29 Best Personal Memoirs, History Books
Personal Memoirs, History is a popular category for many book lovers. Our team at Speechify has curated a list of the top Personal Memoirs, History audiobooks everyone must read.
See the top 29 Personal Memoirs, History audiobooks below.
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We March at Midnight
- By: Ray McPadden
- Narrator: Will Damron
- Length: 9 hours 3 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2021
- Language: English
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4.57(94 ratings)
4.57(94 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDWhat would the war do without me? We March at Midnight is award-winning author Ray McPadden’s chronicle of his experience as a highly decorated Ranger Officer leading some of the most dangerous missions during the height of the Iraq and AfghanWhat would the war do without me?
We March at Midnight is award-winning author Ray McPadden’s chronicle of his experience as a highly decorated Ranger Officer leading some of the most dangerous missions during the height of the Iraq and Afghan wars. In 2005, Ray joined the army in search of what he calls “the moment”–a chance to prove to himself and his brothers in arms that he is a true leader. His job is to establish the first outpost in the Korengal, Afghanistan’s deadliest valley, and his decisions and mistakes will have a permanent impact on the men he commands. During the fifteen-month tour, his unit receives numerous decorations for valor while suffering nearly 50 percent casualties, ultimately accomplishing their mission in a land considered unwinnable.
Prowess with a rifle platoon soon earns Ray a position in the world’s premiere raiding force, the 75th Ranger Regiment, an accomplishment earned by less than 1 percent of the officers in the US Army, and during the most combat-heavy period of the twenty-first century. Ray spearheads the first joint-strike force of Army Rangers and Navy SEALs, in a shadow war against the agents of a foreign government, where lightning raids by helicopter, armored vehicle, and foot are his nightly routine.
In 2009, when Ray returns to the same corner of Afghanistan where his military career began, he suddenly finds himself tasked with leading Rangers against a target he knows all too well: the home of friends from his first tour. As he leads one last raid, Ray is at war with himself. Conquering this unexpected enemy proves the greatest challenge of all.
We March at Midnight is a blood-spattered tour de force of growing up, leadership, the nature of war, and its aftermath.
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Coming Out of the Ice
- By: Victor Herman
- Narrator: Christopher Hurt
- Length: 13 hours 48 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2009
- Language: English
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4.55(437 ratings)
4.55(437 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0024.95 USDIn 1931, a young American named Victor Herman accompanied his parents to the Soviet Union, where his father was to set up a Ford Motor Company plant. In 1938, he was inexplicably thrown into a Soviet prison. It was forty-five years before he wasIn 1931, a young American named Victor Herman accompanied his parents to the Soviet Union, where his father was to set up a Ford Motor Company plant. In 1938, he was inexplicably thrown into a Soviet prison. It was forty-five years before he was able to return to America.
His was a common nightmare during the Stalin years. Those who survived imprisonment and torture were either sent north to hard labor in the icy forests and mines or into exile. Victor Herman was one of the few who survived. During his life in and out of Russian prisons, he fell in love with a Russian gymnast, who followed him into exile. She lived with him and their child for a year in Siberia in a cave chopped out of ice. Theirs was a romance destined to thrive even under desperate conditions.
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War Story
- By: Steven Elliott
- Narrator: Chris Abell
- Length: 9 hours 28 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2019
- Language: English
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4.49(45 ratings)
4.49(45 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0022.95 USDEvery soldier has a war story. Steven Elliott’s opens with the death of American hero Pat Tillman by “friendly fire” in Afghanistan–when Army Ranger Elliott pulled the trigger, believing he and his fellow soldiers were firingEvery soldier has a war story.
Steven Elliott’s opens with the death of American hero Pat Tillman by “friendly fire” in Afghanistan–when Army Ranger Elliott pulled the trigger, believing he and his fellow soldiers were firing on the enemy.
Tormented by remorse and PTSD in the aftermath of Tillman’s death, Elliott descended into the depths of guilt, alcoholism, and depression; lost his marriage and his faith; and struggled to stay alive. The war that began on foreign soil had followed him home.
A must-listen for veterans and their loved ones, War Story is an explosive look at the chaos of war–and the battle for life in its aftermath. It confronts some of life’s biggest questions: Why do we choose to fight for a country or a cause? What happens when the cost of that fight overwhelms and destroys? Can we forgive and be forgiven? How do we find hope? At its core, War Story is a dramatic personal encounter with war and faith, love and tragedy, and ultimate renewal.
All of the author’s proceeds from the writing of this book will be donated to organizations serving the mental health needs of the active duty and veteran community.
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Never Call Me a Hero
- By: N. Jack “Dusty” Kleiss
- Narrator: Mike Ortego
- Length: 9 hours 38 minutes
- Publisher: HarperAudio
- Publish date: May 23, 2017
- Language: English
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4.45(243 ratings)
4.45(243 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0027.99 USDAn extraordinary firsthand account of the Battle of Midway by one of its key participants, timed to the 75th anniversary: American dive-bomber pilot “Dusty” Kleiss helped sink three Japanese warships (including two aircraft carriers),An extraordinary firsthand account of the Battle of Midway by one of its key participants, timed to the 75th anniversary: American dive-bomber pilot “Dusty” Kleiss helped sink three Japanese warships (including two aircraft carriers), received the Navy Cross, and is credited with playing a decisive individual role in determining the outcome of a battle that is considered a turning point in World War II.
In Never Call Me a Hero, Captain Kleiss (USN, ret.), a U.S. Navy SBD Dauntless dive-bomber pilot with the USS Enterprise‘s Scouting Squadron Six, tells his full story for the first time, offering an unprecidently intimate look at the battle that reversed America’s fortunes after the tragedy of Pearl Harbor. Kleiss is notable for being the only pilot from either fleet on those battle-scarred days of legend, June 4–7, 1942, to land hits on three different enemy ships. On the first day of the Battle of Midway, Kleiss planted bombs on two Japanese carriers–Kaga and Hiryu–sinking both, and later, on June 6, he scored a direct hit on a Japanese cruiser, the Mikuma, which also sank. In his 1967 book Incredible Victory, Walter Lord asserted that the margins of U.S. victory at Midway were so thin that individual participants could rightfully say that their actions turned the tide. Given the amount of destruction inflicted upon the Japanese that day, Kleiss may have been the most important pilot in the air. It is no stretch to say that without him, the Battle of Midway may not have been won, altering the course of the conflict and history itself; for according the U.S. Navy’s historians: “The Battle of Midway was far more than an epic WWII clash somewhere far away at sea. It was an American victory that forever changed the course of world history. This is the battle that turned the tide of the war.”
But this is not only the memoir of one man; it is the history of this battle and its legacy. In only five minutes, forty-eight American dive bomber pilots and their gunners destroyed the pride of the Japanese carrier fleet and exacted retribution on the carrier force that had attacked Pearl Harbor. Never Call Me a Hero is also a story about humility and pushing limits. Throughout his life, Kleiss had always looked toward the heavens for spiritual guidance, and to serve his country. Throughout his life, this humble man considered himself blessed with incredible luck and did his job without complaint. Whenever others referred to his actions as “heroic,” he quickly corrected them “I’m no hero. Never call me a hero.”
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Fighter Pilot
- By: Robin Olds
- Narrator: Robertson Dean
- Length: 17 hours 2 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2010
- Language: English
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4.45(2224 ratings)
4.45(2224 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0027.95 USDA larger-than-life hero with a towering personality, Robin Olds was a graduate of West Point and an inductee in the National College Football Hall of Fame for his All-American performance for Army. In World War II, Olds quickly became a top fighterA larger-than-life hero with a towering personality, Robin Olds was a graduate of West Point and an inductee in the National College Football Hall of Fame for his All-American performance for Army. In World War II, Olds quickly became a top fighter pilot and squadron commander by the age of twenty-two—a double ace with twelve aerial victories. But it was in Vietnam where the man became a legend. He motivated a dejected group of pilots by placing himself under junior officers and challenging them to train him properly. He led the wing with aggressiveness, scoring another four confirmed kills and becoming a rare triple ace. With his marriage to Hollywood actress and pinup girl Ella Raines, his nonregulation mustache and penchant for drink, Olds was a unique individual whose story is one of the most eagerly anticipated military books of the year.
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Nazis Knew My Name
- By: Magda Hellinger
- Narrator: Kristin Atherton
- Length: 8 hours 47 minutes
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Publish date: January 01, 2022
- Language: English
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4.43(855 ratings)
4.43(855 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.99 USDThe “thought-provoking…must-read” (Ariana Neumann, author of When Time Stopped) memoir by a Holocaust survivor who saved an untold number of lives at Auschwitz through everyday acts of courage and kindness–in the vein of AThe “thought-provoking…must-read” (Ariana Neumann, author of When Time Stopped) memoir by a Holocaust survivor who saved an untold number of lives at Auschwitz through everyday acts of courage and kindness–in the vein of A Bookshop in Berlin and The Nazi Officer’s Wife.
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In March 1942, twenty-five-year-old kindergarten teacher Magda Hellinger and nearly a thousand other young women were deported as some of the first Jews to be sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp.
The SS soon discovered that by putting prisoners in charge of the day-to-day accommodation blocks, they could deflect attention away from themselves. Magda was one such prisoner selected for leadership and put in charge of hundreds of women in the notorious Experimental Block 10. She found herself constantly walking a dangerously fine line: saving lives while avoiding suspicion by the SS and risking execution. Through her inner strength and shrewd survival instincts, she was able to rise above the horror and cruelty of the camps and build pivotal relationships with the women under her watch, and even some of Auschwitz’s most notorious Nazi senior officers.
Based on Magda’s personal account and completed by her daughter’s extensive research, this is “an unputdownable account of resilience and the power of compassion” (Booklist) in the face of indescribable evil. -
House of Glass
- By: Hadley Freeman
- Narrator: Hadley Freeman
- Length: 10 hours 15 minutes
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Publish date: January 01, 2020
- Language: English
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4.42(2328 ratings)
4.42(2328 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0023.99 USDWriter Hadley Freeman investigates her family’s secret history in this “exceptional” (The Washington Post) “masterpiece” (The Daily Telegraph) uncovering a story that spans a century, two World Wars, and threeWriter Hadley Freeman investigates her family’s secret history in this “exceptional” (The Washington Post) “masterpiece” (The Daily Telegraph) uncovering a story that spans a century, two World Wars, and three generations.
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Hadley Freeman knew her grandmother Sara lived in France just as Hitler started to gain power, but rarely did anyone in her family talk about it. Long after her grandmother’s death, she found a shoebox tucked in the closet containing photographs of her grandmother with a mysterious stranger, a cryptic telegram from the Red Cross, and a drawing signed by Picasso.
This discovery sent Freeman on a decade-long quest to uncover the significance of these keepsakes, taking her from Picasso’s archives in Paris to a secret room in a farmhouse in Auvergne to Long Island to Auschwitz. Freeman pieces together the puzzle of her family’s past, discovering more about the lives of her grandmother and her three brothers, Jacques, Henri, and Alex. Their stories sometimes typical, sometimes astonishing–reveal the broad range of experiences of Eastern European Jews during the Holocaust.
This “frightening, inspiring, and cautionary” (Kirkus Reviews) family saga is filled with extraordinary twists, vivid characters, and famous cameos, illuminating the Jewish and immigrant experience in the World War II era. Reviewers have asked: “is there a better book about being Jewish?” (The Daily Telegraph) Addressing themes of assimilation, identity, and home, House of Glass is “a triumph” (The Bookseller) and a powerful story about the past that echoes issues that remain relevant today. -
Witness to the Storm
- By: Werner T. Angress
- Narrator: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 15 hours 21 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2019
- Language: English
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4.39(10 ratings)
4.39(10 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0024.95 USDOn June 6, 1944, Werner T. Angress parachuted down from a C-47 into German-occupied France with the 82nd Airborne Division. Nine days later, he was captured behind enemy lines and, concealing his identity as a German-born Jew, became a prisoner ofOn June 6, 1944, Werner T. Angress parachuted down from a C-47 into German-occupied France with the 82nd Airborne Division. Nine days later, he was captured behind enemy lines and, concealing his identity as a German-born Jew, became a prisoner of war. Eventually, he was freed by US forces, rejoined the fight, and participated in the liberation of a concentration camp.
Although he was an American soldier, less than ten years before he had been an enthusiastically patriotic German-Jewish boy. Rejected and threatened by the Nazi regime, the Angress family fled to Amsterdam to escape persecution and death, and young Angress then found his way to the United States.
In Witness to the Storm, Angress weaves the spellbinding story of his life, including his escape from Germany, his new life in the United States, and his experiences in World War II. A testament to the power of perseverance and forgiveness, Witness to the Storm is the powerful tale of one man’s struggle to fight for and rescue the country that had betrayed him.
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Man’s Search for Meaning
- By: Viktor E. Frankl
- Narrator: Simon Vance
- Length: 4 hours 45 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2010
- Language: English
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4.37(495863 ratings)
4.37(495863 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0013.95 USDMan’s Search for Meaning is the chilling yet inspirational story of Viktor Frankl’s struggle to hold on to hope during the unspeakable horrors of his years as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps. Between 1942 and 1945 Frankl laboredMan’s Search for Meaning is the chilling yet inspirational story of Viktor Frankl’s struggle to hold on to hope during the unspeakable horrors of his years as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps. Between 1942 and 1945 Frankl labored in four different camps, including Auschwitz, while his parents, brother, and pregnant wife perished. Based on his own experience and the experiences of those he treated in his practice, Frankl argues that we cannot avoid suffering, but we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward with renewed purpose.
Through every waking moment of his ordeal, Frankl’s training as a psychiatrist lent him a remarkable perspective on the psychology of survival. As a result of these experiences, Dr. Frankl developed a revolutionary approach to psychotherapy known as logotherapy. At the core of his theory is the belief that man’s primary motivational force is his search for meaning. Frankl’s assertion that “the will to meaning” is the basic motivation for human life has forever changed the way we understand our humanity in the face of suffering.
Frankl’s riveting memoir was named one of the Ten Most Influential Books in America after a 1991 survey by the Library of Congress and Book of the Month Club. This revised and updated version includes a new postscript: “The Case for a Tragic Optimism.”
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When Time Stopped
- By: Ariana Neumann
- Narrator: Rebecca Lowman
- Length: 20 hours 13 minutes
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Publish date: January 01, 2020
- Language: English
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4.35(4041 ratings)
4.35(4041 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.99 USDIn this astonishing story that “reads like a thriller and is so, so timely” (BuzzFeed) Ariana Neumann dives into the secrets of her father’s past: “Like Anne Frank’s diary, it offers a story that needs to be told andIn this astonishing story that “reads like a thriller and is so, so timely” (BuzzFeed) Ariana Neumann dives into the secrets of her father’s past: “Like Anne Frank’s diary, it offers a story that needs to be told and heard” (Booklist, starred review).
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In 1941, the first Neumann family member was taken by the Nazis, arrested in German-occupied Czechoslovakia for bathing in a stretch of river forbidden to Jews. He was transported to Auschwitz. Eighteen days later his prisoner number was entered into the morgue book.
Of thirty-four Neumann family members, twenty-five were murdered by the Nazis. One of the survivors was Hans Neumann, who, to escape the German death net, traveled to Berlin and hid in plain sight under the Gestapo’s eyes. What Hans experienced was so unspeakable that, when he built an industrial empire in Venezuela, he couldn’t bring himself to talk about it. All his daughter Ariana knew was that something terrible had happened.
When Hans died, he left Ariana a small box filled with letters, diary entries, and other memorabilia. Ten years later Ariana finally summoned the courage to have the letters translated, and she began reading. What she discovered launched her on a worldwide search that would deliver indelible portraits of a family loving, finding meaning, and trying to survive amid the worst that can be imagined.
A “beautifully told story of personal discovery” (John le Carre), When Time Stopped is an unputdownable detective story and an epic family memoir, spanning nearly ninety years and crossing oceans. Neumann brings each relative to vivid life, and this “gripping, expertly researched narrative will inspire those looking to uncover their own family histories” (Publishers Weekly). -
The Last Jew of Treblinka
- By: Chil Rajchman
- Narrator: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 3 hours 4 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2017
- Language: English
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4.35(3642 ratings)
4.35(3642 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0016.95 USDQuickly becoming a cornerstone of Holocaust historiography, this is a devastatingly stark memoir from one of the lone survivors of Treblinka. Why do some live while so many others perish? Tiny children, old men, beautiful girls–in the gasQuickly becoming a cornerstone of Holocaust historiography, this is a devastatingly stark memoir from one of the lone survivors of Treblinka.
Why do some live while so many others perish? Tiny children, old men, beautiful girls–in the gas chambers of Treblinka, all are equal. The Nazis kept the fires of Treblinka burning night and day, a central cog in the wheel of the Final Solution.
In the tradition of Elie Wiesel’s Night and Primo Levi’s Survival in Auschwitz and The Drowned and the Saved, Rajchman provides the only survivors’ record of Treblinka. Originally written in Yiddish in 1945 without hope or agenda other than to bear witness, Rajchman’s account shows that sometimes the bravest and most painful act of all is to remember.
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Black Magic
- By: Chad Sanders
- Narrator: Chad Sanders
- Length: 7 hours 41 minutes
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Publish date: January 01, 2021
- Language: English
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4.34(345 ratings)
4.34(345 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0017.99 USDA “daring, urgent, and transformative” (Brene Brown, New York Times bestselling author of Dare to Lead) exploration of Black achievement in a white world based on honest, provocative, and moving interviews with Black leaders, scientists,A “daring, urgent, and transformative” (Brene Brown, New York Times bestselling author of Dare to Lead) exploration of Black achievement in a white world based on honest, provocative, and moving interviews with Black leaders, scientists, artists, activists, and champions.
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“I remember the day I realized I couldn’t play a white guy as well as a white guy. It felt like a death sentence for my career.”
When Chad Sanders landed his first job in lily-white Silicon Valley, he quickly concluded that to be successful at work meant playing a certain social game. Each meeting was drenched in white slang and the privileged talk of international travel or folk concerts in San Francisco, which led Chad to believe he needed to emulate whiteness to be successful. So Chad changed. He changed his wardrobe, his behavior, his speech–everything that connected him with his Black identity.
And while he finally felt included, he felt awful. So he decided to give up the charade. He reverted to the methods he learned at the dinner table, or at the Black Baptist church where he’d been raised, or at the concrete basketball courts, barbershops, and summertime cookouts. And it paid off. Chad began to land more exciting projects. He earned the respect of his colleagues. Accounting for this turnaround, Chad believes, was something he calls Black Magic, namely resilience, creativity, and confidence forged in his experience navigating America as a Black man. Black Magic has emboldened his every step since, leading him to wonder: Was he alone in this discovery? Were there others who felt the same?
In “pulverizing, educational, and inspirational” (Shea Serrano, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Basketball (And Other Things)) essays, Chad dives into his formative experiences to see if they might offer the possibility of discovering or honing this skill. He tests his theory by interviewing Black leaders across industries to get their take on Black Magic. The result is a revelatory and essential book. Black Magic explores Black experiences in predominantly white environments and demonstrates the risks of self-betrayal and the value of being yourself. -
Perfectly Wounded
- By: Mike Day
- Narrator: Mike Day
- Length: 5 hours 20 minutes
- Publisher: Hachette Audio
- Publish date: July 07, 2020
- Language: English
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4.33(3 ratings)
4.33(3 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0024.98 USDThe incredible true story of former Navy SEAL Mike Day, who survived being shot twenty-seven times while deployed in Iraq.On the night of April 6, 2007, in Iraq’s Anbar Province, Senior Chief Mike Day, his team of Navy SEALs, and a group ofThe incredible true story of former Navy SEAL Mike Day, who survived being shot twenty-seven times while deployed in Iraq.... Read moreOn the night of April 6, 2007, in Iraq’s Anbar Province, Senior Chief Mike Day, his team of Navy SEALs, and a group of Iraqi scouts were on the hunt for a high-level al Qaeda cell. Day was the first to enter a 12×12 room where four terrorist leaders were waiting in ambush. When the gunfight was over, he took out all four terrorists in the room, but not before being shot twenty-seven times and hit with grenade shrapnel. Miraculously, Day cleared the rest of the house and rescued six women and children before walking out on his own to an awaiting helicopter, which flew him to safety.While in the hospital, the Navy SEAL lost fifty-five pounds in two weeks. It took almost two years for Day to physically recover from his injuries, although he still deals with pain. Like so many veterans, doctors diagnosed Day with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury — the invisible wounds of war.Perfectly Wounded is the remarkable story of an American hero whose incredible survival defies explanation, and whose blessed life of service continues in the face of unimaginable odds. -
Berlin Diary
- By: William L. Shirer
- Narrator: Tom Weiner
- Length: 15 hours 59 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2011
- Language: English
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4.33(4072 ratings)
4.33(4072 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0027.95 USDBy the acclaimed journalist and bestselling author of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, this day-by-day, eyewitness account of the momentous events leading up to World War II in Europe is the private, personal, utterly revealing journal of aBy the acclaimed journalist and bestselling author of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, this day-by-day, eyewitness account of the momentous events leading up to World War II in Europe is the private, personal, utterly revealing journal of a great foreign correspondent.
CBS radio broadcaster William L. Shirer was virtually unknown in 1940 when he decided there might be a book in the diary he had kept in Europe during the 1930s—specifically those sections dealing with the collapse of the European democracies and the rise of Nazi Germany.
Shirer was the only Western correspondent in Vienna on March 11, 1938, when the German troops marched in and took over Austria, and he alone reported the surrender by France to Germany on June 22, 1940, even before the Germans reported it. The whole time, Shirer kept a record of events, many of which could not be publicly reported because of censorship by the Germans. In December 1940, Shirer learned that the Germans were building a case against him for espionage, an offense punishable by death. Fortunately, Shirer escaped and was able to take most of his diary with him.
Berlin Diary first appeared in 1941, and the timing was perfect. The energy, the passion, and the electricity in it were palpable. The book was an instant success, and it became the frame of reference against which thoughtful Americans judged the rush of events in Europe. It exactly matched journalist to event: the right reporter at the right place at the right time. It stood, and still stands, as so few books have ever done—a pure act of journalistic witness.
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Those Who Forget
- By: Geraldine Schwarz
- Narrator: Kathe Mazur
- Length: 11 hours 30 minutes
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Publish date: January 01, 2020
- Language: English
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4.31(314 ratings)
4.31(314 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0023.99 USD“[Makes] the very convincing case that, until and unless there is a full accounting for what happened with Donald Trump, 2020 is not over and never will be.” —The New Yorker “Riveting…we can never be reminded too often“[Makes] the very convincing case that, until and unless there is a full accounting for what happened with Donald Trump, 2020 is not over and never will be.” —The New Yorker
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“Riveting…we can never be reminded too often to never forget.” —The Wall Street Journal
Journalist Geraldine Schwarz’s astonishing memoir of her German and French grandparents’ lives during World War II “also serves as a perceptive look at the current rise of far-right nationalism throughout Europe and the US” (Publishers Weekly).
During World War II, Geraldine Schwarz’s German grandparents were neither heroes nor villains; they were merely Mitlaufer–those who followed the current. Once the war ended, they wanted to bury the past under the wreckage of the Third Reich.
Decades later, while delving through filing cabinets in the basement of their apartment building in Mannheim, Schwarz discovers that in 1938, her paternal grandfather Karl took advantage of Nazi policies to buy a business from a Jewish family for a low price. She finds letters from the only survivor of this family (all the others perished in Auschwitz), demanding reparations. But Karl Schwarz refused to acknowledge his responsibility. Geraldine starts to question the past: How guilty were her grandparents? What makes us complicit? On her mother’s side, she investigates the role of her French grandfather, a policeman in Vichy.
Weaving together the threads of three generations of her family story with Europe’s process of post-war reckoning, Schwarz explores how millions were seduced by ideology, overcome by a fog of denial after the war, and, in Germany at least, eventually managed to transform collective guilt into democratic responsibility. She asks: How can nations learn from history? And she observes that countries that avoid confronting the past are especially vulnerable to extremism. Searing and unforgettable, Those Who Forget “deserves to be read and discussed widely…this is Schwarz’s invaluable warning” (The Washington Post Book Review). -
House to House
- By: David Bellavia
- Narrator: Ray Porter
- Length: 9 hours 21 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2006
- Language: English
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4.3(4901 ratings)
4.3(4901 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDThis is the personal side of battle, where emotion, courage, and strength are stretched to the limits. Bringing to searing life the terrifying intimacy of hand-to-hand infantry combat, House to House is far more than just another war story—itThis is the personal side of battle, where emotion, courage, and strength are stretched to the limits.
Bringing to searing life the terrifying intimacy of hand-to-hand infantry combat, House to House is far more than just another war story—it is one of the most compelling combat narratives ever written. Populated by an indelibly drawn cast of characters, it develops the intensely close relationships that form between soldiers under fire. Their friendships, tested in brutal combat, would never be quite the same. What happened to them in their bloody embrace with America’s most implacable enemy is a harrowing, unforgettable story of triumph, tragedy, and the resiliency of the human spirit.
Staff Sergeant David Bellavia, army infantry platoon leader, gives a teeth-rattling, first-hand account of eleven straight days of heavy house-to-house fighting during the climactic second battle of Fallujah. His actions in the firefight, which included killing five insurgents in hand-to-hand combat, earned Bellavia the Bronze Star, the Silver Star, and New York state’s highest military honor, the Conspicuous Service Cross. He has been nominated for the Medal of Honor and for the army’s second highest combat medal, the Distinguished Service Cross.
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Beyond Band of Brothers
- By: Dick Winters
- Narrator: Tom Weiner
- Length: 9 hours 55 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2006
- Language: English
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4.3(14869 ratings)
4.3(14869 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USD“Tells the tales left untold by Stephen Ambrose, whose Band of Brothers was the inspiration for the HBO miniseries…laced with Winters’s soldierly exaltations of pride in his comrades’ bravery.”–Publishers“Tells the tales left untold by Stephen Ambrose, whose Band of Brothers was the inspiration for the HBO miniseries…laced with Winters’s soldierly exaltations of pride in his comrades’ bravery.”–Publishers Weekly
In war, great commanders lead soldiers into hell to do the impossible.
They were called Easy Company–but their mission was never easy. Immortalized as the Band of Brothers, they suffered huge casualties while liberating Europe in an unparalleled record of bravery under fire. Dick Winters led them through the Battle of the Bulge, the attack on Foy–where Easy Company reached its breaking point–and finally into Germany, by which time each member had been wounded. Outside Munich, they liberated an SS death camp and captured Berchtesgaden, Hitler’s alpine retreat.
Beyond Band of Brothers is Winters’s memoir, based on his wartime diary, but it also includes his comrades’ untold stories. Only Winters was present from the activation of Easy Company until the war’s end. This is their story, told in his words for the first time.
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The Lion of Sabray
- By: Patrick Robinson
- Narrator: Pete Simonelli
- Length: 7 hours 0 minutes
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Publish date: January 01, 2015
- Language: English
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4.29(155 ratings)
4.29(155 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0017.99 USDPatrick Robinson, coauthor of the #1 New York Times bestseller Lone Survivor and “preeminent writer of modern naval fiction” (The Florida Times Union) shares the gripping untold story of Mohammed Gulab, the Afghani warrior who defied thePatrick Robinson, coauthor of the #1 New York Times bestseller Lone Survivor and “preeminent writer of modern naval fiction” (The Florida Times Union) shares the gripping untold story of Mohammed Gulab, the Afghani warrior who defied the Taliban and saved the life of American hero and Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell.
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Bestselling author Patrick Robinson helped Marcus Luttrell bring his harrowing story of survival to the page and the big screen with Lone Survivor. But the Afghani man who saved his life was always shrouded in mystery. Now, with The Lion of Sabray, Robinson reveals the amazing backstory of Mohammed Gulab–the brave man who forever changed the course of life for his Afghani family, his village, and himself when he discovered Luttrell badly injured and barely conscious on a mountainside in the Hindu Kush just hours after the firefight that killed the rest of Luttrell’s team.
Operating under the 2,000-year-old principles of Pashtunwali–the tribal honor code that guided his life–Gulab refused to turn Luttrell over to the Taliban forces that were hunting him, believing it was his obligation to protect and care for the American soldier. Because Gulab was a celebrated Mujahedeen field commander and machine-gunner who beat back the Soviets as a teenager, the Taliban were wary enough that they didn’t simply storm the village and take Luttrell, which gave Gulab time to orchestrate his rescue.
In addition to Gulab’s brave story, The Lion of Sabray cinematically reveals previously unknown details of Luttrell’s rescue by American forces–which were only recently declassified–and sheds light on the ramifications for Gulab, his family, and his community. Going beyond both the book and the movie versions of Lone Survivor, The Lion of Sabray is a must-read for anyone who wants to know more about the brave man who helped the Lone Survivor make it home. -
Stars Between the Sun and Moon
- By: Lucia Jang
- Narrator: Janet Song
- Length: 7 hours 39 minutes
- Publisher: Dreamscape Media
- Publish date: October 05, 2015
- Language: English
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4.29(1154 ratings)
4.29(1154 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0017.99 USDBorn in 1970s North Korea, Lucia Jang grew up in a typical household – her parents worked in the factories and the family scraped by on rations. Nightly, she bowed to her photo of Kim Il-Sung. It was the beginning of a chaotic period with aBorn in 1970s North Korea, Lucia Jang grew up in a typical household – her parents worked in the factories and the family scraped by on rations. Nightly, she bowed to her photo of Kim Il-Sung. It was the beginning of a chaotic period with a decade-long famine. Jang married an abusive man who sold their baby. She left him and went home to help her family by illegally crossing the river to China to trade goods. She was caught and imprisoned twice. After giving birth to a second child, which the government ordered to be killed, she escaped with him, fleeing under gunfire across the Chinese border. This demonstration of love and courage reflects the range of experiences many North Korean women have endured.
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Saigon Kids
- By: Les Arbuckle
- Narrator: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 10 hours 42 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2018
- Language: English
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4.29(28 ratings)
4.29(28 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDLooking for unusual coming-of-age books? The events leading up to the Vietnam War provide a fascinating backdrop for this coming-of-age tale with a twist. In May 1962, Naval Chief Petty Officer Bryant Arbuckle flew to Saigon to establish a new armedLooking for unusual coming-of-age books? The events leading up to the Vietnam War provide a fascinating backdrop for this coming-of-age tale with a twist.
In May 1962, Naval Chief Petty Officer Bryant Arbuckle flew to Saigon to establish a new armed forces radio station. Next to follow were his wife and three boys, Leslie among them. Saigon Kids is the candid, recondite slice of fourteen-year-old military brat Les Arbuckle’s experience at the American Community School during the critical months of the Vietnam War when events would, quite literally, ignite in downtown Saigon. In 1963 Saigon was beautiful, violent, and dirty–and the most exciting place a fourteen-year-old American boy could live. Saigon offered a rich array of activities, and much to the consternation of their parents and teachers, Les and his fellow military brats explored the dangers with reckless abandon–running from machine gun fire, watching a Buddhist monk burn to death, visiting brothels late at night, trading currency on the black market.
When Les first arrives in Vietnam, he is a stranger in a strange land, expecting boredom in a country he doesn’t know. But the American social scene is more vibrant than he expected. The American Community School is a mix of kids from all over the globe who arrived just as the fuse on Saigon was about to ignite. As the students continue their American lifestyle behind barbed wire, Saigon unravels in chaos and destruction. Despite this ugliness–an ever-present feature of everyday life–Les tells his story of teenage angst with humor and precocity.
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Wild Swans
- By: Jung Chang
- Narrator: Joy Osmanski
- Length: 22 hours 52 minutes
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Publish date: January 01, 2011
- Language: English
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4.27(90593 ratings)
4.27(90593 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0029.95 USDThe story of three generations in twentieth-century China that blends the intimacy of memoir and the panoramic sweep of eyewitness history–a bestselling classic in thirty languages with more than ten million copies sold around the world, nowThe story of three generations in twentieth-century China that blends the intimacy of memoir and the panoramic sweep of eyewitness history–a bestselling classic in thirty languages with more than ten million copies sold around the world, now with a new introduction from the author.
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An engrossing record of Mao’s impact on China, an unusual window on the female experience in the modern world, and an inspiring tale of courage and love, Jung Chang describes the extraordinary lives and experiences of her family members: her grandmother, a warlord’s concubine; her mother’s struggles as a young idealistic Communist; and her parents’ experience as members of the Communist elite and their ordeal during the Cultural Revolution.
Chang was a Red Guard briefly at the age of fourteen, then worked as a peasant, a “barefoot doctor,” a steelworker, and an electrician. As the story of each generation unfolds, Chang captures in gripping, moving–and ultimately uplifting–detail the cycles of violent drama visited on her own family and millions of others caught in the whirlwind of history. -
The Long Walk
- By: Slavomir Rawicz
- Narrator: John Lee
- Length: 9 hours 35 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2006
- Language: English
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4.23(13786 ratings)
4.23(13786 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDThe film The Way Back, starring Colin Farrell and Ed Harris, is based on this amazing true story. Twenty-six-year-old cavalry officer Slavomir Rawicz was captured by the Red Army in 1939 during the German-Soviet partition of Poland and sent to theThe film The Way Back, starring Colin Farrell and Ed Harris, is based on this amazing true story.
Twenty-six-year-old cavalry officer Slavomir Rawicz was captured by the Red Army in 1939 during the German-Soviet partition of Poland and sent to the Siberian Gulag. In the spring of 1941, he escaped with six of his fellow prisoners, including one American. Thus began their astonishing trek to freedom.
With no map or compass but only an ax head, a homemade knife, and a week’s supply of food, the compatriots spent a year making their way on foot to British India, through four thousand miles of the most forbidding terrain on earth. They braved the Himalayas, the desolate Siberian tundra, icy rivers, and the great Gobi Desert, always a hair’s breadth from death. Finally returning home, Rawicz reenlisted in the Polish army to fight the Germans.
This is his story.
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The Great Escape
- By: Paul Brickhill
- Narrator: Simon Vance
- Length: 7 hours 36 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2009
- Language: English
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4.22(1573 ratings)
4.22(1573 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0016.95 USDIt was a split-second operation as delicate and as deadly as a time bomb. It demanded the concentrated devotion and vigilance of more than six hundred American and British air force officers, every single one of them, every minute, every hour, everyIt was a split-second operation as delicate and as deadly as a time bomb. It demanded the concentrated devotion and vigilance of more than six hundred American and British air force officers, every single one of them, every minute, every hour, every day, and every night for more than a year. With only their bare hands and the crudest of homemade tools, they sank shafts, built underground railroads, forged passports, drew maps, faked weapons, and tailored German uniforms and civilian clothes. They developed a fantastic security system to protect themselves from the German “ferrets” who prowled the compounds with nerve-racking tenacity and suspicion. And against all odds, they pulled off a daring mass escape from a German POW camp.
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If You Survive
- By: George Wilson
- Narrator: George Wilson
- Length: 8 hours 31 minutes
- Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
- Publish date: May 09, 2014
- Language: English
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4.22(2288 ratings)
4.22(2288 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.99 USDGeorge Wilson has garnered much acclaim for this shattering and enlightening memoir. Detailing his odyssey from July, 1944 until the following summer, If You Survive is a startling first-person account of the final year of World War II. Wilson wasGeorge Wilson has garnered much acclaim for this shattering and enlightening memoir. Detailing his odyssey from July, 1944 until the following summer, If You Survive is a startling first-person account of the final year of World War II. Wilson was the only man from his original company to finish the war. As a Second Lieutenant, he went ashore at Utah Beach after the D-Day invasion amidst burned vehicles, sunken landing craft, and broken fortifications. From the breakthrough at Saint-LO, to the Battle of the Bulge, to the final push on Germany, Wilson survived ferocious battles and bitter weather. After earning several decorations and a promotion to First Lieutenant, Wilson was wounded. But he healed quickly and returned to duty. Wilson’s account is an incredibly moving, continuous stream of devastating combat experiences that will make readers wonder how any infantryman could have survived this war. Brian Keeler’s narration thoughtfully conveys this riveting tale of survival in the face of impossible odds.
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Adamalui
- By: Joseph Kaifala
- Narrator: Prentice Onayemi
- Length: 8 hours 1 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2018
- Language: English
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4.22(8 ratings)
4.22(8 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDAs a survivor of the devastating civil wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia, Joseph Kaifala recounts the harrowing details af an early life punctuated by unimaginable violence and his journey to survival that eventually led him to the United States.As a survivor of the devastating civil wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia, Joseph Kaifala recounts the harrowing details af an early life punctuated by unimaginable violence and his journey to survival that eventually led him to the United States. Told with humility and grace, Adamalui is the true story of one man’s unshakable faith, thirst for knowledge, and indomitable will.
Kaifala’s experiences as a child prisoner and refugee are told through a series of flashbacks as he endeavors to attain a visa to attend college in America. His memories of the death and destruction that he and his family witnessed while attempting to avoid the violence rampant in impoverished West Africa are written with amazing clarity by a man on a mission to chart a way forward for himself and the others who would follow in his steps.
Kaifala’s hopes for a brighter future for his home country–a country to which he still returns to assist through charitable causes–are crystalized throughout this prescient, timely, and beautifully-written memoir.
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Goodbye, Darkness
- By: William Manchester
- Narrator: Barrett Whitener
- Length: 15 hours 2 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2006
- Language: English
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4.19(5241 ratings)
4.19(5241 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0022.95 USDThe nightmares began for William Manchester twenty-three years after World War II. In his dreams he lived with the recurring image of himself as a battle-weary youth “angrily demanding to know what had happened to the three decades since heThe nightmares began for William Manchester twenty-three years after World War II. In his dreams he lived with the recurring image of himself as a battle-weary youth “angrily demanding to know what had happened to the three decades since he had laid down his arms.” To find out, Manchester visited those places in the Pacific where as a young Marine he fought the Japanese.
In this intensely powerful memoir, America’s preeminent biographer-historian, who has written so brilliantly about World War II in his acclaimed lives of General Douglas MacArthur (American Caesar) and Winston Churchill (The Last Lion), looks back at his own early life. He offers an unrivaled firsthand account of World War II in the Pacific: of what it looked like, sounded like, smelled like, and most of all, what it felt like to one who underwent all but the ultimate of its experiences.
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Battleground Iraq
- By: Todd S. Brown
- Narrator: Donald Corren
- Length: 11 hours 12 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2011
- Language: English
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4.19(21 ratings)
4.19(21 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0020.95 USDThis gripping journal of a company commander from 2003 to early 2004, written in some of the most dangerous areas of post-Hussein Iraq, discusses tactics, techniques, and procedures as they evolved in the struggle to maintain order and rebuild theThis gripping journal of a company commander from 2003 to early 2004, written in some of the most dangerous areas of post-Hussein Iraq, discusses tactics, techniques, and procedures as they evolved in the struggle to maintain order and rebuild the country. The journal tells of the dichotomy of combat operations versus nation building. It vividly captures the stresses of combat and corresponding emotions as they accumulate over time in a combat outfit. It reinforces the ideal of camaraderie among soldiers and deals with the emotional impact of losing friends in battle. Understanding these could prove invaluable to those who courageously serve our nation and will continue to endure them in this and future conflicts.
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The Worst Journey in the World
- By: Apsley Cherry-Garrard
- Narrator: Simon Vance
- Length: 20 hours 6 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2006
- Language: English
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4.18(5803 ratings)
4.18(5803 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0031.95 USDThis gripping story of courage and achievement is an account of Robert Falcon Scott’s last fateful expedition to the Antarctic, as told by surviving expedition member Apsley Cherry-Garrard. Cherry-Garrard tells of the journey from England toThis gripping story of courage and achievement is an account of Robert Falcon Scott’s last fateful expedition to the Antarctic, as told by surviving expedition member Apsley Cherry-Garrard. Cherry-Garrard tells of the journey from England to South Africa and southward to the ice floes, where began the unforgettable polar journey across a forbidding and inhospitable region. On November 12, 1912, in arctic temperatures, Cherry-Garrard, in a search party, found the bodies of Scott and his companions, along with their poignant last notebook entries, some of them recorded in this work.
Among Cherry-Garrard’s friends and admirers were John Galsworthy, H. G. Wells, Arnold Bennett, and Bernard Shaw. His background in the arts and humanities makes The Worst Journey in the World stand out as a literary accomplishment as well as a classic in the annals of exploration.
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The Lost Cafe Schindler
- By: Meriel Schindler
- Narrator: Caitlin Cavannaugh
- Length: 14 hours 16 minutes
- Publisher: Dreamscape Media
- Publish date: October 12, 2021
- Language: English
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4.18(227 ratings)
4.18(227 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0017.99 USDMeriel Schindler spent her adult life trying to keep her father, Kurt, at bay. But when he died in 2017, he left behind piles of Nazi-era documents related to her family’s fate in Innsbruck, Austria, and a treasure trove of family albumsMeriel Schindler spent her adult life trying to keep her father, Kurt, at bay. But when he died in 2017, he left behind piles of Nazi-era documents related to her family’s fate in Innsbruck, Austria, and a treasure trove of family albums reaching back to before World War I. Meriel was forced to confront not only their fractured relationship but also the truth behind their family history. The Lost Cafe Schindler re-creates the journey of an extraordinary family, whose relatives included the Jewish doctor who treated Hitler’s mother when she was dying of breast cancer, the Kafka family, and Alma Schindler, the wife of Gustav Mahler. The narrative centers around the Cafe Schindler, the social hub of Innsbruck. Famous for its pastries, home-distilled liquors, live entertainment, and hospitality, the restaurant attracted Austrians from all walks of life. But as conditions became untenable for Jews in Austria during the Nazi era, the Schindlers were forced to leave, and their cafe was expropriated. Meriel reconstructs the color and vibrancy of life in prewar Innsbruck against the majestic backdrop of the Austrian Alps, as well as the creeping menace and eventual terror of the Nazi occupation. Ultimately, The Lost Cafe Schindler is a story of tragic loss?several relatives disappeared in Terezin and Auschwitz?but also one of reclamation and reconciliation. Beautifully written, it is an unforgettable portrait of an era and a testament to the pull of family history on future generations.
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Cliff Weitzman
Cliff Weitzman is a dyslexia advocate and the CEO and founder of Speechify, the #1 text-to-speech app in the world, totaling over 100,000 5-star reviews and ranking first place in the App Store for the News & Magazines category. In 2017, Weitzman was named to the Forbes 30 under 30 list for his work making the internet more accessible to people with learning disabilities. Cliff Weitzman has been featured in EdSurge, Inc., PC Mag, Entrepreneur, Mashable, among other leading outlets.
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