringing, as if for the first time, the awful carnage of world war into living rooms across America.
©2013 Tim Brady (P)2014 Audible Inc.
His Honey
Summary
I love you so much, Stella Hogan. You are the best part of my day. Vincent Booth's whole life has been one of responsibility, from his years in the military leading his men through battle to being president of the his club, the Wounded Souls. But with responsibility comes guilt. Death haunts him. To keep his family safe, he has to stay strong, but the club's beautiful cook could derail him. She has the power to bring him to his knees. He can't let her, can he? Will his deepest secret be his ultimate failure? Or can he trust Stella to be the light in his darkness? Stella Hogan has her own terrible secrets. The biggest is being in love with the president of the Wounded Souls motorcycle club. Booth frustrates her but is able to command her with just one look from his grey eyes. The handsome former commando's inner struggles break her heart, and his fierce loyalty puts it back together. Can she trust him enough to give him her heart? Will the danger that surrounds the club destroy them? Or will a shattering discovery end it all before it has even begun? Contains mature themes.
©2018 Leah Sharelle (P)2019 Tantor
Silent Warriors, Incredible Courage
Summary
The outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950 took the American military by surprise. Rushing to respond, the US and its allies developed a selective overflight program to gather intelligence. Silent Warriors, Incredible Courage is a history of the Cold War overflights of the Soviet Union, its allies, and the People's Republic of China, based on extensive interviews with dozens of pilots who flew these dangerous missions. In 1954 the number of flights expanded, and the highly classified SENSINT program was born. Soon, American RB-45C, RB-47E/H, RF/100s, and various versions of the RB-57 were in the air on an almost constant basis, providing the president and military leadership with hard facts about enemy capabilities and intentions. Eventually the SENSINT program was replaced by the high-flying U-2 spy plane. The U-2 overflights removed the mysteries of Soviet military power. These flights remained active until 1960 when a U-2 was shot down by Russian missiles, leading to the end of the program. Shortly thereafter planes were replaced by spy satellites. The overflights were so highly classified that no one, planner or participant, was allowed to talk about them - and no one did, until the overflight program and its pictorial record was declassified in the 1990's. Through extensive research of existing literature on the overflights and interviews conducted by Wolfgang W. E. Samuel, this audiobook reveals the story of the entire overflight program through the eyes of the pilots and crew who flew the planes. Samuel's account tells the stories of American heroes who risked their lives - and sometimes lost them - to protect their country. The book is published by University Press of Mississippi. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.
©2019 University Press of Mississippi (P)2019 Redwood Audiobooks
Unexpected Hero
Summary
Gunnar Knox is on his second tour in Iraq when he gets an unexpected lifeline in the form of letters from a stranger, Pastor Trace Atwell. After six months of correspondence, the letters from the pastor stop coming. The last letter contains a family picture of the pastor, his wife and their son and an invitation to come and visit them at their farm when Gunnar's tour is up. Eighteen months later, he's back in the States, with a wish to meet the happy family in the picture. However, things aren't as he had anticipated when he arrives at the Atwell farm. Pastor Trace has passed away. Grace Atwell is a widow raising her son alone, starting a new business, and things are falling down around her ears. When the aloof US Marine shows up on her doorstep, she assumes he is there for the advertised handyman position and hires him on the spot. Once he starts helping around the house, going above and beyond, she realizes how much she has missed having a man around the farm - and the feeling of being wanted. No man has ever made her feel this special, this desirable. Caught off guard by the unexpected emotion he feels for Grace and her son, Gunnar keeps the letters and picture a secret. He believes an unseen force had brought him to Buttermilk Valley, Georgia to help Grace and Daxton, and to protect them. He owed the pastor. After all, his encouraging words had been Gunnar's support when he thought he'd never make it out of the Middle East alive. As Grace and Gunnar grow closer, the secret becomes heavier and a dangerous presence awaits an opportunity to tear their passionate love affair apart. Will love be enough? Will Grace accept Gunnar's baggage? Did fate bring them together?
©2015 Rhonda Lee Carver (P)2016 Rhonda Lee Carver
Texas Rising
Summary
The official nonfiction companion to the History Channel dramatic series Texas Rising (produced by the same team that made the record-breaking Hatfields and McCoys): a thrilling new narrative history of the Texas Revolution and the rise of the legendary Texas Rangers who patrolled the violent Western frontier. In 1836, if west of the Mississippi was considered the Wild West, then Texas was hell on earth - a hot bed of conflict. Who would win the war over Texas? Crushed from the outside by Mexican armadas and attacked from within by ferocious Comanche tribes, no one was safe. But this was a time of bravery, a time to die for what you believed in and a time to stand tall against the cruel rule of the Mexican General Santa Anna and his forces. The Texas Rangers, a ragtag crew of men fighting on horseback, were often outnumbered by as many as 50 to one. Yet under renowned General Sam Houston, they achieved victory against nearly impossible odds, earning a legendary place in American history. Acclaimed Texas historian Stephen L. Moore's Texas Rising, the official companion to the epic History series of the same name, brings to life the violent Texas frontier and the Rangers' heroic deeds during the Texas Revolution. Published with the full support and backing of history, Texas Rising is an unforgettable history of this iconic band of fighters.
©2015 Stephen L. Moore (P)2015 HarperCollins Publishers
Hitler
Summary
This six-chapter audiobook focuses on the years of Adolf Hitler's political career, from its dark beginnings to the Nazi leader's last days in the bunker. It recounts the most significant events of his life and chronologically follows World War II. This gives the listener a more accurate picture of the personality of the dictator and those who surrounded him. The most revealing anecdotes uncover the myths created to keep Hitler in power and the lies spread by his brutal regime. The series reviews the attitude of Stalin, who feared that Hitler's dictatorship would end his own; the stubborn tenacity of Churchill; and the forced passivity of Roosevelt, held back by the power of the non-interventionists. It is introduced by British historian from King's College Alicante, Mark Shaw, who offers a unique analysis of Hitler's 12 years in power. Chapter titles 1. The Causes of a Mistake 2. They Will Not Fight by Danzig 3. A Lucky Gambler 4. The Supreme Leader 5. To Win...Or to Win 6. He Will Never Return
©2009 Pacific Media, S.L. (P)2021 Pacific Media, S.L.
Arnhem
Summary
“It was a bridge too far, and perhaps the whole plan was doomed to failure from the start, but we had to try, didn’t we?”
September 17, 1944: 30,000 airborne soldiers prepare to drop 64 miles behind enemy lines into Nazi-occupied Holland; tens of thousands of ground troops race down Hell’s Highway in tanks and armored cars, trucks, and half-tracks to link up with them. The goal - to secure eight bridges across the Rhine and end the war by Christmas. Ten days later, over 15,000 of these soldiers have died, and 6,000 have been taken prisoner.
Operation Market Garden was the daring plan to stage a coup de main in occupied territory, gain control of those bridges, and obtain a direct route into Hitler’s Germany. But, the operation failed, and the allied forces suffered a brutal military defeat. In the 75 years since, tactics have been analyzed and blame has been placed, but the heart of Arnhem’s story lies in the selflessness and bravery of those troops that fought, the courage and resilience of the civilians caught up in confrontation, and the pure determination to fight for their lives and their freedom. This is the story of ordinary people caught up in extraordinary events.
In Ballantyne’s Arnhem, we go into battle with not only the famous commanders in the thick of the action, but also with all those whose fates were determined by their decisions. Based on first-hand interviews, military records, and diaries, we witness the confusion and mayhem of war - from the horrific and devastating to the surreal and mundane. But most of all, we witness the self-sacrifice and valor of the men who gave their lives to liberate strangers in a foreign country.
©2019 by Iain Ballantyne (P)2020 by Blackstone Publishing
Fighting for What's His
Summary
Resisting her only makes him want her more… Private investigator Billy Parrish is good at three things - fighting, investigating, and sex. MMA training with the other vets in the Warrior Fight Club keeps his war-borne demons at bay - mostly, and one night stands ensure no one gets too close. But then his best friend from the Army Rangers calls in a favor. Shayna Curtis is new to town and full of hope for the future. With a new job starting, she’s grateful when her brother arranges a place for her to stay while she apartment hunts. But she never expected her roommate to be so brooding. Or so sexy. Billy can’t wait for Shay to leave - because the longer she’s there, the more he wants her in his bed. To stay. He can’t have her - that much he knows. But when fight club stops taking off the edge, Billy lets down his guard…and starts fighting for what’s his.
©2018 Laura Kaye (P)2019 Audible, Inc.
Powder River: Disastrous Opening of the Great Sioux War
Summary
The Great Sioux War of 1876-77 began at daybreak on March 17, 1876, when Colonel Joseph J. Reynolds and six cavalry companies struck a village of Northern Cheyennes - Sioux allies - thereby propelling the Northern Plains tribes into war. The ensuing last stand of the Sioux against Anglo-American settlement of their homeland spanned some 18 months, playing out across more than 20 battle and skirmish sites and costing hundreds of lives on both sides and many millions of dollars. And it all began at Powder River. Powder River: Disastrous Opening of the Great Sioux War recounts the wintertime Big Horn Expedition and its singular great battle, along with the stories of the Northern Cheyennes and their elusive leader Old Bear. Historian Paul Hedren tracks both sides of the conflict through a rich array of primary source material, including the transcripts of Reynolds’s court-martial and Indian recollections. The disarray and incompetence of the war’s beginning officers, who failed to take proper positions, disregarded orders to save provisions, failed to cooperate, and abandoned the dead and wounded soldiers in many ways anticipated the catastrophe that later occurred at the Little Big Horn. “Will now be considered the definitive work on the subject.” (True West Magazine) "Flows like a novel.” (On Point: The Journal of Army History) “This is a model of military narrative at its most compelling.” (Thomas Powers, author of The Killing of Crazy Horse)
©2016 University of Oklahoma Press (P)2019 Redwood Audiobooks
Abolitionism
Summary
From early slave rebels to radical reformers of the Civil War era and beyond, the struggle to end slavery was a diverse, dynamic, and ramifying social movement. In this succinct narrative, Richard S. Newman examines the key people, themes, and ideas that animated abolitionism in the 18th and 19th centuries in the United States and internationally. Filled with portraits of key abolitionists - including Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Anthony Benezet, Toussaint L'Ouverture, Elizabeth Heyrick, Richard Allen, and Angelina Grimke - the book highlights abolitionists' focus on social and political action. From the Underground Railroad and legal aid for oppressed people to legislative lobbying and military service, abolitionists employed every conceivable means to attack slavery and racial injustice. Their collective struggles helped bring down slavery - the most powerful economic and political institution of the age - across the Atlantic world and inspired generations of reformers. Sharply written and highly engrossing, Abolitionism: A Very Short Introduction offers an inspiring portrait of the men and women who dedicated their lives to fighting racial oppression.
©2018 Oxford University Press (P)2018 Tantor
East of Chosin
Summary
Roy Appleman's East of Chosin, first published in 1987, won acclaim from reviewers, readers, and veterans and their families. For the first time, there was one complete and accessible record of what happened to the army troops trapped east of the Chosin Reservoir during the first wintry blast of the Korean War. Based heavily on the author's interviews and correspondence with the survivors, East of Chosin provided some of those men with their first clue to the fate of fellow soldiers. In November 1950, U.S. forces had pushed deep into North Korea. Unknown to them, Chinese troops well equipped for below-zero temperatures and blizzard conditions were pushing south. With the 1st Marine Division on the west side of the frozen Chosin Reservoir, the army's hastily assembled 31st Regimental Combat Team, 3,000 strong, advanced up the east side of the reservoir. Task Force Faith in the extreme northern position caught the surprise Chinese attack. With rifles and vehicles often immobilized in the cold and snow, the task force struggled to retreat through a tortuous mountain gauntlet of enemy fire. With truckloads of dead and wounded trapped along the road, a few of the 385 survivors trudged across the frozen reservoir to alert the marines to their plight.
©1987 Lt. Col. Roy E. Appleman (P)2010 Tantor
The Icarus Syndrome
Summary
"Peter Beinart has written a vivid, empathetic, and convincing history of the men and ideas that have shaped the ambitions of American foreign policy during the last century - a story in which human fallibility and idealism flow together. The story continues, of course, and so his book is not only timely; it is indispensable.” (Steve Coll, author of Ghost Wars) Peter Beinart's provocative account of hubris in the American century describes Washington on the eve of three wars: World War I, Vietnam, and Iraq - three moments when American leaders decided they could remake the world in their image. Each time, leading intellectuals declared that the spread of democracy was inevitable. Each time, a president held the nation in the palm of his hand. And each time, a war conceived in arrogance brought tragedy. But each catastrophe also imparted wisdom to a new generation of thinkers. These leaders learned to reconcile the American belief that anything is possible with the realities of a world that will never fully conform to this country's will - and in their struggles lie the seeds of American renewal today.
©2010 Peter Beinart (P)2010 HarperCollins Publishers
![Cover art for Breve historia de la Primera Guerra Mundial [Brief History of the First World War]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61PMi3lQeLL._SL500_.jpg)
Breve historia de la Primera Guerra Mundial [Brief History of the First World War]
Summary
Una nueva visión de la guerra que asoló el mundo en los albores del S. XX basada en una combinación de historia bélica e historia humana. La mayoría de los libros que tratan el tema de la Primera Guerra Mundial, lo hacen incidiendo en los avatares bélicos de la llamada Gran Guerra, una contienda de la que se dijo que acabaría con todas las guerras. La novedad de este audio libro que nos trae Álvaro Lozano es que presenta la guerra desde una perspectiva total, remontándose a los factores previos a 1914 que facilitaron el enfrentamiento, y llegando a los cambios en las estructuras políticas y económicas que resultaron de la Primera Guerra Mundial y que fueron determinantes a lo largo de todo el S. XX e incluso en el naciente S. XXI. Breve Historia de la Primera Guerra Mundial es un audio libro imprescindible porque al abordar una óptica total de la guerra, nos permite ver el flujo de ideas que se esconde detrás de la contienda, la confrontación entre unas formas de gobierno obsoletas y unas masas, que hasta entonces habían permanecido pasivas, que demandaban una política más popular, una democracia más efectiva. Además de la confrontación de ideas, Álvaro Lozano nos recrea la vida en las trincheras, los distintos sistemas de abastecimiento de los ejércitos e incluso los motines que se produjeron en el seno de cada uno. Todas las novedades, en suma, que se dieron en una guerra en la que, por vez primera, los flujos productivos y los avances tecnológicos que resultaron de la Revolución Industrial se ponen al servicio de la masacre de hombres y de la destrucción de infraestructuras.Un libro que ayudará a comprender, a cualquier oyente que se acerque a él, por qué una Europa que estaba en pleno progreso moral y material se enfrascó en una guerra en la que acabó arrastrando a la mayoría de las naciones y que produjo una transformación radical del panorama político, artístico, económico y existencial. Please note: This audiobook is in Spanish.
©2011 Ediciones Nowtilus S.L. (P)2019 Audible, Inc.