A Higher Call

An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II

By: Adam Makos

Narrated by: Robertson Dean

Length: 13 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER: “Beautifully told.”—CNN • “A remarkable story…worth retelling and celebrating.”—USA Today • “Oh, it’s a good one!”—Fox News

A beautiful story of a brotherhood between enemies emerges from the horrors of World War II in this New York Times bestseller by the author of Devotion, now a Major Motion Picture.

Four days before Christmas in 1943, a badly damaged American bomber struggled to fly over wartime Germany. At its controls was a twenty-one-year-old pilot. Half his crew lay wounded or dead. It was their first mission. Suddenly a sleek, dark shape pulled up on the bomber’s tail—a German Messerschmitt fighter. Worse, the German pilot was an ace, a man able to destroy the American bomber with the squeeze of a trigger. What happened next would defy imagination and later be called the most incredible encounter between enemies in World War II.

This is the true story of the two pilots whose lives collided in the skies that day—the American—Second Lieutenant Charlie Brown, a former farm boy from West Virginia who came to captain a B-17—and the German—Second Lieutenant Franz Stigler, a former airline pilot from Bavaria who sought to avoid fighting in World War II.

A Higher Call follows both Charlie and Franz’s harrowing missions. Charlie would face takeoffs in English fog over the flaming wreckage of his buddies’ planes, flak bursts so close they would light his cockpit, and packs of enemy fighters that would circle his plane like sharks. Franz would face sandstorms in the desert, a crash alone at sea, and the spectacle of one thousand bombers, each with eleven guns, waiting for his attack.

Ultimately, Charlie and Franz would stare across the frozen skies at one another. What happened between them, the American Eighth Air Force would later classify as top secret. It was an act that Franz could never mention without facing a firing squad. It was the encounter that would haunt both Charlie and Franz for forty years until, as old men, they would search for one another, a last mission that could change their lives forever.

©2012 Adam Makos (P)2013 Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

Critic reviews

“This book grips you like a movie. It’s part Top Gun, part Valkyrie, and more!”(Marcus Brotherton, New York Times best-selling author

“It is often said that ‘war is hell’ - and it is - however, this story reveals how the human spirit can shine in the darkest hours. A Higher Call is an eye-opener.” (Col. Charles McGee, Tuskegee Airman, WWII)

“‘Can good men be found on both sides of a bad war?’ The author asks the question and delivers the answer. A powerful, haunting read.” (Chuck Tatum, author of Red Blood, Black Sand)

Amazing and eye-opening perspective…

My dad was in World War II, such a great visual picture of German pilots and their chivalry. Refreshing perspective, riveting, had a hard time putting it down.

Fantastic.

A really GREAT story and narration was dead on. Few are this good. Filled in a lot of blanks for me on the WWII air war from the 'other side'. Thanks!

Worth the Listen

This was a story worth hearing. Today’s world is struggling and if we had men and women with this kind of tolerance and love in their hearts, we could maybe turn it around in the right direction.

Fantastic Air Force book

A great story of heroics, honor and war. Great to know the real actions of American and German pilots in WW ll.

Excellent story!

Truly amazing how those young men crawled into those airplanes and went to battle knowing that the deck was stacked against them before leaving the ground. Both sides. The Germans and the Allies forces.

Tears to my eyes

A great story, the conflict of mankind and how a few egos can lead to such pain. Yet in all humanity good people are still here.

Absolutely amazing and a celebration of universal brotherhood!

This is one of the best books that I have ever read about World War II aviators. From both viewpoints American and German you’ll
be transfixed by this human interest story.

Honor

One of the finest books I’ve read and listen. I wish more people in the world would read it, to include our leaders.

Fantastic!

I don’t know what to expect from this title and was very pleased by this book. The story is well written and intriguingly heartwarming. The attention to detail and description of action and character depiction are top notch.

The narrative performance makes this a very enjoyable audio book.

I highly recommend this title!

The best of mankind.

Loved the double perspective!! This makes you realize how much in common we really have.