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A Ray of Light
- Reinhard Heydrich, Lidice, and the North Staffordshire Miners
- Narrated by: Anthony Howard
- Length: 1 hr and 15 mins
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Publisher's summary
This is the inspiring true story of what happens when ordinary people unite to make a stand against evil.
Lidice was a peaceful and vibrant community in Czechoslovakia with a rich mining heritage. But an act of Nazi revenge saw this village wiped from existence in a horrifying chapter of European history.
Disaster struck for Lidice in 1942 when the prominent Nazi official Reinhard Heydrich was assassinated. Described by Hitler as "the man with an iron heart", Heydrich was one of the key architects of the Holocaust.
His death, after an attack by members of the Czech resistance, left Hitler furious and desperate for vengeance. Looking for a scapegoat to blame for Heydrich's death, he settled on the village of Lidice, which had been falsely linked to the assassination.
In a brutal act which shocked the world, Lidice was completely destroyed. The men were shot while the women and children were rounded up and sent to their deaths in Nazi concentration camps.
Hitler was determined that by the time he had finished, no one would even remember Lidice, let alone live there. What he hadn't reckoned on was the efforts of a group of campaigners in Britain, who resolved to make sure Lidice would never be forgotten.
A Ray of Light tells the tale of Lidice's downfall and what happened next. Would the village simply be allowed to become a footnote in history, or would it rise from the ashes and forge a new future?
This book is a compelling testament to the power of friendship and solidarity, and how empathy and compassion can help rebuild the world.
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- Unabridged
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In Americans in Paris, tales of adventure, intrigue, passion, deceit, and survival unfold season by season as renowned journalist Charles Glass tells the story of a remarkable cast of expatriates and their struggles in Nazi Paris. Before the Second World War began, approximately thirty thousand Americans lived in Paris, and when war broke out in 1939 almost five thousand remained.
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Informative, but average engagement
- By Leann on 05-09-17
By: Charles Glass
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The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine
- By: Ilan Pappe
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Renowned Israeli historian Ilan Pappe's groundbreaking book revisits the formation of the State of Israel. Between 1947 and 1949, over 400 Palestinian villages were deliberately destroyed, civilians were massacred, and around a million men, women, and children were expelled from their homes at gunpoint. Denied for almost six decades, had it happened today it could only have been called "ethnic cleansing."
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Crucial for understanding Israel-Palestine today
- By Mark on 12-27-18
By: Ilan Pappe
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Saving Italy
- By: Robert Edsel
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 11 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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When Hitler’s armies occupied Italy in 1943, they also seized control of mankind’s greatest cultural treasures. As they had done throughout Europe, the Nazis could now plunder the masterpieces of the Renaissance, the treasures of the Vatican, and the antiquities of the Roman Empire. On the eve of the Allied invasion, General Dwight Eisenhower empowered a new kind of soldier to protect these historic riches. In May 1944 two unlikely American heroes—artist Deane Keller and scholar Fred Hartt—embarked from Naples on the treasure hunt of a lifetime, tracking billions of dollars of missing art, including works by Michelangelo, Donatello, Titian, Caravaggio, and Botticelli.
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More Personalities than Art Chasing
- By Craig on 01-17-15
By: Robert Edsel
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One Long Night
- A Global History of Concentration Camps
- By: Andrea Pitzer
- Narrated by: Andrea Pitzer
- Length: 14 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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For over 100 years, at least one concentration camp has existed somewhere on Earth. First used as battlefield strategy, camps have evolved with each passing decade, in the scope of their effects and the savage practicality with which governments have employed them. Even in the 21st century, as we continue to reckon with the magnitude and horror of the Holocaust, history tells us we have broken our own solemn promise of "never again".
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Important subject. Horrible narration.
- By wmorrison on 07-04-19
By: Andrea Pitzer
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The Scourge of the Swastika
- A History of Nazi War Crimes During World War II
- By: Lord Russell of Liverpool
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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When discussing the German war crimes of the Second World War, modern histories have focused on the Holocaust. While the Final Solution was a unique and unparalleled horror, German atrocities did not end there. The Nazis terrorized their own citizens, tortured and murdered POWs, and carried out countless executions throughout occupied Europe. Lord Russell of Liverpool was part of the legal team that brought Nazi war criminals to justice, and from this first-hand position, he published the best-selling The Scourge of the Swastika in 1954. Liverpool shows that the actions of the Third Reich, were illegal, not merely immoral.
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Lord Russell's Warning From History
- By Kindle Customer on 05-24-16
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Berlin at War
- By: Roger Moorhouse
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 17 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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In Berlin at War, acclaimed historian Roger Moorhouse provides a magnificent and detailed portrait of everyday life at the epicenter of the Third Reich. Berlin was the stage upon which the rise and fall of the Third Reich was most visibly played out. It was the backdrop for the most lavish Nazi ceremonies, the site of Albert Speer's grandiose plans for a new "world metropolis", and the scene of the final climactic battle to defeat Nazism.
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A unique study of part of World War II
- By Mike From Mesa on 08-25-17
By: Roger Moorhouse
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The Holocaust
- A New History
- By: Laurence Rees
- Narrated by: Eric Vale
- Length: 19 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Laurence Rees has spent 25 years meeting the survivors and perpetrators of the Third Reich and the Holocaust. In this sweeping history, he combines this testimony with the latest academic research to investigate how history's greatest crime was possible. Rees argues that while hatred of the Jews was at the epicenter of Nazi thinking, we cannot fully understand the Holocaust without considering Nazi plans to kill millions of non-Jews as well.
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FANTASTIC BOOK, BUT HORRIBLE READING
- By Aspen on 08-31-17
By: Laurence Rees
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The Vatican Pimpernel
- The World War II Exploits of the Monsignor Who Saved Over 6,500 Lives
- By: Brian Fleming
- Narrated by: Brian Troxell
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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During the German occupation of Rome from 1942-1944, Irishman Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty ran an escape organization for Allied POWs and civilians, including Jews. Safe within the Vatican state, he regularly ventured out in disguise to continue his mission, which earned him the nickname 'The Pimpernel of the Vatican'. When the Allies entered Rome, he and his collaborators - priests, nuns, and laypeople of numerous nationalities and religious beliefs - had saved the lives of over 6,500 people.
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Enthralling
- By Jean on 05-27-15
By: Brian Fleming
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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
- Unabridged
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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
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Operation Columba - The Secret Pigeon Service
- The Untold Story of World War II Resistance in Europe
- By: Gordon Corera
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Gordon Corera uses declassified documents and extensive original research to tell the story of the Operation Columba and the Secret Pigeon Service for the first time. A tale of wartime espionage, bitter rivalries, extraordinary courage, astonishing betrayal, harrowing tragedy, and a quirky, quarrelsome band of spy masters and their special mission, Operation Columba opens a fascinating new chapter in the annals of World War II. It is ultimately, the story of how, in one of the darkest and most dangerous times in history, under threat of death, people bravely chose to resist.
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Belgium Pigeon
- By Don Rottiers on 08-10-21
By: Gordon Corera
What listeners say about A Ray of Light
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Daman
- 10-28-16
Amazing book that brings to light a tough time
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Yes! An inspiration that nothing can withstand goodness. I loved the narration and the piece of history this book represents.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
Sadness and Inspiration
Any additional comments?
"This review copy audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost."
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- Jessica Lynn
- 09-29-16
Love this book about WWII
This is a short book about WWII and the Nazi's extermination and complete destruction of Lidice.
Lidice is a place that I had never heard of before in all of the books I have read and TV shows I have watched about WWII in Europe.
Russell Phillips does a fine job of telling the story about the poor souls of Lidice whom the Nazi's exterminated because of an assassination attempt. Unlike of places that are wiped off the face of the earth in war, the Nazis apparently made a big deal of the genocide committed in Lidice. They wanted to make an example of them, lest anyone else should decide to attempt to assassinate the Feurher or anyone else in the Nazi hierarchy.
Anthony Howard does a fine job narrating his first book. His pacing was perfect; not too fast and not too slow for me. I hope he goes on to narrate more non-fiction books of this nature. He was absolutely the right choice to narrate this book.
I most definitely recommend this book for anyone interested in WWII, especially the less famous aspects of it. Pretty much everyone has heard of Pearl Harbor, the battle of the Bulge, the D Day invasion of Normandy; but not everyone has heard of Lidice or the North Staffordshire Miners. It was a refreshing new twist on subject that is over 70 years old.
I received this audiobook from the narrator in exchange for an honest review.
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- Christine N. Ethier
- 10-03-16
Well worth a listen.
Disclaimer: A free copy of this audio book was provided by the author in exchange for a fair and honest review.
The massacre of the village of Lidice is perhaps one of the most infamous and least known massacres of World War II. Infamous because Hitler ordered the destruction of village to avenge/punish the Czechs for the death of Heydrich due to Operation Anthropoid, though there was no connection between the men involved in the assassination and the town. The men of the town were killed, the women and children evicted, some of the children even being placed into Nazi families. There is a movie, Anthropoid, that deals with the build up to the assassination and the aftermath. It is hardly surprising that this book is released at the same time.
Phillips book not only details the plot and the immediate aftermath, but also focuses on the connection between Lidice and Stoke-on-Trent and other Stratffordshire. It seems that after news of the massacre reached Stoke on Trent, the miners decided to help another mining town.
Phillips’ book seems to come out of his discovery of the story along with a desire to make sections of the story more well known. He includes the basic events leading up to the assassination as well as the massacre at Lidice itself. Then he looks at what prompted the miners to raise funds to rebuild the town. He considers the impact of the Cold War on the relationship between the two towns as well as more recent efforts to broaden knowledge of the massacre.
The book is short, but packed with detail, including where to go for more information. Perhaps the weakest part of the audio is the narrator who at times seems to be lisping, though this could have been a recording issue.
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- Adrian
- 10-06-16
A story to change your minds on small WWII towns
My rating: 4.5 stars
Audiobook narrator Anthony Howard|rating: 4 stars
Sometimes I feel like an ignorant American when I learn about so many little stories involving major conflicts and different parts of Europe. I know that many things have happened and it’s hard to know of everything that has happened, but for a story like this, I would have hoped that I learned of it before. Either way, I am very glad that I now know of this story.
It sounds like some sort of weird one-off WWII tangent-type story about some remote village you may or may not have ever heard of involving some German-Nazi dude. No, this is a very significant story that had made ripples across the world.
The cost of war is awful – especially when it involved parties like Nazis and Hitler. This is a story that will change your outlook on potentially-small-insignificant-towns in the middle of Europe during WWII. I don’t want to go into too much detail in this review since the story is quite short and you will learn a ton in just over an hour (on audio).
I really enjoyed this short story and think it would make for an interesting movie (a sad one, like most war movies, but still interesting) and would help bring light to places like Lidice. I kind of wished the story was longer!
The narrator did a good job narrating this book.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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- Mary Karowski
- 10-13-16
A ray of light shines on a dark moment in history
Well researched and well written. Narration carried the right tone of seriousness to convey the story. A dark moment in the history of the war. Revealed and celebrated not for what it was but for what it brought out in the world. The horrific act and what lead to it while truly terrible highlight the actions of the world in response, particularly that if the staffordshire miners and the people that brought a village back to life. Truly amazing. I received this audiobook from the author narrator or publisher for free via audiobookboom in exchange for an unbiased review
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- in1ear (John Row)
- 09-28-16
So Much In Such a Concise Package
What did you love best about A Ray of Light?
Thorough presentation of one of the horrific chapters of World War Two. I am a prolific reader of the war and was aware of the assassination of Heydrich and the reprisals by Hitler. I was surprised by how much information contained was new or more enlightening to me.
What other book might you compare A Ray of Light to and why?
I'm at a loss to think of any comparison. Possibly memoirs of others swept up in Europe by the Evil of Hitler and Nazism.
What about Anthony Howard’s performance did you like?
This was a factual presentation, Anthony Howard gave a performance that humanized / personalized the people who's lives were impacted and the outcry of the entire free world.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
The whole story, the assassination, the destruction in reaction to it, the after effect searching for any survivors, the efforts to rebuild and ongoing memorials to remember Lidice worldwide.
Any additional comments?
I'm appreciative of the opportunity to listen to and review the audio edition of "A Ray of Light..." I believe this is a fine addition to anyone with a library or interest in what happened in Europe during the war.
This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBoom dot com.
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