A Higher Call

An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II

De: Adam Makos

Narrado por: Robertson Dean

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.

Reseñas de la Crítica

“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)

A Teutonic Knights' Honor

This is the story of Franz Stigler, a German fighter pilot and Charlie Brown a B17 Eighth Air Force pilot. It is the fascinating story of how their lives intersected in December 1943 permanently altering their lives. I found this an emotional book with a similar effect on me as Laura Hildebrand's "Unbroken". It left me feeling good about people. Most of the book is about Franz Stilger's life as a child, young man and pilot commercial then military. He was a German ace and later flew the jet planes over Germany. It also covered the men of the B17 and then their hunt for each other after the war. I noted that long after the war the crew of the B17 "Ye Old Pub" received their metals- Brown, the Air Force flying Cross and the silver star for each of the crew making them the highest decorated B17 crew. Adam Makos is the editor of the military magazine Valor and came across this story during interviews with WWII pilots. He brought to life the story of a man, the air battles, the thrill of flying and the fear of living in Nazi Germany. I am sure glad he wrote the story as a book. Robertson Dean did a great job reading this book. This book is not only for us WWI and WWII history buff but for any teen or adult that is looking for a good story with moral value.

Absolutely superb! FIVE stars.

One of the best books that I have read. Fantastic story. Once I started listening to the audiobook it was hard to stop. My wife and teenage boys also loved the audiobook.

HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

Loved the true stories and adventures in this book and learned a lot about the US and German WWII Airforces; it reminded me a bit of "Unbroken: A WWII Story...". The narrator was PERFECT too! Recommended it to all my friends :-).

Absolute Classic - Must Read

What an amazing book. The book will bring tears to your eyes in the first section of simply setting up the story. It gives us as bit of kindness from a nasty war in which both sides sacrificed so much. This is a story of good men asked to defend their Country and they choose to do it with honor and dignity. This story happens early in the war and after you hear what both parties lived through and experienced, it is a miracle in itself that both parties lived to tell their stories. War is Hell and this amazing story came from its deepest destruction. Hats off to Adam Makos for giving us their story. For all our veterans and our active military and families, I can only tell you Thank You for your service to this Nation. I am forever grateful.

Powerful

A great story of honor. Unbelievable tale of courage. Nice to know this can happen in our world