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Shadow Warriors of World War II
- Narrator
- Kate Reading
- Publisher
- Blackstone Publishing
- Publish Date
- 1 January 2017
- Run Time
- 11 hours 34 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
They were told that the only crime they must never commit was to be caught. Women of enormous cunning and strength of will, the Shadow Warriors’ stories have remained largely untold—until now. In a dramatic tale of espionage and conspiracy in World War II, Shadow Warriors of World War II unveils the history of the courageous women who volunteered to work behind enemy lines.
Sent into Nazi-occupied Europe by the United States’ Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and Britain’s Special Operations Executive (SOE), these women helped establish a web of resistance groups across the continent. Their extraordinary heroism, initiative, and resourcefulness contributed to the Allied breakout of the Normandy beachheads and even infiltrated Nazi Germany at the height of the war, into the very heart of Hitler’s citadel—Berlin. Young and daring, the female agents accepted that they could be captured, tortured, or killed, but others were always readied to take their place. So effective did the female agents become in their efforts, the Germans placed a price of a million francs on the heads of operatives who were successfully disrupting their troops.
Critics Review
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“With a master storyteller’s skill, Reading immerses listeners in the lives of a group of the mostly unknown but courageous young women who became spies, couriers, cryptographers, analysts, and resistance fighters for the Allies in WWII…Reading’s accented portrayals characterize the varied cast…in a reading that matches the brisk pace of the account.”
Booklist (starred audio review)
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“Narrator Kate Reading tells their stories with a touch of the famous British stiff upper lip. It creates a sense of their duty and bravery.”
AudioFile
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“Impressively informed and informative. Exceptionally well written, organized, and presented, Shadow Warriors of World War II is strongly and unreservedly recommended.”
Midwest Book Review
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“An invaluable historical account, shedding light on the heroism and bravery of the women spies who helped usher the Allied forces toward a victory.”
ForeWord magazine
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“Award-winning journalists Thomas and Lewis bring their talent for telling detail and brisk pacing to an engrossing history…[drawn] from official records, memoirs, diaries, and letters…Spies were taught how to pick locks, reassemble documents from scraps in trash baskets, live off the land, manage a safe landing in a parachute, make a cast of a key in a bar of soap, and canvass surroundings using a shop window’s reflection…The authors make a strong case for the importance of these women to the course of war, offering a fresh perspective on military history. A welcome addition to WWII literature.”
Kirkus Reviews
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“There is no shortage of suspense and agony, all written in a smooth and easy-to-read style.”
Internet Review of Books
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“What gives this book weight is the interweaving of the SOE and OSS narratives, all too much divorced in histories of the secret war.”
Clare Mulley, author of The Spy Who Loved
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Gordon Thomas, Greg Lewis
- Narrator
- Kate Reading
- Duration
- 11 hours 34 minutes
- Release Date
- 1 January 2017
- ISBN
- 9781504683708
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Blackstone Publishing
- Genre
- Second World War, Biography: historical, political and military, True war and combat stories, Social and cultural history, Gender studies: women and girls
Synopsis
They were told that the only crime they must never commit was to be caught. Women of enormous cunning and strength of will, the Shadow Warriors’ stories have remained largely untold—until now. In a dramatic tale of espionage and conspiracy in World War II, Shadow Warriors of World War II unveils the history of the courageous women who volunteered to work behind enemy lines.Sent into Nazi-occupied Europe by the United States’ Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and Britain’s Special Operations Executive (SOE), these women helped establish a web of resistance groups across the continent. Their extraordinary heroism, initiative, and resourcefulness contributed to the Allied breakout of the Normandy beachheads and even infiltrated Nazi Germany at the height of the war, into the very heart of Hitler’s citadel—Berlin. Young and daring, the female agents accepted that they could be captured, tortured, or killed, but others were always readied to take their place. So effective did the female agents become in their efforts, the Germans placed a price of a million francs on the heads of operatives who were successfully disrupting their troops.
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