• An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa (1942-1943)

  • The Liberation Trilogy, Volume 1
  • By: Rick Atkinson
  • Narrated by: George Guidall
  • Length: 26 hrs and 5 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (2,533 ratings)

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An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa (1942-1943)  By  cover art

An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa (1942-1943)

By: Rick Atkinson
Narrated by: George Guidall
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Publisher's summary

Pulitzer Prize, History, 2003

The liberation of Europe and the destruction of the Third Reich is a story of courage and enduring triumph, of calamity and miscalculation. In this first volume of the Liberation Trilogy, Rick Atkinson shows why no modern learner can understand the ultimate victory of the Allied powers without a grasp of the great drama that unfolded in North Africa in 1942 and 1943. That first year of the Allied war was a pivotal point in American history, the moment when the United States began to act like a great power.

Beginning with the daring amphibious invasion in November 1942, An Army at Dawn follows the American and British armies as they fight the French in Morocco and Algeria, and then take on the Germans and Italians in Tunisia. Battle by battle, an inexperienced and sometimes poorly led army gradually becomes a superb fighting force. Central to the tale are the extraordinary but fallible commanders who come to dominate the battlefield: Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley, Montgomery, and Rommel.

Brilliantly researched, rich with new material and vivid insights, Atkinson's narrative provides the definitive history of the war in North Africa.

An Army at Dawn is the winner of the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for History.

©2002 Rick Atkinson; 2013 Simon and Schuster

What listeners say about An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa (1942-1943)

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Well Done!

What did you love best about An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa (1942-1943)?

This is a superb book and a fine performance! It badly needed A PDF. I'm not at all familiar with the African campaigns. A boatload of information. Fascinating. Well Drawn.

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Wow!

This is an important and incredibly well done book. I am going to the next book now.

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Great personalized history

Author did excellent research and presented a well thought through timeline of events. Personalized most of the events, bringing readers into the story even further. I loved the production, it was well edited and flowed very well.

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Great Read

I had the feeling that I was a live witness to the events and people portrayed.

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Evan's Review

If you like US History and WW2 Rick does a great job is going through the events of North Africa Campaign. One important point of the Campaign was we where not ready for War in 1942. I recommend the book along with the other two in the Series.

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Great book

Fantastic story from our struggle in the early part of the second world war. Very well written.

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Incredible

Amazing detail and read very well. The little side stories keep it interesting and never distract but add substance to the overall tale.

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Excellent account

Really enjoyed it, cheers. Seems quite in line with what I’ve been taught, and Atkinson has delivered quite the piece.

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America's First Major Act in Europe

Without having read any books specifically about the American campaigns in North Africa, An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa (1942-1943) was very helpful to me by filling in a gap in my literary exposure to WWII. I look forward to continuing Mr. Rick Atkinson's trilogy with The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy (1943-1944) which covers another area of WWII of which I know little. The reader, George Guidall, is very good to my ear.

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Most Excellent

Thoroughly informative, rich in history, I can honestly recommend this work. May we never hear of another such war, as World War Two….

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