Robert F.

Three outstanding actresses perform the narration!

Revisado: 03-15-20

Flawless novel and perfect performances! It was a movie in my head, I don’t how audible could afford three narrators. Lots of flashbacks but I never had a problem following the plot because the narrator’s voices were so easy to tell apart. Thank you, I don’t want to spoil the story so I’ll stop talking. Dip

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Well researched and beautifully written.

Revisado: 12-16-19

To use a word my father’s often used as his highest praise, these houseless people have character. Robert Franicevich

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HONEST,BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN: GUTS

Revisado: 09-12-19

Heroine. There is nothing I can say bad about this book but that I wish it were longer. How about a sequel Stephanie? Loved every heartbreaking word. Thank you and the person who found you and put your gift on display! Robert

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VIRTUAL TOUR OF THE AMERICAN BATTLEFIELDS

Revisado: 07-10-17

Would you listen to Back Over There again? Why?

YES---AS SOON AS I FINISH. IT'S LIKE A GREAT FILM THAT THE MORE YOU SEE, THE BETTER YOU LOVE AND UNDERSTAND.

What did you like best about this story?

THE NARRATION IS DEEPLY RESPECTFUL OF THE AMERICAN SERVICE MAN. BECAUSE DE GUALLE HATED AMERICANS SO MUCH, I THOUGHT ALL THE FRENCH THOUGHT OF US AS BIG LOUD MOUTH SOLDIERS. THE FRENCH TRULY CARE ABOUT, AND LOVE--AND MEAN LOVE--WHAT THE DOUGHBOY, SAMMIES DID IN FRANCE, FOR FRANCE IN 1917 AND 1918.

What does Richard Rubin bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

HIS UNIQUE VOICE. MANY TIMES I PREFER A PROFESSIONAL. THIS IS DIFFERENT. I FEEL LIKE I'M WALKING RIGHT BEHIND HIM ON THE BATTLEFIELD, FALLING IN FOXHOLES, STUMBLING OVER MESS KITS AND BARBED WIRE..

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

GUYS JUST LIKE US.

Any additional comments?

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, RICHARD RUBIN, DO A "BACK OVER THERE" FOR THE SECOND WORLD WAR!

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MORE THAN A LOVE STORY

Revisado: 06-09-17

If you could sum up American Philosophy in three words, what would they be?

HEIDGIGER AND THE WHOLE GERMAN CROWD ARE A FOOT NOTE TO US.

Who was your favorite character and why?

THE AUTHOR:HE SHOULD BE ON GREAT COURSES--A GIFTED TEACHER--I FINALLY UNDERSTAND MODERN PHILOSOPHY

Which scene was your favorite?

THE ROMANCE AT THE AIRPORT

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

THE AUTHOR AND HIS PARAMOR CLIMBING UP THE MOUNTAIN

Any additional comments?

IF YOU'RE AFRAID OF PHILOSOPHY AND YOU WANT AN ABSOLUTELY PAINLESS INTRODUCTION TO MODERN PHILOSOPHY--EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN--READ THIS.

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BLAME, GRIEF, SAVED.

Revisado: 10-26-16

If you could sum up Passchendaele in three words, what would they be?

WHOM TO BLAME?

What did you like best about this story?

PAUL HAM FFORTLESSLY MOVES AMONG THE FRONT LINE SOLDIERS, (BOTH SIDES) GENERAL HAIG, PRIME MINISTER DAVID LLOYD GEORGE AND THE OMNIPRESENT ENEMY, THE GERMANS.

Have you listened to any of Robert Meldrum’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

SAME GREAT QUALITY AND TONE, IT'S LIKE WATCHING A VERY SAD AND TRAGIC MOVIE.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

GRIEF AT THE TERRIBLE SWAMP OF PAIN AND DEATH AND MUD AND GAS AND GORE OVER SUCH A TENDER, EMOTIONAL NAME, PASSCHENDALELE.

Any additional comments?

BLAME. WHOM TO BLAME? CONFRONTED BY TWO ENORMOUS EVENTS, PASSCHENDAELE AND THE ENGLISH BLOCKAGE OF GERMANY, PAUL HAM EVEN HANDEDLY IS ABLE TO EXPLORE THE MORAL UNIVERSE OF BATTLE. IT'S GENERAL HAIG VS DAVID LLOYD GEORGE. PRIME MINISTER DAVID LLOYD GEORGE IS RIGHT .THE SOMME AND PASSCHENDAELE ARE AN UNMITIGAGED DISASTER BY AN INCOMPETENT MORALLY BLIND DONKEY: GENERAL HAIG. GENERAL HAIG .IS RIGHT.:ATTRITION,THE SENSELESS LOSS OF THOUSANDS OF YOUNG ENGLISH, AUSTRALIAN, CANADIAN, AND NEW ZEALAND SOLDIERS WILL WIN THE WORLD WAR 1. HAIG WINS WORLD WAR 1. THESE LIVES ARE MORALLY VINDICATED BY GENERAL HAIG'S ENGLISH VICTORY. THEY DID NOT DIE FOR
NOTHING. THEIR BEAUTIFUL GREEN LOVELY ISLAND, THIS HOME, ENGLAND WITH THEIR SISTERS, BROTHERS, AND MOMS AND DADS WAS SAVED.

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AUTHOR LEANS HEAVILY TO GERMAN POINT OF VIEW

Revisado: 10-01-16

Would you consider the audio edition of Verdun to be better than the print version?

ABSOLUTELY!

What did you like best about this story?

I FINALLY UNDERSTAND THE MANY, MANY BATTLES OF VERDUN. IT TRULY IS A LOST, VERY LOST HISTORY. THE BOOK COVERS EVERY BATTLE FROM 1914 TO 1918.I BOUGHT TO HARDCOVER EDITION FOR THE MAPS.BUT THE MAPS ARE AWFUL AND NOT ENOUGH OF THEM.

Which scene was your favorite?

PETAIN--ARROGANT-WOMANIZER-ASTUTE AND LOVING COMMANDER (AND I DO MEAN LOVING) STANDING BY THE SACRED WAY WATCHING HIS FRENCH SOLDIERS TRUDGE INTO THE BATTLE.:NO WONDER THAT THEY LOVED HIM BACK.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

YES, EXCEPT WHEN HE GOES OFF TOPIC OR TOO DEEP INTO NON BATTLE TOPICS EG THE TRUE NUMBER OF CASUALATIES ON BOTH SIDE ETC.

Any additional comments?

HIS OBVIOUS GERMAN SYMPATHIES STUCK IN MY CRAW---I.E. THEY ONLY WANTED PEACE THAT'S WHY THEY INFLICTED THE WORSE BARRAGE IN HISTORY, PHOSGENE (POISON GAS) AND FLAME THROWERS ON THE FRENCH.AT VERDUN. IF THEY WANTED PEACE SO MUCH WHAT IN SAM HILL ARE THEY DOING 30 MILES FROM PARIS? WE WOULD FIGHT TOO, IF THEY WERE 30 MILES FROM WASHINGTON.BUT FOR THAT--I DON'T THINK HE WRITES AS WELL AS ALISTER HORNE WHO WROTE THE CLASSIC VERDUN ACCOUNT, BUT AT LEAST I COULD UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING--DESCRIBING THE MANY FRENCH FORTS AS A BATTLE SHIP BURIED IN SAND AND THE FRENCH TOWN OF FLUERY AS A RUBBLE HEAP WITH A SIGN, OR THE VAUQUOIS (ANOTHER BITTERLY FOUGHT OVER FRENCH TOWN) AS LOOKING LIKE A CHILD'S SAND CASTLE STEPPED ON, I CAN'T GET OUT OF MIND. AND HE HAS THESE LITTLE GEMS, LIKE ON EVERY OTHER PAGE.WONDERFUL BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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TOO MUCH POLITICS--TOO MUCH HOLOCAUST HISTORY-

Revisado: 09-21-16

What did you love best about Hitler's Hangman?

I LOVED THE PERSONAL ANECDOTES WHICH WERE FAR AND IN BETWEEN. FOR EXAMPLE, THE MORNING BEFORE HIS ASSASSINATION, HE WAS PLAYING WITH HIS THREE CHILDREN. MORTALLY WOUNDED, THIS FANATICAL NAZI SOLDIER GOT OUT HIS CAR AND CHASED ONE OF THE ASSASSINS ON FOOT UNTIL HE COLLAPSED IN FRONT OF HIM.

Who was your favorite character and why?

HIS WIFE---VERY LITTLE ABOUT HER TOO MUCH ABOUT THE WORKAHOLIC MURDERER'S SCHEDULES AND MEETINGS AND SPEECHES AND ARTICLES. SHE WASN'T THE COMPLACENT NOT GET INVOLVED IN YOUR HUSBANDS LIFE NAZI WIFE. AFTER HE DIED SHE WAS SUEING AND WINNING CASES AGAINST THE GERMAN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND EVEN WROTE HER AUTOBIO--"MARRIED TO A WAR CRIMINAL."

Which character – as performed by Napoleon Ryan – was your favorite?

I HAVE NEVER HEARD HEYDRICH SPEAK BUT WITH A THE SLIGHT, VERY, VERY SLIGHT EMOTIONAL LISP HE DID THE HANGMAN'S VOICE PERFECTLY. HE ALSO DID THE VERY BEST HITLER VOICE I'VE EVER HEARD---AND WE HAVE ALL HEARD HITLER AND SEEN THE MANY DOCUDRAMAS.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

YES!!! AFTER VIEWING THE ACTUAL SITES WHERE THOUSANDS OF HIS HELPLESS VICTIMS HAVE BEEN HEARTLESSLY MURDERED, HE GOES OFF TO PRACTICE FOR THE FENCING (SWORD FIGHTING) COMPETITION WHERE HE PLACED FIFTH.

Any additional comments?

TOO MUCH HOLOCAUST. THE TOPIC HAS ALREADLY BEEN COVERED VERY, VERY WELL BY MANY, MANY SCHOLARS. I FEEL I MISSED THE ACTUAL MAN. BUT THE BOOK IS EXCELLENT AND VERY WELL RESEARCHED AND I WOULD RECOMMEND THE BOOK TO ANYONE. HIS HISTORICAL JUDGMENTS ARE PERFECT. HIS VALUES FROM THE A NON NAZI- WESTERN VIEW WERE NEVER UNFAIR--IF ANYTHING VERY, VERY FAIR TO HEYDRICH I.E. THROWN OUT OF THE NAVY (HIS LIFE AND DREAM) MADLY IN LOVE WITH LENA, HIS FANATICALLY NAZI WIFE, HE BECAME A NAZI TOO. BUT WHY DID HE BECOME A MASS MURDERER?
WHAT WAS HITLER'S STRANGE SPELL? THERE WAS NOTHING IN THIS GIFTED VIOLINIST PAST TO EXPLAIN THIS. HIS PARENTS WERE GOOD NON "JEW HATING" CARING GERMAN PARENTS. HE WASN'T IN THE FIRST WAR AND NEITHER WAS HIS FAMILY.
I DID BREATHE A SIGN OF RELIEF WHEN I FINISHED THE BOOK: THANK GOD HEYDRICH AND HIS KIND DID NOT WIN THE SECOND WORLD WAR.

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THEY SAVED US ALL

Revisado: 07-23-16

If you could sum up To End All Wars in three words, what would they be?

If the Germans had pushed the British INTO THE SEA (3 words)--PERSONALLY ON A DAY TO DAY LEVEL-- what would have happened to us Americans-- you, Adam Hochschild, ME?

Who was your favorite character and why?

Good grief! ALL THE WOMEN: Emmeline Pankhurst, Charlotte Despard and all the Suffragists.

What about Arthur Morey’s performance did you like?

He was very good. For me the book with its painful descriptions of a battlefield out of Dante's Inferno (in the rain) I wish he had been more emotional. I'm not sure they allow that in a political and military history.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

YES! But the author had two books in one and the British military history was the pilot fish and simply didn't belong. BUT THE MILITARY HISTORY WAS THE BEST PART.. It's the first time I've said this about a military history: it was BEAUTIFULLY written. There were embarrassed tears for me as I read of the Indian cavalry and their poor horses riding into bullets. A British soldier stuck in mud, driven insane over four days impossible to save. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for years trying to contact his son in seances. Empire loving Rudyard Kipling driven half insane upon losing "my son Jack." A mother who writes letters to a son months after she knows him to missing and killed.

Any additional comments?

Adam Hochschild unintended, subliminal message is that the British soldier stuck in that sticky, stinking, gas poisoned, feces and body parts filled mud--DIED FOR NOTHING in hopeless attacks, led by that dumbest donkey, General Haig. But there is another STORY in all that gory detail. They didn't quit.

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A Greek Tragedy

Revisado: 06-01-16

If you could sum up Vera Brittain and the First World War in three words, what would they be?

Two words: SO YOUNG! Vera and her brother Edward, and her fiance, Roland, and Victor and Jeffery were children fighting (Edward--a captain was 22 when he was killed and the rest as young) fighting a World War.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Vera Brittain and the First World War?

Poor dear Edward whom Vera loved beyond words--even more than the handsome wise talented Roland--turned this biography of Vera into a tragic mystery novel and the author into a detective. But I don't want to spoil the moment.

Which scene was your favorite?

Vera writing the Testament of Youth with two babies on her hip living the life of a modern single mommy (George is gone half the year).

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Nope.

Any additional comments?

Everybody dies-- like a terrible tragic Greek play--Roland, Jeffery, Victor, Edward all at once and then her father and Winifred almost in the same month and finally Vera losing her precious, beautiful mind asking "Who is Roland?".

Vera hated her son. Her daughter Shirley did her best to keep family skeleton (Uncle Edward) in the closet.

Now read Testament of Youth but skip the first 100 pages--it takes Vera that long to get to the War. The ending of the book, you can skip that too. To Vera's complete frustration, George, her husband. forced her to edit himself out of the book but for his name.

Watch the BBC Vera Brittain Teleplay--but the major players are all too old for their parts--Vera is 29. In real life, Vera and her brother and three friends were teenagers, just out of high school (public school over there).

The latest movie pictured on the cover is too slick, too romantic--too much Roland and not enough Edward, whom Vera and her Father grieved for every single day, He commited suicide and she had her ashes spilled on his grave somewhere in the freezing Italian Alps.

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