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Skies of Thunder
- The Deadly World War II Mission over the Roof of the World
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 14 hrs and 5 mins
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Publisher's summary
A New York Times Editors’ Choice
“Riveting.”—The New York Times
From the New York Times bestselling author, a breathtaking account of combat and survival in one of the most brutally challenging and rarely examined campaigns of World War II
In April 1942, the Imperial Japanese Army steamrolled through Burma, capturing the only ground route from India to China. Supplies to this critical zone would now have to come from India by air—meaning across the Himalayas, on the most hazardous air route in the world. SKIES OF THUNDER is a story of an epic human endeavor, in which Allied troops faced the monumental challenge of operating from airfields hacked from the jungle, and took on “the Hump,” the fearsome mountain barrier that defined the air route. They flew fickle, untested aircraft through monsoons and enemy fire, with inaccurate maps and only primitive navigation technology. The result was a litany of both deadly crashes and astonishing feats of survival. The most chaotic of all the war’s arenas, the China-Burma-India theater was further confused by the conflicting political interests of Roosevelt, Churchill and their demanding, nominal ally, Chiang Kai-shek.
Caroline Alexander, who wrote the defining books on Shackleton’s Endurance and Bligh's Bounty, is brilliant at probing what it takes to survive extreme circumstances. She has unearthed obscure memoirs and long-ignored records to give us the pilots’ and soldiers’ eye views of flying and combat, as well as honest portraits of commanders like the celebrated “Vinegar Joe” Stillwell and Claire Lee Chennault. She assesses the real contributions of units like the Flying Tigers, Merrill’s Marauders, and the British Chindits, who pioneered new and unconventional forms of warfare. Decisions in this theater exposed the fault-lines between the Allies—America and Britain, Britain and India, and ultimately and most fatefully between America and China, as FDR pressed to help the Chinese nationalists in order to forge a bond with China after the war.
A masterpiece of modern war history.
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- By: Hans-Friedrich Mueller, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Hans-Friedrich Mueller
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Original Recording
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In The Pagan World: Ancient Religions Before Christianity, you will meet the fascinating, ancient polytheistic peoples of the Mediterranean and beyond, their many gods and goddesses, and their public and private worship practices, as you come to appreciate the foundational role religion played in their lives. Professor Hans-Friedrich Mueller, of Union College in Schenectady, New York, makes this ancient world come alive in 24 lectures with captivating stories of intrigue, artifacts, illustrations, and detailed descriptions from primary sources of intriguing personalities.
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The Pagan World
- By arnold e andersen md Dr Andersen on 03-28-20
By: Hans-Friedrich Mueller, and others
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Napoleon's Hemorrhoids…And Other Small Events That Changed History
- By: Phil Mason
- Narrated by: LJ Ganser
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Hilarious, fascinating, and a roller coaster of dizzying, historical what-ifs, Napoleon's Hemorrhoids is a potpourri for serious historians and casual history buffs. In one of Phil Mason's many revelations, you'll learn that Communist jets were two minutes away from opening fire on American planes during the Cuban missile crisis, when they had to turn back as they were running out of fuel. You'll discover that before the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon's painful hemorrhoids prevented him from mounting his horse to survey the battlefield.
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They just throw the facts too fast
- By Concerned_llama on 12-11-20
By: Phil Mason
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The Roman Empire: From Augustus to the Fall of Rome
- By: Gregory S. Aldrete, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Gregory S. Aldrete
- Length: 12 hrs and 41 mins
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The Roman Empire: From Augustus to the Fall of Rome traces the breathtaking history from the empire’s foundation by Augustus to its Golden Age in the 2nd century CE through a series of ever-worsening crises until its ultimate disintegration. Taught by acclaimed Professor Gregory S. Aldrete of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, these 24 captivating lectures offer you the chance to experience this story like never before, incorporating the latest historical insights that challenge our previous notions of Rome’s decline.
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Gregory S. Aldrete is a treasure
- By Laurel Tucker on 02-04-19
By: Gregory S. Aldrete, and others
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Tribal Justice
- The Struggle for Black Rights on Native Land
- By: Allison Herrera, Adreanna Rodriguez
- Narrated by: Allison Herrera
- Length: 1 hr and 21 mins
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On September 26, 2020, Michael was in a great mood. He’d recently returned home to Oklahoma after years in the military. He’d bought a house and had a job teaching and coaching basketball at the local high school. But that night, Michael’s life would turn upside down. Around two o’clock in the morning, he heard people banging on the doors and windows of his home. He called 911 for help. This is the story of what happened next, and why. To understand it, we have to go back to the Trail of Tears that the Five Tribes were forced to walk.
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The next great battleground for Native America and Racial Justice
- By AGifford on 10-14-24
By: Allison Herrera, and others
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What listeners say about Skies of Thunder
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- WLC
- 05-16-24
Riveting History of The Hump and Burma Campaigns
This book is an exciting and detailed history of the strategic airlift over The Hump and the Burma campaigns fought by British, American and Chinese armies against the Japanese in the China Burma India (CBI) theater during World War II. The author describes how the Burma Road was built to supply the Chinese army during the Second Sino-Japanese War when Japan blockaded supplies from the sea. The Japanese invasion of Burma (now Myanmar) in December, 1941 and subsequent seizure of the Burma Road drove the allies under US leadership to develop the world’s first strategic airlift from Assam, India to Kunming, China in order to establish an aerial supply stream
The route known as The Hump was over rugged, mountainous territory that was often at 12,000 to 14,000 ft with peaks to 17,000 ft. The region had extreme weather with highly turbulent air, crosswinds, severe icing at required altitudes and poor visibility that required instrument flying sometimes immediately after takeoff. Aircraft used and their merits/flaws are described. Pilots initially flew reliable DC-3/C-47’s that had limited cargo capacity and poor performance above 17,000 ft. Subsequent hastily developed aircraft (e.g., C-46, C-87) with higher ceilings and greater cargo capacities had major initial reliability issues that increased crash rates and crew casualties. The perils faced by crews parachuting from crippled aircraft into jungles and highlands are graphically described.
Major ground battles against fierce Japanese army units in Burma and India are reviewed that involve famous fighting units including the Chindits formed under Orde Wingate and Merrill’s Marauders led in fact by Charles Hunter. Amazingly innovative fighting tactics developed by units such as the 1st Air Commando under Col. Phil Cochran are described. Construction and fighting efforts on the Ledo Road and the campaigns to recapture the airfield at Myitkyina are summarized. Troops in these actions were faced with horrendous fighting conditions and diseases such as malaria, dysentery, respiratory disease, foot rot, and leeches.
The peculiarly convoluted politics and difficult, variably-effective leaders with illogical chains of command are described that contributed to disorganization and to units acting at cross purposes. Command, control and logistics were so disorderly at times that long-suffering troops and commanders often remarked that CBI stood for “Confusion Beyond Imagination.”
U.S. military leaders such as Joseph Stilwell and Claire Chennault who received favorable press treatment in the early years of the war to bolster the army’s image on the home front get a more complete examination and much more critical assessment in this book.
Of greatest interest is the view provided by the book of Chiang Kai-shek. The strategic airlift over The Hump was initiated because President Roosevelt (FDR) wanted to show material and equipment/aircraft support for Chiang and to keep China in the war against Japan. Several incidents are described where Chiang used this leverage to extort favorable decisions and additional supplies from FDR. This leverage ended when US Forces captured Saipan for B-29 bases and FDR died.
There are discussions at several points in the book that critically examine the magnitude of benefit derived by the Allies against Japan by The Hump and the Northern Burma campaigns. There is also an assessment of the percentage of supplies successfully shipped to China over The Hump that actually were used to support Chinese combat against the Japanese. Theft, corruption and black market sales of the materials were profligate. Chiang may have been more interested in hoarding supplies and funds during the war to fight the communists and warlords who would challenge his rule after the war than in fighting Japanese.
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- Anonymous User
- 07-23-24
Exciting adventures of World War Two
They were heroes doing their duty. My father was one of them. May they rest in peace. This book gives more detail than any other I have read but did not know of the time my father and crew landed on the enemy airfield. They told their radar operators when the got back to their correct airfield they had been flying real low as they did not want to fill out reports explaining their mistake and to explain why the radar operators had lost them on radar. Radar was not as advanced then.
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- Peter Ryers
- 06-25-24
Incredibly detailed
Difficulty with geography; incredibly detailed to the point of confusion; wonderful writing; wonderful scholarship. Recommended for those with interest in this neglected theater of war
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- dctphoto
- 07-01-24
Terrible reader.
Couldn’t stand listening to the reader for more than a minute or two. Like he was dictating a telegraph.
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- Douglas S.
- 06-07-24
Missing In Action
Learned a lot but w/o maps showing all the places discussed a lot of value is lost. If the book has good maps in it buy it instead of the recording.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Curious
- 05-22-24
The Challenges of Human and Political Folly
This memorandum to file chronicles the interesting, unfortunate, careless, at times abusive and disturbing use of human resources and might in Asia during WWII. The author has discovered interesting happenings, given biographical snapshots of many players and several cultures, and weaves them into a difficult-to-stop listening audiobook. Still resonating are the revelations about events and main characters washed clean and portrayed so differently in textbooks. It’s a good book and worth reading. The narration is clear and easy to follow.
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- James Messelbeck
- 06-06-24
Terrific terrific peripheral detail for the enormous WW ll mural
Enjoyed another perspective regarding Stilwell after reading Touchman biography. Would have enjoyed more regarding indigenous peoples experiences living adjacent to US troops
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- Landon Thorne
- 06-10-24
An Extraordinary Window Into a Forgotten War
Caroline Alexander has an exceptional talent for humanizing her stories. Her research is deep and poignant. Skies of Thunder tells the story of a little understood but critical campaign of WWII with all its warts and twisted characters. There's insight that has relevance even for the times we live in. A must read.
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- Anonymous User
- 08-30-24
Overly technical detail
Read like a “report” and not a book. Infinite detail w/o story / context development. Facts informed me as to my father-n-laws experience as pilot flying the “Hump”.
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- BarryPeters
- 08-13-24
Descriptive assembly of information.
Not what I expected as a story. It’s more of an assembly of diaries than an engrossing story - some interesting facts but little texture of characters. The narrative was choppy and writing disappointing.
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