Rogue Heroes

The History of the SAS, Britain's Secret Special Forces Unit That Sabotaged the Nazis and Changed the Nature of War

By: Ben Macintyre

Narrated by: Ben Macintyre

Length: 13 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

2016 Gilder Lehrman Prize for Military History

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER •

The incredible untold story of World War II’s greatest secret fighting force, as told by the modern master of wartime intrigue—now a limited series on Epix!

“Reads like a mashup of The Dirty Dozen and The Great Escape, with a sprinkling of Ocean’s 11 thrown in for good measure.”—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

ONE OF NPR’S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR • “Rogue Heroes is a ripping good read.”—Washington Post (10 Best Books of the Year)

Britain’s Special Air Service—or SAS—was the brainchild of David Stirling, a young aristocrat whose aimlessness belied a remarkable strategic mind. Where most of his colleagues looked at a World War II battlefield map and saw a protracted struggle, Stirling saw an opportunity: given a small number of elite men, he could parachute behind Nazi lines and sabotage their airplanes and supplies. Defying his superiors’ conventional wisdom, Stirling assembled a revolutionary fighting force that would upend not just the balance of the war, but the nature of combat itself.

Bringing his keen eye for detail to a riveting wartime narrative, Ben Macintyre uses his unprecedented access to the SAS archives to shine a light on a legendary unit long shrouded in secrecy.

©2016 Ben Macintyre (P)2016 Random House Audio

Inventing behind the lives warfare

Ben MacIntyre reports and tells riveting stories about subjects that are widely know about but not necessarily deeply known or understood. And his story-telling and narrative are supported with details of people and actions that legitimize the wildest of tales. The development and growth of the SAS was so compelling in the early years, I was almost sorry to see the war in African come to an end.

Rogue heroes

This story is very informative as to how the SAS became to be. I would recommend it to any history buff. It was interesting learning how the SAS came to be and the history of the people who were involved.

funny and very dark

you will find this account both funny and disturbing, graphic to the actions of ww2

An incredible History of Incredible Men

The Author tells his story in a bit of a drone but WHAT a Story! Be warned, He covers the exploits of the SAS brilliantly but also includes the human cost of them and spares no details on a mostly hidden chapter of WWII.
Highly recommend

Captivating history of the SAS

This was a fantastic book. Excellent job by the narrator. This book does a great job of going into the genesis of Special Air Services, along with many tales of battle, as well as the captivating and compelling individuals that made up the SAS from the beginning.

Outstanding Book about Outstanding Men

This is a powerful book About the inception of a new type of fighting force. A kind of force which provides an absolutely critical role even today.

The narration was excellent. Well pasted, Clear, and engaging.

I really enjoyed how this book peeled back the layers of death about these complicated men. Yes, all these men were heroes. But just as importantly, they all had their flaws, and we’re all too human.

I think it’s particularly relevant now, especially when we have so much of the western world attempting to tear down their history, expecting these historical figures to hold up to ideals no one could hope to achieve.

This book makes you understand that we wouldn’t be in a position to critically second-guess all of these spectacular yet flawed men, had not these type of man done the things necessary to ensure our ultimate survival.

I very much recommend this book, particularly the Audible.

An outstanding accurate story

The true exploits of these men is beyond nearly description. Very well read and easy to follow. The last chapter with the post war stories of the men is excellent.

Well written and well read

Amazing story of bravery and grit. The craziest bits seem to be the most real. Worth your time.

The Gold Standard of what every audio book aspires!

Absolutely the best of the many audio books I’ve listened to over the years. Even if you are not generally interested in military history, you will love the story so skillfully crafted and delivered.

This was an amazing, entertaining, and deeply moving work.

Good read. Needs more detail/relevance.

I wasn’t looking for SAS but this book was there and audible. If you are looking for a specific SAS or North Africa campaign you should read/listen to this book. If you are looking for general WW2… Martin Middlebrook does a good job in the European air campaign. Ian Toll does a fantastic job in the pacific theatre. Dan Carlin is a good option for a WW2 podcast. For me this book was too general and needed more research and more detail/relevance. An SAS raid destroying 20-30 planes needs to be more statistical - how many planes were in NA? The SAS team was crazy = yes. But I do not believe the author identified that from day 1 these men were considered expendable. So would you not be crazy to sign up?

Just can’t give if the typical rubber stamp. Good - Yes. Not great.