The Last 100 Days

The Tumultuous and Controversial Story of the Final Days of World War II in Europe

By: John Toland

Narrated by: Ralph Cosham

Length: 27 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

A dramatic countdown of the final months of World War II in Europe, The Last 100 Days brings to life the waning power and theultimate submission of the Third Reich. To reconstruct the tumultuous hundreddays between Yalta and the fall of Berlin, John Toland traveled more than 100,000 miles in twenty-one countries and interviewed more than six hundred people - from Hitler's personal chauffeur to Generals von Manteuffel, Wenck, andHeinrici; from underground leaders to diplomats; from top Allied fieldcommanders to brave young GIs. Toland adeptly wove together these interviewsusing research from thousands of primary sources.

When it was first published, The Last 100 Days madehistory, revealing after-action reports, staff journals, and top-secretmessages and personal documents previously unavailable to historians. Sincethat time it has come to be regarded as one of the greatest historicalnarratives of the twentieth century.

©1966 John Toland (P)2014 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

A human & in-depth look at the end of WWII in ETO.

If you could sum up The Last 100 Days in three words, what would they be?

Intriguing, poor audio

What did you like best about this story?

A comprehensive look at the last 100 Days of Hilter's Third Reich and readers will find themselves fascinated by the events of these last months which are often forgotten in many histories. The use of interviews and diaries give a human voice to the British, Germans, and Americans. Unfortunately, the Russians are rarely presented as anything more than an alien noun and remain a mystery.

What aspect of Ralph Cosham’s performance would you have changed?

The audio quality varies as re-recordings are obvious and the transitions are jarring. The performer has a lisp that was at first annoying, but gradually grows on the listener.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The presentation of the Yalta conference demonstrated that the "Big Three", Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin were men who could be given to fits of humor as well as frustration.

Don't Listen to the Complainers about the Narrator

Would you listen to The Last 100 Days again? Why?

Yes. Great story. Well told. Well narrated. A truly fascinating look into the end of the european war.

What does Ralph Cosham bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Ralph is a very good narrator. His pronunciation of foreign words is great. He is a clear speaker. I truly don't understand the complaints about his "boring" narration.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

It's a 27 hour book. Maybe you might want to sleep and eat at times.

Any additional comments?

Highly recommended!!

Excellent book!

If you could sum up The Last 100 Days in three words, what would they be?

A riveting account.

What did you like best about this story?

It was very informative.

What does Ralph Cosham bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I ws not bored by his reading of the book. It was excellently read.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The story of the failed rescue of Gen. Patton's son in law.

Any additional comments?

It is well worth the time spent.

Overall Good 4/5

I found most of the material was meetings between the higher ranking military leaders and politicians, most of which Ive heard before. This is a general retelling of the events and decisions and made by the leaders of the warring nations and their reactions and not a collection of personal experiences. If youre new to the subject i would recommend however if you are a seasoned reader of World War Two History you might want to pass this up for something more detailed. The narration changed tones drastically at times during the reading, even if it was for only one sentence. Not a hindrance but more of an annoyance

Excellent History, Poor Audio Editing

This would be an obvious 5 star book based on the excellent historical work of the author, combined with his great narrative skills. The narrator is excellent. However, there are hundreds and hundreds of poorly matched "voice over" re-recordings of a phrase here and there which really detract from the listening experience. Imagine a film with jumpy and sudden cuts from one scene to the next. That would be understandable in the early days of audio books, but this was done by Blackstone in 2014. Hard to believe the sound editing is so bad. Again, no issue with the terrific narrator though. It's not his fault.

A remarkable and thorough accounting of the ending days of WWII in Europe.

As life long history buff of WWII, especially in the European theater, I see this book as a stunningly picture of how the last 100 days of WWII ended.
It is so unique and through, it kept me glued to it, watching to see how much I had left to read.
The mountains of new material , released long after the war, were like a miracle in one dramatic way. Because of the voluminous, new, information that had been released and unearthed from German files, on had the remarkable that they were almost living those hours.
We learn what plans the Allies had on, say November 15, 1944 through messages, phone calls and other records, unseen before the late 60s. And then, to my shock and delight, the German records of the same day give a crystal clear picture of what they were doing in what was later called, The Battle of they Bulge.
It is a glorious read.
Of course, maps would have been nice. I will listen to this book again when I have collected the maps that will further enhance the story.
If you want the most intimate, day by day plans from opposing sides, do not let yourself go another day without getting this most rewarding read.

END OF WWII/JAN 6TH . . .

COULD NOT HELP COMPARING THE TWO EVENTS — I LEARNED A TON AS LISTENED TO THE ACCOUNTS OF BOTH . . .

More the sum of the parts

This book is, as of this review, about 50 years old and hence the information tends to be a bit out of date. Mr Toland interviewed hundreds of people in the writing of this book and some of what is written was new and ground-breaking at the time, but subsequent accounts have tended to modify some of what is written or to at least put a different light on the subjects. In addition many newer books cover the same ground as in this book, even if with a slightly different view. Nonetheless this is a good book and covers much of what happened during the last 100 days of the European Theater of World War II.

Rather than a direct history of the ending of the war in Europe Mr Toland decided to present the ending days of World War II as a series of vignettes, each representing one part of the final days of The Third Reich, and this format works very well and presents information often not covered in normal histories of this period. For example there is a section on the greatest sea tragedy of World War II in Europe - the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff and its mostly civilian passengers by a Soviet submarine, we see into the minds of many of the German commanders who are given impossible orders by German generals who seem to have lost contact with reality and we see the tragedy of Poland, again to be betrayed, this time by the West. All in all this produces a history which is greater than just the sum of the individual pieces.

The book is narrated by Ralph Cosham who seems to have gotten some very bad reviews on this website. I have several histories that Mr Cosham has narrated and, in those as well as this, he does a fine job. However this particular book suffers from having what is perhaps the worst sound track of any of my many Audible books. The narration is a patchwork of cuts and re-recordings and the reader is constantly subjected to narration that changes in pitch and sound and these changes are very annoying. I do not blame Mr Cosham but it almost appears as though something happened to the original recording in places and Mr Cosham has had to constantly insert small segments into the original recording. Those changes are jarring to the ear and interrupt the smooth flow of the narrative. In reviewing this book I have tried to differentiate between the narration of Mr Cosham, which is just fine, and the cut-and-paste of the final result, which is just terrible.

All in all a mixed bag. The sound track, which sounds as though it was recorded at a much lower quality, is poor and listeners might want to listen to the sample fully before deciding if they wish to buy. The book itself is a worthwhile addition to understanding the end of WW II in Europe even if hard to listen to.

Fascinating and rich tale

Usually, we fast forward through the last days of WW2. “And then the Germans surrendered and the war ended”. Toland has mined a encyclopedia of sources to uncover a wealth of fascinating stories of heroism and horror, grace and brutality. Germany didn’t collapse. It was beaten in a hard fight that lasted until the final surrender. Hitler believed that if he lasted long enough, America and Britain would have a falling out with Stalin and recruit the Germans as allies. Long and occasionally dense but well worth the time.

awesome!

Awesome! Hated for it to end. Wonderful. Ready for the next one. To land is fantastic.