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)

Great book and an amazing story!

In our current societal climate, this story is a reminder that one good action can have a lasting and profound impact. It is a hopeful story when we are constantly bombarded by stories of man's inhumanity to man.

The narrator does a great job with inflection, accents and overall storytelling. Listen to this book and you won't be disappointed!

Great read

This book had goog description of characters who are real. This book also took you through the story with excitement and a sense of humanity.

A Must Read/Listen! Humanity at its Finest!!!

I don’t remember ever being so glad that I thought wrongly. I thought this might be boring, but I Love True Stories. So I gave it a try.
It is a captivating story that is Well Written and Well Read.
I wholeheartedly recommend this book!!!

Great WWII book

I love detailed non fiction history books, and decided to try this one out since it was included for free with my Audible membership. I’m so happy that I did. This is a wonderful reminder of the sacrifice of the Greatest Generation. It’s a shame that there aren’t many of them left.

This book is also a helpful reminder that there were good men on the German side that didn’t follow the Nazi party, they were simply fighting for their homeland.

Also…. As a Catholic myself, I found the role the church played in defying Hitler another interesting area of facts I was thankful to discover.

Way Unbelievable True Story!

God of the world and everything in it, Lord of heaven and earth, surely had these men in His strong right hand for a great purpose. I am confident that at least Charlie knew this truth.

Touching and interesting perspective on things

This was a great book and I'd highly recommend it to anyone interested in WWII or aviation of that era.

It provides a very interesting perspective, showing the decline and fall of the Luftwaffe from the perspective of a German fighter pilot. It provided me some insights I hadn't come across before.

It also gave some good insights from the perspective of an American bomber pilot and then showed a very touching scene of humanity between the two.

The closing of the book is quite touching.

Narration was very good.

Story of humanity in war

I picked this book because it was a true story. This was a wonderful story on honor and humanity in war-I cried at the end for men of this true story-honorable until the end of their lives.

Changed my thoughts just a bit…

War is ugly….but you can always find God if you just look. There were my tears in the end. Tears of compassion for another. War is just so ugly

A great reminder of what it means to be human.

Wonderful story, well told and a talented narrator. We need more stories like this. Let’s focus on what unites us humans as opposed to what may divide us. Loved it!

Wow!

A Higher Calling, rivals the work of Stephen Ambrose, and other top writers, in terms of meticulous research, and a compelling, “can’t put it down“ story. Loved it!