
Taking Midway
Naval Warfare, Secret Codes, and the Battle That Turned the Tide of World War II
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Narrated by:
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Samuel Roukin
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By:
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Martin Dugard
About this listen
From Martin Dugard, #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of Bill O'Reilly's Killing series, comes a fast-paced, dramatic account of the famous yet little-understood battle that turned the tide of World War II.
1942. Everywhere around the world, the Allies are losing the war. Nowhere is this felt more completely than in the Pacific, where Japanese sea and ground forces claim victory after victory. Singapore falls. Then the Philippines. The vaunted American Navy fights to a draw with the Japanese at the Battle of Coral Sea. America's lone moral victory is Colonel Jimmy Doolittle's bombing raid on Tokyo—though even that is tinged with tragedy as two crew members are shot down and beheaded.
Meanwhile in Honolulu, a brilliant young naval officer is determined to break Japan's top secret codes. Lieutenant Commander Joseph Rochefort is close to cracking the code by April. He is then startled to learn that the Japanese are planning yet another major invasion somewhere in the Pacific. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is planning to send four aircraft carriers to complete this task, in a bold attack that will be even larger than the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.
Rochefort's methods are unique, and those in power in the US Navy find his data flawed. Simply, many don't believe him. The best mind in the US Navy believes the next big attack will come at New Guinea or Australia.
To prove himself, Rochefort must not only find the precise location but predict the date. What ensues is the cat-and-mouse adventure that will become the epic fight known as the Battle of Midway. American and Japanese pilots duel in the skies. Japan's Yamamoto will go toe-to-toe with American admirals Chester Nimitz, Jack Fletcher, and Raymond Spruance. The dramatic battle will involve strategy, luck, heartbreak—and will dramatically alter the course of World War II.
©2025 Martin Dugard (P)2025 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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- By: Mark Stille
- Narrated by: John Chancer
- Length: 15 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Midway is the most famous naval battle of the Pacific War, and one of the most mythologized. The traditional view of the battle, popularized in its immediate aftermath and surviving through to the present day, is of a heavily outnumbered American force snatching victory in the face of overwhelming odds. This view is simplistic and, in many respects, wrong. Pacific War expert Mark Stille provides a detailed analysis of this pivotal battle, and argues that Midway was neither a miraculous American victory, nor a product of good fortune.
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Authors need to leave personal opinions out of history books
- By Roberto G on 12-28-24
By: Mark Stille
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The Cruel Sky
- A Heavy Bomber Group in World War II
- By: Robert Thompson
- Narrated by: David Marantz
- Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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The men who flew American heavy bombers over Europe in World War II were very young—most were either in their late teens or early twenties. There they faced a gauntlet of razor sharp antiaircraft artillery bursts and fighter aircraft firing cannons that shattered Plexiglas, metal, engines, and bone. It is no wonder that bomber crews suffered some of the highest casualty rates of any service during the war. Yet, their courage and sacrifice would help the Allies secure an overwhelming victory. That bravery and the extreme dangers these young men faced are vividly portrayed in The Cruel Sky.
By: Robert Thompson
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The Battle of Manila
- Poisoned Victory in the Pacific War
- By: Nicholas Evan Sarantakes
- Narrated by: Christopher Grove
- Length: 13 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1945 the United States and Japan fought the largest and most devastating land battle of their war in the Pacific, a month-long struggle for the city of Manila. It was a key piece of the campaign to retake control of the Philippine Islands, which itself signified the culmination of the war, breaking the back of Japanese strategic power and sealing its outcome. In The Battle of Manila, Nicholas Sarantakes offers the first in-depth account of this crucial campaign from the American, Japanese, and, significantly, Filipino perspective.
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A Masterful, Balanced Account of a Pivotal Battle
- By Scott Brownell on 06-12-25
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The Last Voyage of Columbus
- Being the Epic Tale of the Great Captain's Fourth Expedition
- By: Martin Dugard
- Narrated by: Simon Jones
- Length: 6 hrs and 1 min
- Abridged
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The epic, never-before-told story of Columbus's final, and perhaps greatest, journey to the New World. The final voyage of Christopher Columbus was by far his most dangerous, unexpected, exhilarating, and consequential. It was, as Pulitzer Prize-winner Samuel Eliot Morison put it, "a story of adventure which imagination could hardly invent; a struggle between man and the elements, in which the most splendid manifestations of devotion, loyalty and courage are mingled with the vilest human passions."
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Brilliant!
- By David on 09-11-05
By: Martin Dugard
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Into the Bright Sunshine
- Young Hubert Humphrey and the Fight for Civil Rights (Pivotal Moments in American History Series)
- By: Samuel G. Freedman
- Narrated by: Mike Lenz
- Length: 17 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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During one sweltering week in July 1948, the Democratic Party gathered in Philadelphia for its national convention. The most pressing and controversial issue facing the delegates was not whom to nominate for president—the incumbent, Harry Truman, was the presumptive candidate—but whether the Democrats would finally embrace the cause of civil rights and embed it in their official platform. On the convention's final day, Hubert Humphrey, the relatively obscure mayor of the midsized city of Minneapolis, ascended the podium.
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Narrator bungles pronunciations
- By ARV on 09-23-23
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All Roads Lead to Rome
- Why We Think of the Roman Empire Daily
- By: Rhiannon Garth Jones
- Narrated by: Sarah Durham
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Rhiannon Garth-Jones explores Rome's enduring legacy through three core themes: religion, empire, and culture. Each chapter examines how Rome’s history, governance, and mythology have been reimagined throughout centuries, and how these interpretations continue to shape our modern world.
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To Die with Such Men
- Frontline Stories from Ukraine's International Legion
- By: Shannon Monaghan
- Narrated by: Danielle Rayne
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Shannon Monaghan follows a core group of Western volunteers in Ukraine, fighting together from the early battle for Kyiv through to the last stands at Severodonetsk and Bakhmut. They arrived alone, but became a family—back when nobody bothered to learn names, because they all expected to die. These men knew they'd be fighting without the NATO support they were used to. They knew the danger they faced, and how they might be criticized for fighting someone else's war. But they also knew it was the right thing to do. This is their story.
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Listened to this twice in a row!
- By Nicholas Klein on 06-18-25
By: Shannon Monaghan
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Every Weapon I Had
- A Vietnam Vet's Long Road to the Medal of Honor
- By: Paris Davis
- Narrated by: Dale Hopper, Joshua Quinn
- Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Every Weapon I Had is an inspiring tale of valor and sacrifice, set against the backdrop of major escalations in both the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights movement. It is also a story of deferred honor and delayed recognition; Davis earned the Silver Star and Purple Heart for his actions, but his nomination for the Congressional Medal of Honor was repeatedly “lost.” No official reason has ever been given for this oversight, but those who fought to correct it believe that it was motivated by racial prejudice. Davis was finally awarded the Medal in 2023, 58 years after the battle.
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American Hero!
- By Jefffrey A. Redmon on 07-01-25
By: Paris Davis
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Taking Berlin
- The Bloody Race to Defeat the Third Reich
- By: Martin Dugard
- Narrated by: Samuel Roukin
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Fall, 1944. Paris has been liberated, saved from destruction, but this diversion on the road to Berlin has given the Germans time to regroup. The American and British armies press on from the west, facing the enemy time and again in the Hurtgen Forest, during the Market-Garden invasion, and at the Battle of the Bulge, all while American general George Patton and British field marshal Bernard Montgomery vie for supremacy as the Allies’ top battlefield commander.
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Great until personal politics showed up
- By UP North on 12-16-22
By: Martin Dugard
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Korea
- War Without End
- By: Richard Dannatt, Robert Lyman
- Narrated by: Mark Elstob
- Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Korea: War Without End examines the stand-off between East and West in Korea that ultimately defined the second half of the 20th century. It provides a critical analysis of the lack of preparation by the West for war; the results of the North Korean invasion in June 1950; the counter-stroke by MacArthur in September and then the strategic overreach which led to communist China’s involvement on the North Korean side, and the rapid escalation to consideration of the use of nuclear weapons.
By: Richard Dannatt, and others
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1787
- An American Frontier Tale
- By: Jeffery Charles Larsh
- Narrated by: Virtual Voice
- Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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This sweeping saga will transport you to the period following the Revolutionary War, during the westward expansion beyond the Appalachian Mountains. Under the Articles of Confederation, the United States government was weak and deeply in debt, with a minuscule standing army. Most European nations did not expect the fledgling country to survive. At the same time, Lenape, Miami, and Shawnee leaders formed an alliance to fight the growing American encroachment. Enter into this scenario a group of military veterans and their families, with deep roots in the indigenous culture, who wish to make ...
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The Raider
- The Untold Story of a Renegade Marine and the Birth of U.S. Special Forces in World War II
- By: Stephen R. Platt
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 16 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Raider, Cundill Prize-winning historian Stephen R. Platt gives us the first authoritative account of Carlson’s larger-than-life exploits: the real story, based on years of research including newly discovered diaries and correspondence in English and Chinese, with deep insight into the conflicted idealism about the Chinese Communists that would prove Carlson’s undoing in the McCarthy era. Tracing the rise and fall of an unlikely American war hero, The Raider is a story of exploration, of cultural (mis)understanding, and of one man’s awakening to the sheer breadth of the world.
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Outstanding book about a unknown hero
- By Scott Brownell on 05-20-25
By: Stephen R. Platt
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The Battle of Midway
- The Naval Institute Guide to the U.S. Navy's Greatest Victory
- By: Thomas C. Hone - editor
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 15 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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The best way for today's sailors to learn about a battle is from those who fought it. The Battle of Midway, commemorated annually in the US Navy, warrants close attention. This Naval Institute guide includes some of the most vibrant and informed accounts by individuals who fought on both sides of the June 1942 battle. The anthology pulls together memoirs, articles, excerpts from other Naval Institute books, and relevant government documents to help listeners understand what happened and explain why the battle was so significant to the naval service.
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If you are interested in the topic. 🤓
- By Abner on 04-19-24
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The Old Breed... The Complete Story Revealed
- A Father, a Son, and How WWII in the Pacific Shaped Their Lives
- By: W. Henry Sledge
- Narrated by: Charles Constant
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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The Old Breed... The Complete Story Revealed brings to life an abundance of new material from the original manuscript of Eugene Sledge's classic memoir With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa. By interspersing his own personal anecdotes throughout, Henry Sledge takes his father's work and gives it newfound context, sharing memories of conversations between father and son. The result is a flowing narrative that portrays an intimate look at a WWII veteran and his struggles to adapt to civilian life following the war.
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Smaller points
- By Anonymous User on 07-05-25
By: W. Henry Sledge
Great way to learn history
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