Lisbon
War in the Shadows of the City of Light, 1939–1945
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Narrated by:
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Robin Sachs
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By:
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Neill Lochery
About this listen
Throughout the Second World War, Lisbon was at the very center of the world’s attention and was the only European city in which both the Allies and the Axis powers openly operated. Portugal was frantically trying to hold on to its self-proclaimed wartime neutrality but in reality was increasingly caught in the middle of the economic, and naval, wars between the Allies and the Nazis. The story is not, however, a conventional tale of World War II in that barely a shot was fired or a bomb dropped. Instead, it is a gripping tale of intrigue, betrayal, opportunism, and double-dealing, all of which took place in the Cidade da Luz and along its idyllic Atlantic coastline. It is the story of how a relatively poor European country not only survived the war physically intact but came out of it in 1945 much wealthier than it had been when war broke out in 1939. Portugal’s emergence as a prosperous European Union nation would be financed in part, it turns out, by a cache of Nazi gold.
During the war, Lisbon was a temporary home to much of Europe’s exiled royalty, over one million refugees seeking passage to the US, and to a host of spies, secret police, captains of industry, bankers, prominent Jews, writers and artists, escaped POWs, and black marketeers. An operations officer writing in 1944 described the daily scene at Lisbon’s airport as being like the movie Casablanca - times twenty.
In this riveting narrative, renowned historian Neill Lochery draws on his relationships with high-level Portuguese contacts, records recently uncovered from Portuguese secret police and banking archives, and other unpublished documents to offer a revelatory portrait of the war’s backstage.
©2011 Neill Lochery (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 18 hrs
- Unabridged
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This essential biography, by the author most deeply familiar with the vast archives of the Soviet era, offers an unprecedented, fine-grained portrait of Stalin, the man and dictator. Without mythologizing Stalin as either benevolent or an evil genius, Khlevniuk resolves numerous controversies about specific events in the dictator's life while assembling many hundreds of previously unknown letters, memos, reports, and diaries into a comprehensive, compelling narrative of a life that altered the course of world history.
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Loved it, but wouldn't want to live it
- By Neil on 01-12-20
By: Oleg V. Khlevniuk, and others
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The Sleepwalkers
- How Europe Went to War in 1914
- By: Christopher Clark
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 24 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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The Sleepwalkers is historian Christopher Clark's riveting account of the explosive beginnings of World War I. Drawing on new scholarship, Clark offers a fresh look at World War I, focusing not on the battles and atrocities of the war itself but on the complex events and relationships that led a group of well-meaning leaders into brutal conflict.
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Very interesting take on a complex problem
- By Steve on 01-24-15
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Defend the Realm
- The Authorized History of MI5
- By: Christopher Andrew
- Narrated by: Robin Sachs
- Length: 39 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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An unprecedented publishing event: to mark the centenary of its foundation, the British Security Service, MI5, has for the first time opened its archives to an independent historian. The book reveals the precise role of the Security Service in 20th-century British history, from its foundation by Captain Kell of the British Army in October 1909, through two world wars, up to and including its present roles in counterespionage and counterterrorism.
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A very throrough and impartial history.
- By Matthew on 12-01-09
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The General
- Charles De Gaulle and the France He Saved
- By: Jonathan Fenby
- Narrated by: Robin Bloodworth
- Length: 28 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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No leader of modern times was more uniquely patriotic than Charles de Gaulle. As founder and first president of the Fifth Republic, General de Gaulle saw himself as "carrying France on [his] shoulders." In his 20s, he fought for France in the trenches and at the epic battle of Verdun. In the 1930s, he waged a lonely battle to enable France to better resist Hitler's Germany. Thereafter, he twice rescued the nation from defeat and decline by extraordinary displays of leadership, political acumen, daring, and bluff, heading off civil war and leaving a heritage adopted by his successors of right and left.
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Book Great Read. Narrator Horrible-slow dead voice
- By marigoyle on 10-23-13
By: Jonathan Fenby
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Speer
- Hitler's Architect
- By: Martin Kitchen
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 19 hrs
- Unabridged
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In his best-selling autobiography, Albert Speer, Minister of Armaments and chief architect of Nazi Germany, repeatedly insisted he knew nothing of the genocidal crimes of Hitler's Third Reich. In this revealing new biography, author Martin Kitchen disputes Speer's lifelong assertions of ignorance and innocence, portraying a far darker figure who was deeply implicated in the appalling crimes committed by the regime he served so well. Kitchen reconstructs Speer's life with what we now know, including information from valuable new sources that have come to light only in recent years.
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Interesting, but extremely biased
- By Rodney on 10-28-18
By: Martin Kitchen
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Agent 110
- An American Spymaster and the German Resistance in WWII
- By: Scott Miller
- Narrated by: Noah Michael Levine
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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This is the secret and suspenseful account of how OSS spymaster Allen Dulles led a network of Germans conspiring to assassinate Hitler and negotiate surrender to bring about the end of World War II before the Soviet's advance. Agent 110 is Allen Dulles, a newly minted spy from an eminent family. Dulles met with and facilitated the plots of Germans who were trying to destroy the country's leadership.
By: Scott Miller
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Ike's Gamble
- America's Rise to Dominance in the Middle East
- By: Michael Doran
- Narrated by: Casey Jones
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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In 1956 President Nasser of Egypt moved to take possession of the Suez Canal, thereby bringing the Middle East to the brink of war. The British and the French, who operated the canal, joined with Israel in a plan to retake it by force. Despite the special relationship between England and America, Dwight Eisenhower intervened to stop the invasion.
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Tightly Argued
- By Jean on 01-10-17
By: Michael Doran
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A Spy at the Heart of the Third Reich
- By: Lucas Delattre
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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A work of remarkable scholarship that moves with the swift pace of a John le Carre thriller, A Spy at the Heart of the Third Reich is a chilling addition to the literature of espionage. In 1943, a young official named Fritz Kolbe from the German foreign ministry arranged to meet with Allen Dulles, then an OSS officer in Switzerland and later the director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
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100% very good
- By Coco on 06-11-07
By: Lucas Delattre
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Japan 1941
- Countdown to Infamy
- By: Eri Hotta
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 13 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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When Japan attacked the United States in 1941, argues Eri Hotta, its leaders, in large part, understood they were entering a conflict they were bound to lose. Availing herself of rarely consulted material, Hotta poses essential questions overlooked by historians in the seventy years since: Why did these men - military men, civilian politicians, diplomats, the emperor - put their country and its citizens in harm's way? Why did they make a decision that was doomed from the start?
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Japanese viewpoint
- By Jean on 01-01-14
By: Eri Hotta
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Hitler
- A Biography
- By: Ian Kershaw
- Narrated by: Alan Robertson
- Length: 46 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Hailed as the most compelling biography of the German dictator yet written, Ian Kershaw's Hitler brings us closer than ever before to the heart of its subject's immense darkness. From his illegitimate birth in a small Austrian village to his fiery death in a bunker under the Reich chancellery in Berlin, Adolf Hitler left a murky trail, strewn with contradictory tales and overgrown with self-created myths. One truth prevails: the sheer scale of the evils that he unleashed on the world has made him a demonic figure without equal in the 20th century.
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An Excellent Read
- By Rodney on 09-19-13
By: Ian Kershaw
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What listeners say about Lisbon
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Ari
- 12-01-15
Insight into WWII Spy Culture - Nuetral Country?
Who was your favorite character and why?
This was a fascinating book about a period of WWII that is not frequently covered. I really was able to get a good feel for what life was like in neutral Lisbon during that treacherous time. You are taken on a journey into the lives of European refugees seeking passage wandering through the pricey hotels to the various celebrities, spies and Nazi officers that occupy the casinos and restaurants. It’s an education of how all the earliest spy characters came into being, tracking both Ian Fleming and Graham Greene who were living there. There is also an interesting look into the balancing act that the Dictator Salazar had to perform between the alliance and the axis to serve Portuguese economic and national interests. The book portrays the dictator as a very shrewd and cool customer but does not go into the abuses that he is famous for. I would have loved to have learned more about why Portugal made the decisions it did and gotten a few more anecdotes into the adventures of some of these characters on the streets of Lisbon, but that just shows how much I enjoyed the book. Another helping please….
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- Mark Falcoff
- 08-05-22
A neglected sideshow in World War II
As a sometime student of Spanish history and politics, I have been aware for some time that Antonio Salazar, although a dictator, was far different from Francisco Franco. And Portugal is, as Portuguese always remind us, very different to Spain. The background to this book is the fact that Portugal is Britain's oldest European ally going back hundreds of years, and that did not totally change during World War II, even though for domestic and geostrategic reasons Salazar had to balance his private (and his country's historic) preferences with evolving military realities. As one of the few neutral countries in Europe during the war, its capital Lisbon became a nest of intrigue and espionage. It was also the gathering place of those unfortunates who could escape Nazi occupied Europe to liase with one of the few air links to the United States. Parts of the book read like a noir thriller, a kind of Joseph von Sternberg film. I must congratulate the narrator. His pronunciation of continental Portuguese is perfect, and it is not an easy language for a foreigner to master. Quite possibly he was brought up in the country.
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- J. Charde
- 02-20-12
great story but the writing could be better
Is there anything you would change about this book?
The writer presented this too much like what I remember history books I read in school. Although the story is great and compelling, it could have been written much better
What did you like best about this story?
learning the story and role of Lisbon during the war; we had visited it this fall
If this book were a movie would you go see it?
If they could learn from Casablanca [good intro but couldn't sustain it]
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2 people found this helpful
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- Mark
- 08-02-22
Excellent telling of unknown history
The history of Portugal has fee sources in English. This fills a gap of a fascinating period in world history. Lisbon served as a”neutral” haven for spies and diplomats along with fleeing refugees and war profiteers. Who knew? I didn’t but now I do. Well recommended.
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- joe blower
- 12-24-11
great book
What did you love best about Lisbon?
book is easy to listen to. very interesting in its narrative. It portrayed Mr Salazar in a very interesting light, certainly an immensely smart man that dealt with both warring sides with great diplomacy and tact and was able to keep Portugal safe. He describes in a very entertainng way the intricacies of the relationships taking place during the war,
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2 people found this helpful
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- NetBoss
- 09-24-21
Wolfram?
I won’t give away any other details on the book, but to begin, I had never heard of Wolfram. Where have I been? 🤷🏻♂️ I had to stop the book and look it up. At first I thought the narrator was saying “wolfem.” Not so! He was saying, “Wolfram.”
For those in the same sad state of ignorance as me, “Wolfram” is “Tungsten.” For everyone else, please move on to the next review. According to the bottomless source if irrefutable facts, “The Internet,” the word “Tungsten” is used primarily in the US and Great Britain.
Aside from having no idea what wolfram was, I thought it was an interesting book with good narration, with the Portuguese supply of “wolfram” during WWII to both the Nazis and the British being a point of contention.
There does not seem to be much out there on recent Portuguese history, so this was a good find. The book is about way more than wolfram, so give it a go!
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- Denzil J. Gunaratne
- 11-29-11
Little known
I am a World War fan and thought I knew all about the first and second World Wars, that is until I read (heard) Lisbon. The story was fascinating. Portugal was lucky to escape the horrors of the 2nd world War, but could well have been entrapped into it. Its refusal to accept the fleeing Jews was indeed very sad and may have left a stigma on the nation. However a very good listen.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Greg
- 06-15-22
Not That Much Happened
This was short enough book that I made it to the end but the spies were bureaucrats and the spats were financial and diplomatic. I was hoping for more on MI6 personalities at least.
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- Lynn
- 06-16-12
Expostiion of Little Known Story
I didn’t know much (well truthfully – nothing) about the role that Portugal played in the Second World War when I opened Lisbon: War in the Shadows of the City of Light, 1939-45. I found Neil Lochery’s book both engaging, informative, and entertaining. In this volume, Lochery (While Blame Israel 2011; View from the Fence 2006) tells the story of how dictator Antonio Salazar kept Portugal neutral in WWII and left his country relatively intact after the conflict. I found insights into how Salazar dealt with day-to-day management of the country intriguing. Anecdotes revealing how Salazar made decisions and implemented policies are particularly interesting. Certainly, Salazar was a gifted leader in this context. I would have appreciated more discussion of fascism in this context and how Salazar fit into that era. Perhaps Lochery has another book which will shed more light. At any rate, I was well rewarded by reading this book. The narration of Robin Sachs is excellent.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Brad
- 12-10-13
A Sideshow That Played A Major Role in WWII
Portugal and its capital Lisbon were neutral during WWII. Despite this, Portugal played a major part in some of the key dramas, escapees from the pending Holocaust, wartime profiteering and asset/gold looting. The author paints a very interest scene of what a decadent wartime city of intrigue and deception Lisbon was. This is an area of history that has been largely neglected. I found it highly engaging and informative. Excellent narration.
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