On Wave and Wing

The 100 Year Quest to Perfect the Aircraft Carrier

By: Barrett Tillman

Narrated by: Peter Berkrot

Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

What defended the US after the attack on Pearl Harbor, defeated the Soviet Union in the Cold War, and is an essential tool in the fight against terror? Aircraft carriers.

For 70 years, these ships remained a little-understood cornerstone of American power. In his latest book, On Wave and Wing, Barrett Tillman sheds light on the history of these floating leviathans and offers a nuanced analysis of the largest man-made vessel in the history of the world.

©2017 Barrett Tillman (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Go Navy

I am a United States Navy Veteran that deployed three times on three different aircraft carriers. the nostalgia of hearing about your ships before and after you were aboard them and the aircraft that I maintained, was unexpectedly heart warning. I will most likely listen again to sr if I can retain some of the many facts and stories this book was filled with. Have I been saying Oriskany wrong all these years, I don't know.

How come readers of the story cannot pronounce words?!

The fact that this guy can’t say Grumman and Oriskany are just two of many words that he cannot pronounce yet he’s reading a story about Naval aviation. Obviously he has no interest in naval aviation or history because he is mispronouncing words that people who study and are into Naval aviation history know. He can’t pronounce Tarawa, he can’t pronounce Tinian and several other words. And while it’s a great story and he does have a great voice his lack of knowledge and lack of pronunciation makes it very offputting

100th Anniversary of the Aircraft Carrier

This book provides an overview of the history of the aircraft carrier. The first plane to launch from a ship was in 1910. The first carrier was launched one hundred years ago in 1917. Tillman proceeds to tell us about the changes to the carrier that have occurred over the past one hundred years. This is a good review to provide a prospective to the current debate regarding the carrier. Has its cost and size gotten too big? Are smaller and more carriers better?


The book is well written and researched. Tillman covers the carrier, the planes and the key battles fought by carriers over the years. Tillman is a well-known naval historian. What country had the first carrier? I am not going to tell; you will need to read the book. You will be surprised by the answer.

The book is nine and a half hours long. Peter Berkrot does a good job narrating the book. Berkrot is an actor, voice-over artist and award-winning audiobook narrator.

Good history detracted by annoying narration

Narration does not sound serious.

This makes it difficult to listen to and absorb.

Would be better narrating Ripley’s Believe it or not, or celebrity lifestyles.

Good but leave out personal political opinions.

Great book that drove into the history and gave lots of facts. Tended to bash and state opinions on Republican administration's negatively. Could have done without that. Otherwise, very good book.

Good listen... performance... meh...

Enjoyed the info. Well researched. The end of each chapter was the best. The last few chapters and the epilogue made the book...

Narrater left much to be desired. Was like the guy took a break from action movie previews to do this book. The same tone killed me and really made it hard to focus on the story...

Over all very good book. Good and timely summaries. Brought up lots of very good conclusions.

Horrible production quality

The narrator for this audiobook is so bad that not only does he mispronounced common words such abut sometimes he even manages to mispronounce them in multiple ways.

The publishers of audiobooks to take the time to let subject matter experts listen to the final recording before they are released.

Nice historical review of Aircraft Carriers

The review of carrier development and history. At times, it's history is overwhelming, and at others it's a good story.

WORST NARRATION EVAR. Buy the Kindle or Real Book.

Any additional comments?

Sounds like the unholy demon spawn of William Shatner, Casey Casom and Wolfman Jack. No, seriously, listen to it for 5 minutes and tell me if you don't hear the worst characteristics of all three of these men rolled up into this narration. It's a damn shame too because the book and the story seem pretty good. I am still struggling to listen to it though because of the narration. I may have to go buy this one on kindle just so I can read the story without the Wolfman Jack distractions. I can't believe I paid to have this done to me...

Great writing, Terrible narrator.

Can't stand this narrator. Reads everything in an overdramatic winded tone, and clearly refuses to do even a little research on say and pronounce basic things. Book is great, go buy the Kindle or hardcopy version though.