Daring Young Men
The Heroism and Triumph of the Berlin Airlift - June 1948-May 1949
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Narrated by:
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Johnny Heller
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By:
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Richard Reeves
About this listen
The Second World War had been over for three years when pilots, navigators, and air-traffic controllers all over America were recalled to active duty to rescue Berlin. They were there within days and weeks, flying tired planes filled with food, coal, medicine, and mail. Many had bombed the place to rubble in 1944 and 1945. Now they and the British airmen were bringing it survival.
Drawing on hundreds of interviews in the United States, Germany, and Great Britain, best-selling author Richard Reeves tells the stories of these civilian airmen, the successors to Stephen Ambrose's Civilian Soldiers, ordinary boys called to extraordinary tasks.
Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin had ordered Berlin blockaded, betting that the Americans, the British, and the French would abandon the city. Many of President Truman's advisers wanted to retreat; others wanted to risk war with the USSR. Truman ordered the Berlin Airlift, neither retreat nor confrontation. It ended only when West Germany was established by the three powers and NATO was born. The Soviets did the backing down. Led by Generals Lucius Clay and Curtis LeMay, the first battle in the Cold War was won. The young men came home again, some of them trying to remember where they had left their cars.
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Editorial reviews
Of the 60,000 individuals who made the Berlin airlift work, Richard Reeves fleshes out key stories that illuminate the fraught history, including that of Noah Thompson, a farm boy from Vermont. During the Second World War, Thompson led 21 bombing missions to Germany, but no sooner had he returned to civilian life then he was recalled to take part in the audacious operation. Reeves describes how, on his first trip piloting 10 tons of coal to the blockaded city, Thompson remembers his war-time bunkmate who parachuted out of a crashing plane over Germany only to be beaten to death with pitchforks and clubs. “And now I'm bringing them food,” Thompson thought. “What a world.” This ambiguity towards the population of the ruined city runs through the book, with several of the "angels in uniforms" as Berliners soon came to refer to the pilots having been responsible for bombing the place only three years earlier. Reeve’s description of the "city of zombies" is haunting: "one huge pile of crushed stones and rubble" where hunger is so acute that "cats and dogs disappear regularly" and shattered citizens are barely able to function because of malnutrition. He also repeatedly returns to the idea of the airlift as PR for the Air Force, for the West, and, above all, for the U.S.
Perhaps inevitably, the book's most memorable images come directly from first-hand accounts of ordinary people such as the Berlin diarist Ruth-Andreas Friederich caught up in a tense battle of wills between opposing ideologies. Outside of these vivid passages, the author is meticulous in detailing the myriad logistics that were part of the “luftbrücke”. This constant switching between a detailed breakdown of military strategy and the more evocative anecdotes can be unsettling material that would be easily divided on the printed page is less easily differentiated in audio, and the result can have the dizzying effect of a camera lens zooming in and out.
Johnny Heller’s narration does little to differentiate the various material used by the author; there is minimal variety in tone in his performance, so that newspaper articles, official reports, diary extracts, and interviews are delivered at virtually the same pace, tone, and pitch. But his tense and smoky voice certainly brings a sense of urgency and drama to the narrative, his saloon-bar drawl making up in character what it occasionally lacks in clarity. Dafydd Phillips
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Bridge of Spies
- By BookReader on 09-28-15
By: Giles Whittell
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The Wild Blue
- The Men and Boys Who Flew the B-24s Over Germany
- By: Stephen E. Ambrose
- Narrated by: Jeffrey DeMunn
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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The very young men who flew the B24s over Germany in World War II against terrible odds were an exemplary band of brothers. In The Wild Blue, Stephen Ambrose recounts their extraordinary brand of heroism, skill, daring, and comradeship. Stephen Ambrose describes how the Army Air Forces recruited, trained, and chose those few who would undertake the most demanding and dangerous jobs in the war.
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Required Reading
- By Lyle on 11-22-11
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The First Heroes
- The Extraordinary Story of the Doolittle Raid
- By: Craig Nelson
- Narrated by: Raymond Todd
- Length: 17 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Immediately after Japan's December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt sought to restore the honor of the United States with a dramatic act of vengeance: a retaliatory bombing raid on Tokyo itself. In those early days of World War II, America was ill-prepared for any sort of warfare. But FDR was not to be dissuaded, and at his bidding a squadron of scarcely trained army fliers, led by the famous daredevil Jimmy Doolittle, set forth on what everyone regarded as a suicide mission.
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Heroic Attempt
- By William on 07-20-04
By: Craig Nelson
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The Flying Tigers
- The Untold Story of the American Pilots Who Waged a Secret War Against Japan
- By: Sam Kleiner
- Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Sam Kleiner’s The Flying Tigers uncovers the hidden story of the group of young American men and women who crossed the Pacific before Pearl Harbor to risk their lives defending China. Led by legendary army pilot Claire Chennault, these men left behind an America still at peace in the summer of 1941 using false identities to travel across the Pacific to a run-down airbase in the jungles of Burma.
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This really happened.
- By Jason on 07-26-20
By: Sam Kleiner
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One Minute to Midnight
- Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War
- By: Michael Dobbs
- Narrated by: Bob Walter
- Length: 16 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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In October 1962, at the height of the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union appeared to be sliding inexorably toward a nuclear conflict over the placement of missiles in Cuba. Veteran Washington Post reporter Michael Dobbs has pored over previously untapped American, Soviet, and Cuban sources to produce the most authoritative book yet on the Cuban missile crisis.
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On the verge of annihilation.
- By MikeCG on 01-22-09
By: Michael Dobbs
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April 1945
- The Hinge of History
- By: Craig Shirley
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 17 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Acclaimed historian and New York Times best-selling author Craig Shirley delivers a compelling account of 1945, particularly the watershed events in the month of April, that details how America emerged from World War II as a leading superpower.
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Amazing.
- By Anonymous User on 04-12-22
By: Craig Shirley
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Pathfinder Pioneer
- The Memoir of a Lead Bomber Pilot in World War II
- By: Raymond E. Brim
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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In this engaging audiobook, we see how an 18-year-old miner shoveling ore from deep in the ground in Utah suddenly found himself, only two years later, 30,000 feet in the air over Nazi Germany, piloting a Flying Fortress in the first wave of America's air counteroffensive in Europe. Pathfinder Pioneer gives us vivid insights into the genesis of the American air campaign, told with the humor, attention to detail, and humility that captures the heart and soul of our Greatest Generation.
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A Good Recounting of WW2 Bomber Missions
- By Sean on 07-25-17
By: Raymond E. Brim
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Pan Am at War
- How the Airline Secretly Helped America Fight World War II
- By: Mark Cotta Vaz, John H. Hill
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 12 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Pan Am at War chronicles the airline's historic role in advancing aviation and serving America's national interest before and during World War II. From its inception, Pan American Airways operated as the "wings of democracy", spanning six continents and placing the country at the leading edge of international aviation. At the same time, it was clandestinely helping to fight America's wars.
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Disappointing Presentation
- By JP on 04-01-20
By: Mark Cotta Vaz, and others
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Honorable Exit
- How a Few Brave Americans Risked All to Save Our Vietnamese Allies at the End of the War
- By: Thurston Clarke
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 14 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1973 US participation in the Vietnam War ended in a cease-fire and a withdrawal that included promises by President Nixon to assist the South in the event of invasion by the North. But in early 1975, when North Vietnamese forces began a full-scale assault, Congress refused to send arms or aid. By early April that year, the South was on the brink of a defeat that threatened execution or years in a concentration camp for the untold number of South Vietnamese who had supported the government in Saigon or worked with Americans.
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Very detailed account of the fall of Saigon
- By Avid Reader on 09-04-23
By: Thurston Clarke
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Human Smoke
- The Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization
- By: Nicholson Baker
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 14 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Human Smoke delivers an indictment of the treasured myths that have romanticized much of the 1930s and '40s. Incorporating meticulous research and well-documented sources---including newspaper and magazine articles, radio speeches, memoirs, and diaries---the book juxtaposes hundreds of interrelated moments of decision, brutality, suffering, and mercy. Vivid glimpses of political leaders and their dissenters illuminate the gradual, horrifying advance toward overt global war and Holocaust.
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Not a "History Book" per se
- By Roy on 02-20-09
By: Nicholson Baker
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Freedom's Forge
- How American Business Built the Arsenal of Democracy That Won World War II
- By: Arthur Herman
- Narrated by: John McDonough
- Length: 16 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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New York Times best-selling author and Pulitzer Prize finalist Arthur Herman pens this fascinating look at how two businessmen turned the U.S. into a military powerhouse during World War II. In 1940, FDR asked General Motors CEO William Knudsen to oversee the production of guns, tanks, and planes needed for the war. Meanwhile, industrialist Henry J. Kaiser presided over the building of “Liberty ships” - vessels that came to symbolize America’s great wartime output.
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Enlightening. Amazing, Great Narration
- By G. Sanders on 08-26-12
By: Arthur Herman
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The Forgotten 500
- By: Gregory A. Freeman
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Here is the astonishing, never-before-told story of the greatest rescue mission of World War II: when the OSS set out to recover more than 500 airmen trapped behind enemy lines. During a bombing campaign, hundreds of American airmen were shot down in Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia. Local Serbian villagers risked their own lives to give refuge to the soldiers, and for months the airmen lived in hiding, waiting for rescue.
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an amazing tale
- By Ron on 10-28-07
What listeners say about Daring Young Men
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- NICHOLAS
- 08-04-11
No better example of America opposing despotism
I loved this book! The Berlin Airlift was a topic of which I had a very limited knowledge of prior to listening to this book. The author presents a very informative and interesting recap of the political environment that led to the Soviet blockade and of the various responses presented to President Truman by his administration. I am left with the clear picture of a US president who was committed to fighting for freedom vs communism in Europe, and who was unequivocal in his public and private support of that goal.
It also clearly shows how the apparently impossible was achieved by the combination of strong presidential and military leadership and a collection of citizen solders/airmen, career military officers and enlisted personnel. They undertook life threatening missions and pushed themselves to their physical and emotional limits solely to defend the freedom of Germans (many of the very same people who, only three years earlier, dragged their fellow pilots out of downed aircraft and killed them).
In the process, aviation procedures and tactics made gigantic leaps as the leaders of the airlift attempted to solve one logistical problem after another.
What a tribute to America's "Greatest Generation"!"
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- Robert
- 10-15-21
Great listen! Well worth your money!
Mr Reeves has done an excellent job chronically this event. What touched me was the way he described the sacrifices these brave guys did for the German people. Very ironic that America's most innocent young men can to the rescue of these former enemies and treated them with love and respect. The book was very inspirational especially the Candy Bomber and his lasting impact on the German\American relations.
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- Jeanine W. Smith
- 06-09-14
If You Are Lacking Courage: Read This Book.
What was one of the most memorable moments of Daring Young Men?
For me, history doesn't provide a better example of courage, vision, and bravery than the story of Berlin Airlift. This book tells that story so completely and with such rich details that I find myself constantly feeling joy for the souls of all those involved. Characters in this story soar to heights normally not seen in man's history. For the past 5 years I've made it a point to begin my summer holiday by listening to this book first--before all the 'new reads' I've carefully chosen through the year. This story carries me through the remainder of the my year as the relatively small challenges, obstacles, and puzzling circumstances are thrown across my life's path...I find myself saying silently: "I can do this. I can make it through this. If people, just having survived the horrors of WWII, had to turn around and immediatley face the Berlin Blockade and then stand firm and carry out the successful Berlin Airlift--I can face this, no problem. I can get through it." It's worked every time and having just finished listening to it again for the 5th consecutive summer, I can say I plan to continue this annual rite in the years to come.
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Overall
- George
- 01-23-10
Find another Narrator
I enjoy Reeves work however Heller is impossible to enjoy. He lacks understandable diction and slurs his words.
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Overall
- Annabella
- 03-19-10
Narration unlistenable
The subject of this book is fascinating, and it appears to be well written. However, the narration is extremely bad, in fact, unlistenable.
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1 person found this helpful