Soldiers of Song
The Dumbells and Other Canadian Concert Parties of the First World War
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $25.79
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Jason Wilson
-
By:
-
Jason Wilson
About this listen
The seeds of irreverent humour that inspired the likes of Wayne and Shuster and Monty Python were sown in the trenches of the First World War, and The Dumbells - concert parties made up of fighting soldiers - were central to this process. Soldiers of Song tells their story.
Lucky soldiers who could sing a song, perform a skit or pass as a “lady” were taken from the line and put onstage for the benefit of their soldier-audiences. The intent was to bolster morale and thereby help soldiers survive the war.
The Dumbells’ popularity was not limited to troop shows along the trenches. The group also managed a run in London’s West End and became the first ever Canadian production to score a hit on Broadway. Touring Canada for some 12 years after the war, the Dumbells became a household name and made more than 25 audio recordings. If nationhood was won on the crest of Vimy Ridge, it was the Dumbells who provided the country with its earliest soundtrack. Pioneers of sketch comedy, the Dumbells are as important to the history of Canadian theatre as they are to the cultural history of early 20th-century Canada.
©2012 Wilfrid Laurier University Press (P)2021 Wilfrid Laurier University PressListeners also enjoyed...
-
Mobituaries
- By: Mo Rocca
- Narrated by: Mo Rocca
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mo Rocca has always loved obituaries - reading about the remarkable lives of global leaders, Hollywood heavyweights, and innovators who changed the world. But not every notable life has gotten the send-off it deserves. His quest to right that wrong inspired Mobituaries, his number one hit podcast. Now with Mobituaries, the audiobook, he has gone much further, with all new essays on artists, entertainers, sports stars, political pioneers, founding fathers, and more. Even if you know the names, you’ve never understood why they matter...until now.
-
-
Very good, but.....
- By Christopher on 11-15-19
By: Mo Rocca
-
The Rest Is Noise
- Listening to the 20th Century
- By: Alex Ross
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 23 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Rest Is Noise takes the listener inside the labyrinth of modern music, from turn-of-the-century Vienna to downtown New York in the '60s and '70s. We meet the maverick personalities and follow the rise of mass culture on this sweeping tour of 20th-century history through its music.
-
-
Learned so much!
- By Paula on 02-18-08
By: Alex Ross
-
Music Is History
- By: Ahmir Khalib Thompson, Questlove
- Narrated by: Questlove
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Best-selling author and Sundance award-winning director Questlove harnesses his encyclopedic knowledge of popular music and his deep curiosity about history to examine America over the past 50 years. Choosing one essential track from each year, Questlove unpacks each song’s significance, revealing the pivotal role that American music plays around issues of race, gender, politics, and identity.
-
-
This would be better read than listened to
- By HomeChef on 11-05-21
By: Ahmir Khalib Thompson, and others
-
Beyond the Story
- 10-Year Record of BTS
- By: BTS, Myeongseok Kang, Anton Hur - translator, and others
- Narrated by: Kim Young-Gi, Park Chan-won
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After taking their first step into the world on June 13, 2013, BTS will celebrate the 10th anniversary of their debut in June 2023. They have risen to the peak as an iconic global artist and during this meaningful time, they look back on their footsteps in the first official book. In doing so, BTS nurtures the power to build brighter days and they choose to take another step on a road that no one has gone before.
-
-
SO FANTASTIC - ESSENTIAL LISTENING!!!
- By Cassidy on 07-09-23
By: BTS, and others
-
Charlie's Good Tonight
- The Life, the Times, and the Rolling Stones: The Authorized Biography of Charlie Watts
- By: Paul Sexton
- Narrated by: Paul Sexton
- Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Charlie Watts was one of the most decorated musicians in the world, having joined the Rolling Stones, a few months after their formation, early in 1963. A student of jazz drumming, he was headhunted by the band after bumping into them regularly in London’s rhythm and blues clubs. Once installed at the drum seat, he didn’t miss a gig, album or tour in his 60 years in the band.
-
-
Authorized Snoozefest
- By G. Lindsay on 10-31-22
By: Paul Sexton
-
Surrender
- 40 Songs, One Story
- By: Bono
- Narrated by: Bono
- Length: 20 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As one of the music world’s most iconic artists and the cofounder of the organizations ONE and (RED), Bono’s career has been written about extensively. But in Surrender, it’s Bono who picks up the pen, writing for the first time about his remarkable life and those he has shared it with. In his unique voice, Bono takes us from his early days growing up in Dublin, including the sudden loss of his mother when he was fourteen, to U2’s unlikely journey to become one of the world’s most influential rock bands, to his more than twenty years of activism.
-
-
Fantastic!
- By Josh on 11-04-22
By: Bono
-
Mobituaries
- By: Mo Rocca
- Narrated by: Mo Rocca
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mo Rocca has always loved obituaries - reading about the remarkable lives of global leaders, Hollywood heavyweights, and innovators who changed the world. But not every notable life has gotten the send-off it deserves. His quest to right that wrong inspired Mobituaries, his number one hit podcast. Now with Mobituaries, the audiobook, he has gone much further, with all new essays on artists, entertainers, sports stars, political pioneers, founding fathers, and more. Even if you know the names, you’ve never understood why they matter...until now.
-
-
Very good, but.....
- By Christopher on 11-15-19
By: Mo Rocca
-
The Rest Is Noise
- Listening to the 20th Century
- By: Alex Ross
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 23 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Rest Is Noise takes the listener inside the labyrinth of modern music, from turn-of-the-century Vienna to downtown New York in the '60s and '70s. We meet the maverick personalities and follow the rise of mass culture on this sweeping tour of 20th-century history through its music.
-
-
Learned so much!
- By Paula on 02-18-08
By: Alex Ross
-
Music Is History
- By: Ahmir Khalib Thompson, Questlove
- Narrated by: Questlove
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Best-selling author and Sundance award-winning director Questlove harnesses his encyclopedic knowledge of popular music and his deep curiosity about history to examine America over the past 50 years. Choosing one essential track from each year, Questlove unpacks each song’s significance, revealing the pivotal role that American music plays around issues of race, gender, politics, and identity.
-
-
This would be better read than listened to
- By HomeChef on 11-05-21
By: Ahmir Khalib Thompson, and others
-
Beyond the Story
- 10-Year Record of BTS
- By: BTS, Myeongseok Kang, Anton Hur - translator, and others
- Narrated by: Kim Young-Gi, Park Chan-won
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After taking their first step into the world on June 13, 2013, BTS will celebrate the 10th anniversary of their debut in June 2023. They have risen to the peak as an iconic global artist and during this meaningful time, they look back on their footsteps in the first official book. In doing so, BTS nurtures the power to build brighter days and they choose to take another step on a road that no one has gone before.
-
-
SO FANTASTIC - ESSENTIAL LISTENING!!!
- By Cassidy on 07-09-23
By: BTS, and others
-
Charlie's Good Tonight
- The Life, the Times, and the Rolling Stones: The Authorized Biography of Charlie Watts
- By: Paul Sexton
- Narrated by: Paul Sexton
- Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Charlie Watts was one of the most decorated musicians in the world, having joined the Rolling Stones, a few months after their formation, early in 1963. A student of jazz drumming, he was headhunted by the band after bumping into them regularly in London’s rhythm and blues clubs. Once installed at the drum seat, he didn’t miss a gig, album or tour in his 60 years in the band.
-
-
Authorized Snoozefest
- By G. Lindsay on 10-31-22
By: Paul Sexton
-
Surrender
- 40 Songs, One Story
- By: Bono
- Narrated by: Bono
- Length: 20 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As one of the music world’s most iconic artists and the cofounder of the organizations ONE and (RED), Bono’s career has been written about extensively. But in Surrender, it’s Bono who picks up the pen, writing for the first time about his remarkable life and those he has shared it with. In his unique voice, Bono takes us from his early days growing up in Dublin, including the sudden loss of his mother when he was fourteen, to U2’s unlikely journey to become one of the world’s most influential rock bands, to his more than twenty years of activism.
-
-
Fantastic!
- By Josh on 11-04-22
By: Bono
-
The York Patrol
- The Real Story of Alvin York and the Unsung Heroes Who Made Him World War I's Most Famous Soldier
- By: James Carl Nelson
- Narrated by: Jacques Roy
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the vein of Band of Brothers and American Sniper, a riveting history of Alvin York, the World War I legend who killed two dozen Germans and captured more than 100, detailing York's heroics yet also restoring the unsung heroes of his patrol to their rightful place in history - from renowned World War I historian James Carl Nelson.
-
-
So many regiments & divisions
- By Pat Newell on 01-26-23
-
The Last of the Doughboys
- The Forgotten Generation and Their Forgotten World War
- By: Richard Rubin
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 20 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They were the final survivors of the millions who made up the American Expeditionary Forces, nineteenth-century men and women living in the twenty-first century. Self-reliant, humble, and stoic, they kept their stories to themselves for a lifetime, then shared them at the last possible moment so that they, and the war they won - the trauma that created our modern world - might at last be remembered. You will never forget them.
-
-
Flawed But Worthwhile: History Buffs Should Get It
- By Jim on 01-12-14
By: Richard Rubin
-
The World Is My Home
- A Memoir
- By: James A. Michener
- Narrated by: Alexander Adams
- Length: 21 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Literary legend James A. Michener was "a Renaissance man, adventurous, inquisitive, unpretentious and unassuming, with an encyclopedic mind and a generous heart" ( The New York Times Book Review). In this exceptional memoir, the man himself tells the story of his remarkable life and describes the people, events, and ideas that shaped it.
-
-
If you're not a huge fan, don't bother
- By Karin Bergsten-Buret on 06-23-19
-
Can't Buy Me Love
- By: Jonathan Gould
- Narrated by: Richard Aspel
- Length: 29 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nearly 20 years in the making, Can't Buy Me Love is a masterful work of group biography, cultural history, and musical criticism. That the Beatles were an unprecedented phenomenon is a given. Here Jonathan Gould seeks to explain why, placing the Fab Four in the broad and tumultuous panorama of their time and place, rooting their story in the social context that girded both their rise and their demise.
-
-
Light on gossip, rich on context
- By Tad Davis on 10-29-13
By: Jonathan Gould
-
Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey
- A Novel
- By: Kathleen Rooney
- Narrated by: Juliana Canfield, Noah Michael Levine
- Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the green countryside of England and the gray canyons of Wall Street come two unlikely heroes: one a pigeon and the other a soldier. Answering the call to serve in the war to end all wars, neither Cher Ami, the messenger bird, nor Charles Whittlesey, the army officer, can anticipate how their lives will briefly intersect in a chaotic battle in the forests of France, where their wills will be tested, their fates will be shaped, and their lives will emerge forever altered.
-
-
Fabulous
- By Joan on 09-09-20
By: Kathleen Rooney
-
Congo Mercenary
- By: Mike Hoare
- Narrated by: Mike Hoare
- Length: 13 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Col. Mike Hoare tells how his force of mercenaries, 5 Commando, put down a Comunist-backed rebel uprising in the Congo. As they restored law and order, town by town, he and his men freed 1800 nuns and priests. His men also learned what it means to be real soldiers.
-
-
Nice to hear an unapologetic account
- By S. H. Moore on 01-16-20
By: Mike Hoare
-
Unmasked
- A Memoir
- By: Andrew Lloyd Webber
- Narrated by: Andrew Lloyd Webber, Derek Perkins
- Length: 16 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the most successful and distinguished artists of our time, Andrew Lloyd Webber has reigned over the musical theatre world for nearly five decades. The winner of numerous awards, including multiple Tonys and an Oscar, Lloyd Webber has enchanted millions worldwide with his music and numerous hit shows, including Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Cats, The Phantom of the Opera, and School of Rock. In Unmasked, written in his own inimitable, quirky voice, the revered, award-winning composer takes stock of his achievements.
-
-
Lost in the weeds
- By Anonymous User on 07-03-18
-
Conversations with Major Dick Winters
- Life Lessons from the Commander of the Band of Brothers
- By: Cole C. Kingseed
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the hellish battlefields of World War II Europe, Major Dick Winters led his Easy Company - the now-legendary Band of Brothers - from the confusion and chaos of the D-day invasion to the final capture of Hitler's Eagle's Nest. But Winters' story didn't end there; it was only the beginning. He was a quiet, reluctant hero whose modesty and strength drew the admiration of not only his men but millions worldwide.
-
-
This one grows on you
- By David on 09-28-15
By: Cole C. Kingseed
-
Mozart
- The Reign of Love
- By: Jan Swafford
- Narrated by: Tim Campbell
- Length: 30 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Like Jan Swafford’s biographies Beethoven and Johannes Brahms, Mozart is the complete exhumation of a genius in his life and ours: A man who would enrich the world with his talent for centuries to come and who would immeasurably shape classical music. As Swafford reveals, it’s nearly impossible to understand classical music’s origins and indeed its evolutions, as well as the Baroque period, without studying the man himself.
-
-
Comprehensive Bio
- By Judy on 01-07-21
By: Jan Swafford
-
Elton John
- The Biography
- By: David Buckley
- Narrated by: Simon Shepherd
- Length: 16 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Elton John is as much loved for his outrageous personality and witty outspokenness as for his music. Such shamelessness and sheer silliness rivals anything uttered by punk rockers, yet it is so typically Elton: honest and intemperate. Tragedy and heartbreak have played a large part in his life. Behind the parties, the hedonism, the lavish stage costumes, and silly glasses lies a more somber story. Between disputes with managers, legal wranglings, public breakups, and divorce, John has been faced with serious health problems and drug addictions.
-
-
Trite!
- By michael mckone on 08-04-22
By: David Buckley
-
Courage Has No Color
- The True Story of the Triple Nickles: America's First Black Paratroopers
- By: Tanya Lee Stone
- Narrated by: JD Jackson
- Length: 3 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
World War II was raging, with thousands of American soldiers fighting overseas against the injustices brought on by Hitler. Back on the home front, the injustice of discrimination against African Americans was playing out as much on Main Street as in the military. Enlisted black men were segregated from white soldiers and regularly relegated to service duties. At Fort Benning, Georgia, First Sergeant Walter Morris’s men served as guards at The Parachute School while the white soldiers prepared to be paratroopers.
-
-
outstanding
- By Maphil N Belfon-Ellie on 10-25-15
By: Tanya Lee Stone
-
The Life and Works of Tchaikovsky
- By: Jeremy Siepmann
- Narrated by: Jeremy Siepmann, Malcolm Sinclair, Karen Archer, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tchaikovsky is one of the most popular composers of all time. His melodies are known to many people who may never have heard his name. They crop up on mobile telephones, alarm clocks and answering machines as often as on records and concert programs. Like his music, the man himself was widely loved, but his inner life was fraught with sufferings, confusions and a deep vein of self-doubt. The drama of his emotional life is vividly reflected in his music, letters and diaries, all of which play a major part in this intimate portrait-in-sound.
-
-
Comprehensive and Concise
- By Cristina on 01-05-14
By: Jeremy Siepmann
Critic reviews
“The Great War is remembered as a terrible and senseless conflict where a generation was put through the sausage-grinder of stalemate and slaughter. Nine million were killed, including more than sixty thousand Canadians. The civilian soldiers who formed the ranks of all armies suffered under terrible strain, but they found coping mechanisms in the midst of destruction. Laughter, humour, pranks, and songs helped them to endure. Meanwhile, behind the lines, concert and theatre groups offered humourous skits and performances to bolster morale. In Soldiers of Song Jason Wilson has produced a groundbreaking study of these concert parties, with a focus on the most successful of them, the Dumbells. Wilson, a scholar and two-time Juno Award nominee, has researched deeply to unearth and reconstruct the popular songs, irreverent jokes, and cutting barbs directed against the war effort, generals, and the enemy. His work reminds us that the more than 450,000 civilian soldiers who served overseas came from all professions, including actors, comics, and musicians, and that they too contributed to winning the war." (Tim Cook, Canada's History)
“Jason Wilson, an accomplished musician who has authored three previous books on Canadian history and culture, has written an outstanding book on the musical entertainment for Canadian soldiers during the First World War. Soldiers of Song discusses the Canadian ‘concert parties’ that performed during and after the war, with a focus primarily on the most well-known show, the Dumbells.... I was impressed by the author’s ability to balance an historical approach with cultural analysis. This is in contrast to earlier works on concert parties, which are more descriptive. The author’s extensive use of primary materials also makes the book a useful historical source on early-twentieth-century Canadian popular music.... Soldiers of Song is a valuable and insightful survey of wartime entertainment that also sheds light on Canadian music theatre of the early twentieth century. Reproductions of photographs of performers and performances are interspersed throughout, and there is an extensive list of sources and acknowledgements. Completing the presentation are nine appendices detailing the personalities, performances, and publication histories of the most prominent Canadian concert parties.” (Sean Luyk, University of Alberta, CAML Review)
Related to this topic
-
We Gotta Get Out of This Place
- The Soundtrack of the Vietnam War
- By: Doug Bradley, Craig Werner
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For a Kentucky rifleman who spent his tour trudging through Vietnam's Central Highlands, it was Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'". For a "tunnel rat" who blew smoke into the Viet Cong's underground tunnels, it was Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze". For a black marine distraught over the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., it was Aretha Franklin's "Chain of Fools".
-
-
Running on Empty
- By Oregonian on 04-04-19
By: Doug Bradley, and others
-
Rites of Spring
- The Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age
- By: Modris Eksteins
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 14 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dazzling in its originality, Rites of Spring probes the origins, impact, and aftermath of World War I from the premiere of Stravinsky's ballet "The Rite of Spring" in 1913 to the death of Hitler in 1945. "The Great War", as Modris Eksteins writes, "was the psychological turning point...for modernism as a whole. The urge to create and the urge to destroy had changed places."
-
-
Fantastic
- By Anonymous User on 11-17-17
By: Modris Eksteins
-
All Blood Runs Red
- The Legendary Life of Eugene Bullard-Boxer, Pilot, Soldier, Spy
- By: Phil Keith, Tom Clavin
- Narrated by: James Shippy
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eugene Bullard lived one of the most fascinating lives of the 20th century. The son of a former slave and an indigenous Creek woman, Bullard fled home at the age of 11 to escape the racial hostility of his Georgia community. When his journey led him to Europe, he garnered worldwide fame as a boxer, and later as the first African-American fighter pilot in history. After the war, Bullard returned to Paris a celebrated hero. But little did he know that the dramatic, globe-spanning arc of his life had just begun.
-
-
Fascinating
- By Daniel on 08-23-20
By: Phil Keith, and others
-
Ivan's War
- Life and Death in the Red Army, 1939-1945
- By: Catherine Merridale
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 16 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Of the 30 million who fought in the eastern front of World War II, 8 million died, driven forward in suicidal charges, shattered by German shells and tanks. They were the men and women of the Red Army, a ragtag mass of soldiers who confronted Europe's most lethal fighting force and by 1945 had defeated it. Sixty years have passed since their epic triumph, but the heart and mind of Ivan - as the ordinary Russian soldier was called-remain a mystery. We know something about how the soldiers died, but nearly nothing about how they lived, how they saw the world, or why they fought.
-
-
Bird's eye view of the Eastern Front in WW2.
- By Mike From Mesa on 01-16-20
-
A More Unbending Battle
- The Harlem Hellfighter's Struggle for Freedom in WWI and Equality at Home
- By: Peter Nelson
- Narrated by: Jarvis Hooten
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The night broke open in a storm of explosions and fire. The sound of shells whizzing overhead, screeching through the night like wounded pheasants, was terrifying. When the shells exploded prematurely overhead, a rain of shrapnel fell on the men below better than when the shells exploded in the trenches...
-
-
Great
- By Bryce Odell on 06-05-17
By: Peter Nelson
-
A Worse Place than Hell
- How the Civil War Battle of Fredericksburg Changed a Nation
- By: John Matteson
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 21 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
December 1862 drove the United States toward a breaking point. The Battle of Fredericksburg shattered Union forces and Northern confidence. As Abraham Lincoln's government threatened to fracture, this critical moment also tested five extraordinary individuals whose lives reflect the soul of a nation. The changes they underwent led to profound repercussions in the country's law, literature, politics, and popular mythology. Taken together, their stories offer a striking restatement of what it means to be American.
-
-
Fantastic Intertwining!
- By Peter H. Christensen on 09-02-21
By: John Matteson
-
We Gotta Get Out of This Place
- The Soundtrack of the Vietnam War
- By: Doug Bradley, Craig Werner
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For a Kentucky rifleman who spent his tour trudging through Vietnam's Central Highlands, it was Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'". For a "tunnel rat" who blew smoke into the Viet Cong's underground tunnels, it was Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze". For a black marine distraught over the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., it was Aretha Franklin's "Chain of Fools".
-
-
Running on Empty
- By Oregonian on 04-04-19
By: Doug Bradley, and others
-
Rites of Spring
- The Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age
- By: Modris Eksteins
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 14 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dazzling in its originality, Rites of Spring probes the origins, impact, and aftermath of World War I from the premiere of Stravinsky's ballet "The Rite of Spring" in 1913 to the death of Hitler in 1945. "The Great War", as Modris Eksteins writes, "was the psychological turning point...for modernism as a whole. The urge to create and the urge to destroy had changed places."
-
-
Fantastic
- By Anonymous User on 11-17-17
By: Modris Eksteins
-
All Blood Runs Red
- The Legendary Life of Eugene Bullard-Boxer, Pilot, Soldier, Spy
- By: Phil Keith, Tom Clavin
- Narrated by: James Shippy
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eugene Bullard lived one of the most fascinating lives of the 20th century. The son of a former slave and an indigenous Creek woman, Bullard fled home at the age of 11 to escape the racial hostility of his Georgia community. When his journey led him to Europe, he garnered worldwide fame as a boxer, and later as the first African-American fighter pilot in history. After the war, Bullard returned to Paris a celebrated hero. But little did he know that the dramatic, globe-spanning arc of his life had just begun.
-
-
Fascinating
- By Daniel on 08-23-20
By: Phil Keith, and others
-
Ivan's War
- Life and Death in the Red Army, 1939-1945
- By: Catherine Merridale
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 16 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Of the 30 million who fought in the eastern front of World War II, 8 million died, driven forward in suicidal charges, shattered by German shells and tanks. They were the men and women of the Red Army, a ragtag mass of soldiers who confronted Europe's most lethal fighting force and by 1945 had defeated it. Sixty years have passed since their epic triumph, but the heart and mind of Ivan - as the ordinary Russian soldier was called-remain a mystery. We know something about how the soldiers died, but nearly nothing about how they lived, how they saw the world, or why they fought.
-
-
Bird's eye view of the Eastern Front in WW2.
- By Mike From Mesa on 01-16-20
-
A More Unbending Battle
- The Harlem Hellfighter's Struggle for Freedom in WWI and Equality at Home
- By: Peter Nelson
- Narrated by: Jarvis Hooten
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The night broke open in a storm of explosions and fire. The sound of shells whizzing overhead, screeching through the night like wounded pheasants, was terrifying. When the shells exploded prematurely overhead, a rain of shrapnel fell on the men below better than when the shells exploded in the trenches...
-
-
Great
- By Bryce Odell on 06-05-17
By: Peter Nelson
-
A Worse Place than Hell
- How the Civil War Battle of Fredericksburg Changed a Nation
- By: John Matteson
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 21 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
December 1862 drove the United States toward a breaking point. The Battle of Fredericksburg shattered Union forces and Northern confidence. As Abraham Lincoln's government threatened to fracture, this critical moment also tested five extraordinary individuals whose lives reflect the soul of a nation. The changes they underwent led to profound repercussions in the country's law, literature, politics, and popular mythology. Taken together, their stories offer a striking restatement of what it means to be American.
-
-
Fantastic Intertwining!
- By Peter H. Christensen on 09-02-21
By: John Matteson
-
Invisible Heroes of World War II
- Extraordinary Wartime Stories of Ordinary People
- By: Jerry Borrowman
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 5 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Invisible Heroes of World War II documents 10 fascinating true stories of a diverse group of soldiers and noncombatants from all over the world, including African Americans, women, and Native Americans, who fought with the Allies during World War II. These heroes made significant contributions in the war effort, and sometimes gave their lives for freedom and liberty, often without much recognition or fanfare. All served with valor and distinction as part of the massive Allied forces who fought to free the world from tyranny and oppression.
-
-
EXCELLENT AND INSPIRING!
- By B. ADAMS on 12-22-20
By: Jerry Borrowman
-
Tolkien and the Great War
- The Threshold of Middle-earth
- By: John Garth
- Narrated by: John Garth
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tolkien and the Great War tells for the first time the full story of how he embarked on the creation of Middle-earth in his youth as the world around him was plunged into catastrophe. This biography reveals the horror and heroism that he experienced as a signals officer in the Battle of the Somme and introduces the circle of friends who spurred his mythology to life.
-
-
Excellent Text Frustratingly Recorded
- By Timothy Ortopan on 05-09-18
By: John Garth
-
Our Mothers' War
- American Women at Home and at the Front During World War II
- By: Emily Yellin
- Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
- Length: 18 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Our Mothers' War is an eye-opening and moving portrait of women during World War II, a war that forever transformed the way women participate in American society. Never before has the vast range of women's experiences during this pivotal era been brought together in one book.
-
-
Amazing
- By Sam I on 02-04-22
By: Emily Yellin
-
Saving My Enemy
- How Two WWII Soldiers Fought Against Each Other and Later Forged a Friendship that Saved Their Lives
- By: Bob Welch
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Saving My Enemy is the touching true story of two soldiers on opposite sides of WWII whose unlikely friendship, forged in their 80s, dissolves six decades of guilt and shame that had pushed both men to despair.
-
-
Our story!
- By Marianne McNally on 04-27-21
By: Bob Welch
-
The Price of Valor
- The Life of Audie Murphy, America's Most Decorated Hero of World War II
- By: David Smith
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 6 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When he was 17 years old, Audie Murphy falsified his birth records so that he could enlist in the army and help defeat the Nazis. When he was 19, he single-handedly turned back the German army at the Battle of Colmar Pocket by climbing on top of a tank with a machine gun, a moment immortalized in the classic film To Hell and Back, starring Audie himself.
-
-
Horrible, Simplistic
- By Kathy Perow on 10-02-16
By: David Smith
-
The Rest Is Noise
- Listening to the 20th Century
- By: Alex Ross
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 23 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Rest Is Noise takes the listener inside the labyrinth of modern music, from turn-of-the-century Vienna to downtown New York in the '60s and '70s. We meet the maverick personalities and follow the rise of mass culture on this sweeping tour of 20th-century history through its music.
-
-
Learned so much!
- By Paula on 02-18-08
By: Alex Ross
-
The York Patrol
- The Real Story of Alvin York and the Unsung Heroes Who Made Him World War I's Most Famous Soldier
- By: James Carl Nelson
- Narrated by: Jacques Roy
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the vein of Band of Brothers and American Sniper, a riveting history of Alvin York, the World War I legend who killed two dozen Germans and captured more than 100, detailing York's heroics yet also restoring the unsung heroes of his patrol to their rightful place in history - from renowned World War I historian James Carl Nelson.
-
-
So many regiments & divisions
- By Pat Newell on 01-26-23
-
Mobituaries
- By: Mo Rocca
- Narrated by: Mo Rocca
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mo Rocca has always loved obituaries - reading about the remarkable lives of global leaders, Hollywood heavyweights, and innovators who changed the world. But not every notable life has gotten the send-off it deserves. His quest to right that wrong inspired Mobituaries, his number one hit podcast. Now with Mobituaries, the audiobook, he has gone much further, with all new essays on artists, entertainers, sports stars, political pioneers, founding fathers, and more. Even if you know the names, you’ve never understood why they matter...until now.
-
-
Very good, but.....
- By Christopher on 11-15-19
By: Mo Rocca
-
Biggest Brother
- The Life of Major Dick Winters, the Man Who Led the Band of Brothers
- By: Larry Alexander
- Narrated by: Traber Burns
- Length: 13 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They were Easy Company, 101st Army Airborne - the World War II fighting unit legendary for their bravery against nearly insurmountable odds and their loyalty to one another in the face of death. Every soldier in this band of brothers looked to one man for leadership, devotion to duty, and the embodiment of courage: Major Dick Winters. This is the riveting story of an ordinary man who became an extraordinary hero.
-
-
Excellent!
- By Vera Family on 09-24-21
By: Larry Alexander
-
Elton John
- The Biography
- By: David Buckley
- Narrated by: Simon Shepherd
- Length: 16 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Elton John is as much loved for his outrageous personality and witty outspokenness as for his music. Such shamelessness and sheer silliness rivals anything uttered by punk rockers, yet it is so typically Elton: honest and intemperate. Tragedy and heartbreak have played a large part in his life. Behind the parties, the hedonism, the lavish stage costumes, and silly glasses lies a more somber story. Between disputes with managers, legal wranglings, public breakups, and divorce, John has been faced with serious health problems and drug addictions.
-
-
Trite!
- By michael mckone on 08-04-22
By: David Buckley
-
Shakespeare in a Divided America
- What His Plays Tell Us About Our Past and Future
- By: James Shapiro
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The plays of William Shakespeare are rare common ground in the United States. For well over two centuries, Americans of all stripes—presidents and activists, soldiers and writers, conservatives and liberals alike—have turned to Shakespeare’s works to explore the nation’s fault lines. In a narrative arching from Revolutionary times to the present day, leading scholar James Shapiro traces the unparalleled role of Shakespeare’s four-hundred-year-old tragedies and comedies in illuminating the many concerns on which American identity has turned.
-
-
An Entertaining History Lesson
- By David on 08-17-20
By: James Shapiro
-
Congo Mercenary
- By: Mike Hoare
- Narrated by: Mike Hoare
- Length: 13 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Col. Mike Hoare tells how his force of mercenaries, 5 Commando, put down a Comunist-backed rebel uprising in the Congo. As they restored law and order, town by town, he and his men freed 1800 nuns and priests. His men also learned what it means to be real soldiers.
-
-
Nice to hear an unapologetic account
- By S. H. Moore on 01-16-20
By: Mike Hoare