Dragon's Jaw Audiobook By Stephen Coonts, Barrett Tillman cover art

Dragon's Jaw

An Epic Story of Courage and Tenacity in Vietnam

Preview

Try for $0.00
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Dragon's Jaw

By: Stephen Coonts, Barrett Tillman
Narrated by: Dan Woren
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $21.83

Buy for $21.83

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

A riveting Vietnam War story - and one of the most dramatic in aviation history - told by a New York Times best-selling author and a prominent aviation historian

Every war has its "bridge" - Old North Bridge at Concord, Burnside's Bridge at Antietam, the railway bridge over Burma's River Kwai, the bridge over Germany's Rhine River at Remagen, and the bridges over Korea's Toko Ri. In Vietnam it was the bridge at Thanh Hoa, called Dragon's Jaw.

For seven long years hundreds of young US airmen flew sortie after sortie against North Vietnam's formidable and strategically important bridge, dodging a heavy concentration of anti-aircraft fire and enemy MiG planes. Many American airmen were shot down, killed, or captured and taken to the infamous "Hanoi Hilton" POW camp. But after each air attack, when the smoke cleared and the debris settled, the bridge stubbornly remained standing. For the North Vietnamese it became a symbol of their invincibility; for US war planners an obsession; for US airmen a testament to American mettle and valor.

Using after-action reports, official records, and interviews with surviving pilots, as well as untapped Vietnamese sources, Dragon's Jaw chronicles American efforts to destroy the bridge, strike by bloody strike, putting listeners into the cockpits, under fire. The story of the Dragon's Jaw is a story rich in bravery, courage, audacity, and sometimes luck, sometimes tragedy. The "bridge" story of Vietnam is an epic tale of war against a determined foe.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2019 Stephen Coonts and Barrett Tillman (P)2019 Hachette Audio
Air Forces Southeast Asia United States Vietnam War Military Transportation War Aviation US Air Force
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about Dragon's Jaw

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    100
  • 4 Stars
    30
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    97
  • 4 Stars
    22
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    90
  • 4 Stars
    26
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    2

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent Book

A well written and thorough analysis of one small part of the Air War over North Vietnam, pretty much encapsulating the reasons we failed. Coonts and Tillman pull no punches, and lay put the cases against both LBJ, as well as Robert McNamara and his "Whiz Kids"

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Not what I expected

Enjoyed this account of the air war in Southeast Asia. This will be a nice addition to my collection.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great Story

5 stars all the way around. Worth listening to more than once. Learned many new things about the war.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent.

Well written and informative. I’ve read a lot of different books on the Vietnam War, and the air war in particular. I knew this was a difficult bridge to take down, but hadn’t appreciated just how difficult. Also good to see the author’s not shy away from shining a light on LBJ’s & McNamara’s absolute incompetence.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Not what I expected

Steven Coonts writes page turners. I was looking for a story informed by history. Instead this is a dry historical account of the blunders of Viet Illustrated by a bridge. Refund please.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Way More Technical info than Mission Info

This book is not for a novice who has no idea about planes, engine parts, etc. It's extremely technical. I went into this thinking it would be about specific missions. It does hit on that, but not very often. It works around it more than anything. And just as you think it's going to delve into mission specifics, out comes a political bashing. We get it, the Washington bureaucrats made a mess of things. But it was thrown in at very random points. Dan Woren is a good pick here. I couldn't finish, though I tried.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

At some point the political commentary is exhausting

I am a great fan of aviation history and I am very interested in hearing about the experiences of war fighters. I am a professor in national security studies and read (or listen to) any of the accounts I can get ahold of. One thing that becomes exhausting in many of these books is the very selective political commentary which seems more to cater to a particular reader rather than an objective accounting. I am not talking about anti-Johnson or anti-McNamara writing although as bad as their decisions were they continue to use hyperbole to make their point. What I am talking about are sections where they talk only about prominent modern democrats who evaded service in the conflict. Al Gore (who served), Bill Clinton (who was a Rhodes scholar) and a few others. And they can’t say just that Clinton went to England they had to say he did drugs and slept with English girls. Absent were the contributions of John Kerry, Bob Kerry, Max Cleland, and others. Also missing was Donald ‘not a fan of Vietnam’ Trump, or GWB’s air guard duty. Honestly none of this is even relevant to the story they are trying to tell, it only serves to highlight their bias which sort of makes you read (or listen) to this account with some additional skepticism. That skepticism is a disservice to the heroes that they are writing about.

In any case, these needling comments are, frankly, disappointing from two authors that I really like.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

10 people found this helpful