A Pilgrim for Freedom
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Narrated by:
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John David Farrell
About this listen
How did an 11-year-old boy from the ancient city of Split, on the Adriatic coast, who with his family left almost everything when Nazis and Fascists invaded their homeland at the beginning of World War II, grow up to be a United States soldier and a highly successful American businessman?
The answer to that question is the story that Michael Novakovic tells in this poignant and charming memoir, A Pilgrim for Freedom.
It is one part the account of a refugee family who barely survived explosions and hunger while seeking safety during World War II, and includes vivid descriptions of the hardships Mike, his siblings, and parents endured.
It is another part the story of an immigrant family who came to the United States (by way of Argentina) after the war and with great ingenuity and industry worked their way up to levels of success that had been unimaginable during the darkest days of war.
Finally, it is also the chronicle of a loyal and valiant soldier who sought to pay back his debts to the United States for defeating fascism and communism through distinguished service in the US Air Force's intelligence operations.
In sum, it is a riches-to-rags-to-riches story that testifies both to the resilience of one man and to the ideals of the nation that inspired him.
©2016 Michael Novakovic (P)2016 Michael NovakovicListeners also enjoyed...
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I didn't know...
- By Graham Emslie on 02-27-17
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There Was a Country
- A Personal History of Biafra
- By: Chinua Achebe
- Narrated by: Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
- Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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The defining experience of Chinua Achebe's life was the Nigerian civil war, also known as the Biafran War, of 1967-1970. The conflict was infamous for its savage impact on the Biafran people, Chinua Achebe's people, many of whom were starved to death after the Nigerian government blockaded their borders. Immediately after, Achebe took refuge in an academic post in the United States, and for more than 40 years he has maintained a considered silence on the events of those terrible years. Now, decades in the making, comes a towering reckoning with one of modern Africa's most fateful events.
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The Audible Edition Is a Disaster
- By Olu on 11-28-12
By: Chinua Achebe
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The Book of Honor
- The Secret Lives and Deaths of CIA Operatives
- By: Ted Gup
- Narrated by: Frank Muller
- Length: 6 hrs and 2 mins
- Abridged
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In the entrance of the CIA headquarters looms a huge marble wall in to which seventy-one stars are carved - each representing an agent who has died in the line of duty. At the base of this wall lies "The Book of Honor," in which the names of these agents are inscribed, or at least thirty-five of them... In this remarkable program, author Ted Gup delves into covert lives and classified deaths at the CIA.
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Painfully narrated.
- By RM on 08-16-19
By: Ted Gup
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A Woman of No Importance
- The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II
- By: Sonia Purnell
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 13 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1942, the Gestapo sent out an urgent transmission: "She is the most dangerous of all Allied spies. We must find and destroy her." The target in their sights was Virginia Hall, a Baltimore socialite who talked her way into Special Operations Executive, the spy organization dubbed Winston Churchill's "Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare." She became the first Allied woman deployed behind enemy lines and - despite her prosthetic leg - helped to light the flame of the French Resistance, revolutionizing secret warfare as we know it.
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Maybe it’s the narrator?
- By Andrea on 09-18-19
By: Sonia Purnell
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The Noodle Maker of Kalimpong
- The Untold Story of My Struggle for Tibet
- By: Gyalo Thondup, Anne F. Thurston
- Narrated by: Lane Nishikawa, Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 11 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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In December 2010 residents of Kalimpong, a town on the Indian border with Tibet, turned out en masse to welcome the Dalai Lama. It was only then they realized for the first time that the neighbor they knew as the noodle maker of Kalimpong was also the Dalai Lama's older brother. The Tibetan spiritual leader had come to visit the Gaden Tharpa Choling monastery and join his brother for lunch in the family compound.
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Very interesting
- By BlueSky on 12-07-15
By: Gyalo Thondup, and others
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Grey Wolf
- The Escape of Adolf Hitler
- By: Simon Dunstan, Gerrard Williams
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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When Truman asked Stalin in 1945 whether Hitler was dead, Stalin replied bluntly, "No." As late as 1952, Eisenhower declared: "We have been unable to unearth one bit of tangible evidence of Hitler's death." What really happened? Simon Dunstan and Gerrard Williams have compiled extensive evidence - some recently declassified - that Hitler actually fled Berlin and took refuge in a remote Nazi enclave in Argentina.
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Intriguing and Utterly Engrossing!
- By morton on 10-27-11
By: Simon Dunstan, and others
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The Invitation-Only Zone
- The True Story of North Korea's Abduction Project
- By: Robert S. Boynton
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Throughout the late 1970s and early '80s, dozens of Japanese citizens were abducted from coastal Japanese towns by North Korean commandos. In what proved to be part of a global project, North Korea attempted to reeducate the abductees and train them to spy on the state's behalf. When the project faltered, the abductees were hidden in a series of guarded communities known as "Invitation-Only Zones" - the fiction being that these were exclusive enclaves, not prisons.
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Over enthusiastic reader!
- By AJW on 02-14-16
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The Great Leader and the Fighter Pilot
- The True Story of the Tyrant Who Created North Korea and the Young Lieutenant Who Stole His Way to Freedom
- By: Blaine Harden
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Great Leader and the Fighter Pilot, New York Times best-selling author Blaine Harden tells the riveting story of how Kim Il Sung grabbed power and plunged his country into war against the United States while the youngest fighter pilot in his air force was playing a high-risk game of deception - and escape.
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Great story
- By Jfm on 08-09-15
By: Blaine Harden
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The Road Not Taken
- Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam
- By: Max Boot
- Narrated by: Henry Strozier
- Length: 27 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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In chronicling the adventurous life of legendary CIA operative Edward Lansdale, The Road Not Taken definitively reframes our understanding of the Vietnam War. In this epic biography of Edward Lansdale (1908-1987) best-selling historian Max Boot demonstrates how Lansdale pioneered a "hearts and mind" diplomacy, first in the Philippines, then in Vietnam. It was a visionary policy that, as Boot reveals, was ultimately crushed by America's giant military bureaucracy.
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An honest look at Vietnam Nam and USA
- By Catherine on 01-16-18
By: Max Boot
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MacArthur's Spies
- The Soldier, the Singer, and the Spymaster Who Defied the Japanese in World War II
- By: Peter Eisner
- Narrated by: Peter Eisner
- Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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A thrilling story of espionage, daring, and deception set in the exotic landscape of occupied Manila during World War II. On January 2, 1942, Japanese troops marched into Manila unopposed by US forces. Manila was a strategic port, a romantic American outpost, and a jewel of a city. Tokyo saw its conquest of the Philippines as the key in its plan to control all of Asia, including Australia.
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A Must For Travelers To Manila
- By Pete Andresen on 06-20-17
By: Peter Eisner
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Last Hope Island
- Britain, Occupied Europe, and the Brotherhood That Helped Turn the Tide of War
- By: Lynne Olson
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey, Kimberly Farr
- Length: 18 hrs and 46 mins
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A groundbreaking account of how Britain became the base of operations for the exiled leaders of Europe in their desperate struggle to reclaim their continent from Hitler, from the New York Times best-selling author of Citizens of London and Those Angry Days.
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Not What I Expected--More What I Needed to Know
- By DanD on 06-25-17
By: Lynne Olson
What listeners say about A Pilgrim for Freedom
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Midwestbonsai
- 09-26-16
a lucid account of his trials during World War II
A Pilgrim for Freedom is a heartfelt letter to the author’s family and the United States. Michael Novakovic writes a lucid account of his and his family’s trials during World War II from his home country of Croatia to building a new home and new country in the United States. It is the gratitude only an immigrant can have because of the contrast with where they came from and where they were going. However, the author, has a significant challenge, that primary skill which helped him succeed in the military is antithetical to success as an audiobook author of a memoir meant for the general public. A military officer, especially an intelligence officer, must report events truthfully and without embellishment and Novakovic has done this for an entire career and throughout the book.
That, unfortunately, is what might leave many audiobook listeners hoping for two biographies to come from this book, one from his years in Croatia to the United States that could clearly be made into a feature film and the other for his entrepreneurial success which could inform the non-fiction circle of business hopefuls. I know many of those returning from service would want to know more about the Catholic University curriculum that led to so much success in business after the war, the freedom to be their own boss and to give orders rather than take them as the head of a successful company.
In this book, Novakovic reports life and death events without the drama many audiobook listeners expect. The events he endured were dramatic, but his reporting of them factual. There is little buildup to the most harrowing events and a bit too much reporting on the pedantic ones like his school grades versus his brother’s. I believe a good editor would have been able to identify those parts that might have been interesting and relevant to the author, but not necessarily so for the audience.
I don’t know that the author could write a drama if asked. I believe it would be against the type of person he is, a no-nonsense, honest, appreciative husband, parent, and decorated Air Force veteran. It would take a biographer or screenwriter to get the details, the moments of greatest concern, and build the tension and pacing necessary to satisfy expecting a drama within early part of the memoir.
The other issue is one of privilege. It is incredibly difficult for a person who is wealthy, in two lives in this case, to write about strife without coming off as, well, affluent. Through the four jobs he worked at college and the continuous sacrifice he made, it’s clear privileged circumstances are not Michael Novakovic’s personality, but coming from a wealthy family, succeeding so readily in business, and then going home as royalty lends to a story that will distance rather than attract listeners. The more stories he told of difficulties, the more a listener could engage with the “I know what you mean.” My favorite part is when he earned money as a college student from vending machines and that when he went on dates, he paid with coins, that image of nickels and dimes in front of a woman he was trying to impress immediately let me connect to him as a person.
As an audiobook reviewer I commit to listening to the entire book, but I believe in wanting to tell the whole story, the second half received short shrift. I believe this book would have benefitted from being split up into two volumes, the story of successfully leaving Croatia and getting to America for the history buff and the story of immigrant and entrepreneurial success expanded to help those who serve make it in the United States after the military. I hope the author finds the biographers to create these additional volumes, I would be certain to read them.
About the Narrator
John David Farrell, as some may know from The Survivalist series by Arthur T. Bradley, presents a rich and fitting voice to a tale that may lack some of the dramatic elements and multiple characters present in the fictional series. The narrator provides an expert performance, a true professional making the seven hour listen easy. I finished the book effortlessly in under a week. Each sentence has just enough pause to get the image, each paragraph with enough energy to bring life to it, John David Farrell’s pacing is spot on in this book.
Audiobook was provided for review by the author.
Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog
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6 people found this helpful
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- Jaime
- 03-23-17
Pretty Dull
It's started off great but turned pretty boring and into a bragging session on how fast he could run.
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