Bob Marean

Of the 200 books I have listened to, this is the first that I have rated.

I was really looking forward to this, but was very disappointed. It seemed to me as if the authors were trying very hard to prove how difficult a time it was and what horror the men were going through... so hard that they belabored the point and I kept finding myself saying "I get the point...let's get on with it..."

Frankly, the story itself is enough to prove their point. The belaboring almost trivializes it and makes me as a reader/listener feel as if I must need this reinforcement to get the picture.

Character development I felt was sophomoric at best. They didn't feel real, but rather were idealized to the point of rediculousness.

Callista was a horrible reader in this instance. Everytime I heard her it made me think that Newt must have written her part as a reader into the contract. And it just didn't work.

The best part of the book was the straight forward reading of Thomas Paine's "The Crisis" at the end of the book. Well read, meaningful, and interesting.