-
Crusade
- The Untold Story of the Persian Gulf War
- Narrated by: Jeff Riggenbach
- Length: 24 hrs and 31 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $39.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Gulf War, 1990-91
- By: William Thomas Allison
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Incorporating the latest scholarship, William Thomas Allison provides a concise overview of the origins, course, and outcomes of the first Gulf War, as well as the major issues and debates. Allison also examines the relevance of this war to other 20th-century conflicts and the ongoing situation in the region.
-
-
Author Critique
- By Anonymous User on 08-12-21
-
The Long Gray Line
- The American Journey of West Point's Class of 1966
- By: Rick Atkinson
- Narrated by: Adam Barr, Rick Atkinson
- Length: 28 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A classic of its kind, The Long Gray Line is the 25-year saga of the West Point class of 1966. With a novelist's eye for detail, Rick Atkinson illuminates this powerful story through the lives of three classmates and the women they loved - from the boisterous cadet years, to the fires of Vietnam, to the hard peace and internal struggles that followed the war.
-
-
A splendid historical account of honor, love, sacrifice and tradgety
- By Eric B. Smith on 05-20-21
By: Rick Atkinson
-
In the Company of Soldiers
- A Chronicle of Combat
- By: Rick Atkinson
- Narrated by: Rick Atkinson
- Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For soldiers in the 101st Airborne Division, the road to Baghdad began with a midnight flight out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky, in late February 2003. For Rick Atkinson, who would spend nearly two months covering the division for The Washington Post, the war in Iraq provided a unique opportunity to observe today's U.S. Army in combat.
-
-
Interesting, informative and balanced
- By miyaker on 06-22-04
By: Rick Atkinson
-
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
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Fascinating book, great performance
- By Ted on 05-30-16
By: Rick Atkinson
-
The Civil War: A Narrative, Volume I, Fort Sumter to Perryville
- By: Shelby Foote
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 42 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Civil War: A Narrative, Volume 1 begins one of the most remarkable works of history ever fashioned. All the great battles are here, of course, from Bull Run through Shiloh, the Seven Days Battles, and Antietam, but so are the smaller ones: Ball's Bluff, Fort Donelson, Pea Ridge, Island Ten, New Orleans, and Monitor versus Merrimac.
-
-
One of the great literary achievements of all time
- By Judd Bagley on 01-09-09
By: Shelby Foote
-
The Guns at Last Light
- The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945
- By: Rick Atkinson
- Narrated by: Rick Atkinson
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is the 20th century’s unrivaled epic: At a staggering price, the United States and its allies liberated Europe and vanquished Hitler. In the first two volumes of his best-selling Liberation Trilogy, Rick Atkinson recounted the history of how the American-led coalition fought its way from North Africa and Italy to the threshold of victory. Now he tells the most dramatic story of all - the titanic battle in Western Europe. D-Day marked the commencement of the war’s final campaign, and Atkinson’s astonishingly fresh account of that enormous gamble sets the pace for the masterly narrative that follows.
-
-
Amazing
- By Kevin Rendon on 03-28-15
By: Rick Atkinson
-
The Gulf War, 1990-91
- By: William Thomas Allison
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Incorporating the latest scholarship, William Thomas Allison provides a concise overview of the origins, course, and outcomes of the first Gulf War, as well as the major issues and debates. Allison also examines the relevance of this war to other 20th-century conflicts and the ongoing situation in the region.
-
-
Author Critique
- By Anonymous User on 08-12-21
-
The Long Gray Line
- The American Journey of West Point's Class of 1966
- By: Rick Atkinson
- Narrated by: Adam Barr, Rick Atkinson
- Length: 28 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A classic of its kind, The Long Gray Line is the 25-year saga of the West Point class of 1966. With a novelist's eye for detail, Rick Atkinson illuminates this powerful story through the lives of three classmates and the women they loved - from the boisterous cadet years, to the fires of Vietnam, to the hard peace and internal struggles that followed the war.
-
-
A splendid historical account of honor, love, sacrifice and tradgety
- By Eric B. Smith on 05-20-21
By: Rick Atkinson
-
In the Company of Soldiers
- A Chronicle of Combat
- By: Rick Atkinson
- Narrated by: Rick Atkinson
- Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For soldiers in the 101st Airborne Division, the road to Baghdad began with a midnight flight out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky, in late February 2003. For Rick Atkinson, who would spend nearly two months covering the division for The Washington Post, the war in Iraq provided a unique opportunity to observe today's U.S. Army in combat.
-
-
Interesting, informative and balanced
- By miyaker on 06-22-04
By: Rick Atkinson
-
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
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Fascinating book, great performance
- By Ted on 05-30-16
By: Rick Atkinson
-
The Civil War: A Narrative, Volume I, Fort Sumter to Perryville
- By: Shelby Foote
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 42 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Civil War: A Narrative, Volume 1 begins one of the most remarkable works of history ever fashioned. All the great battles are here, of course, from Bull Run through Shiloh, the Seven Days Battles, and Antietam, but so are the smaller ones: Ball's Bluff, Fort Donelson, Pea Ridge, Island Ten, New Orleans, and Monitor versus Merrimac.
-
-
One of the great literary achievements of all time
- By Judd Bagley on 01-09-09
By: Shelby Foote
-
The Guns at Last Light
- The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945
- By: Rick Atkinson
- Narrated by: Rick Atkinson
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is the 20th century’s unrivaled epic: At a staggering price, the United States and its allies liberated Europe and vanquished Hitler. In the first two volumes of his best-selling Liberation Trilogy, Rick Atkinson recounted the history of how the American-led coalition fought its way from North Africa and Italy to the threshold of victory. Now he tells the most dramatic story of all - the titanic battle in Western Europe. D-Day marked the commencement of the war’s final campaign, and Atkinson’s astonishingly fresh account of that enormous gamble sets the pace for the masterly narrative that follows.
-
-
Amazing
- By Kevin Rendon on 03-28-15
By: Rick Atkinson
-
The Day of Battle
- The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944
- By: Rick Atkinson
- Narrated by: Rick Atkinson
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Italian campaign's outcome was never certain; in fact, Roosevelt, Churchill, and their military advisers engaged in heated debate about whether an invasion of the so-called soft underbelly of Europe was even a good idea. But once under way, the commitment to liberate Italy from the Nazis never wavered, despite the agonizingly high price.
-
-
Breathtaking
- By Alexis on 05-17-08
By: Rick Atkinson
-
Nimitz at War
- Command Leadership from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay
- By: Craig L. Symonds
- Narrated by: L.J. Ganser
- Length: 14 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Only days after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt tapped Chester W. Nimitz to assume command of the Pacific Fleet. Nimitz transformed the devastated and dispirited Pacific fleet into the most powerful and commanding naval force in history. Facing demands from Washington to mount an early offensive, he had first to revive the depressed morale of the thousands of sailors, soldiers, and Marines who served under him. And of course, he also confronted a formidable and implacable enemy in the Imperial Japanese Navy.
-
-
Excellent Story Solid Narration
- By arussellga on 06-14-22
By: Craig L. Symonds
-
Twilight of the Gods
- War in the Western Pacific, 1944-1945
- By: Ian Toll
- Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan
- Length: 36 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Twilight of the Gods is a riveting account of the harrowing last year of World War II in the Pacific, when the US Navy won the largest naval battle in history; MacArthur made good his pledge to return to the Philippines; waves of kamikazes attacked the Allied fleets; the Japanese fought to the last man on one island after another; B-29 bombers burned down Japanese cities; and Hiroshima and Nagasaki were vaporized. Toll's narratives of combat in the air, at sea, and on the beaches are gripping, but he also takes the listener into the halls of power in Washington and Tokyo.
-
-
Food for WWII History Buffs
- By Dr. Schtick on 12-20-20
By: Ian Toll
-
In Mortal Combat
- Korea, 1950-1953
- By: John Toland
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 27 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this brilliant narrative of America's first limited war, Toland lets both the events and the participants speak for themselves, employing scrupulous archival research and interviews as the bases for the drama and accuracy of his writing. In Mortal Combat reveals Mao's prediction of the date and place of MacArthur's Inchon landing, Russia's indifference to the war, Mao's secret leadership of the North Korean military, and the true nature of both sides' treatment and repatriation of POWs.
-
-
Slightly disappointed
- By Patrick on 09-02-19
By: John Toland
-
The Guns of August
- By: Barbara W. Tuchman
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 19 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, historian Barbara Tuchman brings to life the people and events that led up to World War I. This was the last gasp of the Gilded Age, of Kings and Kaisers and Czars, of pointed or plumed hats, colored uniforms, and all the pomp and romance that went along with war. How quickly it all changed...and how horrible it became.
-
-
Wonderful
- By Mike From Mesa on 10-28-08
-
The Rising Sun
- The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945
- By: John Toland
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 41 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This Pulitzer Prize-winning history of World War II chronicles the dramatic rise and fall of the Japanese empire, from the invasion of Manchuria and China to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Told from the Japanese perspective, The Rising Sun is, in the author’s words, "a factual saga of people caught up in the flood of the most overwhelming war of mankind, told as it happened - muddled, ennobling, disgraceful, frustrating, full of paradox."
-
-
A political as well as military history
- By Mike From Mesa on 07-30-15
By: John Toland
-
Hogs in the Sand
- A Gulf War A-10 Pilot's Combat Journal
- By: Buck Wyndham
- Narrated by: Jim Seybert
- Length: 15 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The mighty, iconic A-10 Warthog was first thrust into battle in Operation Desert Storm. The men who took it through walls of flak and surface-to-air missiles to help defeat the world's fourth-largest army were as untested as their airplanes, so they relied on personal determination and the amazing A-10 to accomplish their missions, despite the odds.
-
-
Fantastic
- By AV8R on 02-16-22
By: Buck Wyndham
-
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
- A History of Nazi Germany
- By: William L. Shirer
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 57 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since its publication in 1960, William L. Shirer’s monumental study of Hitler’s German empire has been widely acclaimed as the definitive record of the 20th century’s blackest hours. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich offers an unparalleled and thrillingly told examination of how Adolf Hitler nearly succeeded in conquering the world. With millions of copies in print around the globe, it has attained the status of a vital and enduring classic.
-
-
Narrative possesses listener, it's that good
- By Gary on 10-08-12
-
The Coldest Winter
- America and the Korean War
- By: David Halberstam
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 13 hrs and 51 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Up until now, the Korean War has been the black hole of modern American history. The Coldest Winter changes that. Halberstam gives us a masterful narrative of the political decisions and miscalculations on both sides. He charts the disastrous path that led to the massive entry of Chinese forces near the Yalu, and that caught Douglas MacArthur and his soldiers by surprise. He provides astonishingly vivid and nuanced portraits of all the major figures.
-
-
Great book, great reader
- By Graybits on 10-25-07
By: David Halberstam
-
Fiasco
- The American Military Adventure in Iraq
- By: Thomas E. Ricks
- Narrated by: James Lurie
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The American military is a tightly sealed community, and few outsiders have reason to know that a great many senior officers view the Iraq war with incredulity and dismay. But many officers have shared their anger with renowned military reporter Thomas E. Ricks, and in Fiasco, Ricks combines these astonishing on-the-record military accounts with his own extraordinary on-the-ground reportage to create a spellbinding account of an epic disaster.
-
-
lots of content, well narrated
- By desert traveler on 04-03-07
By: Thomas E. Ricks
-
Who Can Hold the Sea
- The U.S. Navy in the Cold War 1945-1960
- By: James D. Hornfischer
- Narrated by: Christopher Newton, Sharon Hornfischer
- Length: 17 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This landmark account of the U.S. Navy in the Cold War, Who Can Hold the Sea combines narrative history with scenes of stirring adventure on—and under—the high seas. In 1945, at the end of World War II, the victorious Navy sends its sailors home and decommissions most of its warships. But this peaceful interlude is short-lived, as Stalin, America’s former ally, makes aggressive moves in Europe and the Far East.
-
-
James D. Hornfisher's last work
- By JWHayn4563 on 05-05-22
-
Team Yankee
- A Novel of World War III
- By: Harold Coyle
- Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Team Yankee, the New York Times best-seller by Harold Coyle, presents a glimpse of what it would have been like for the soldiers who would have had to meet the relentless onslaught of Soviet and Warsaw Pact divisions. Using the geo-political and military scenarios described by General Sir John Hackett, former NORTHAG commander and author of World War Three; August 1985, Team Yankee follows the war as seen from the turret of Captain Sean Bannon's tank.
-
-
They came in the same way, and, we whooped them.
- By Robert on 03-21-17
By: Harold Coyle
Publisher's Summary
Throughout the Gulf War of 1991, unprecedented restrictions on the media’s access to the battlefield kept the true story of that brief, brutal conflict from being told. Now, after two years of intensive research, Rick Atkinson has written what will surely come to be recognized as the definitive chronicle of the war.
Crusade follows the unfolding battle from the first night to the final day, providing vivid accounts of bombing runs and White House strategy sessions, fire-fights and bitter inter-service conflicts. Weaving individual stories into the larger narrative, Atkinson represents the allied campaign against Saddam Hussein as a wholly new kind of war, one that has transformed the nature of modern warfare.
Critic Reviews
More from the same
What listeners say about Crusade
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- lamia
- 09-03-15
I found the narrator to be good
What about Jeff Riggenbach’s performance did you like?
I think the narrator is just fine. Ok, the occasional long pause makes me wonder if I'm about to get a phone call, but I'm not going to deducts points for that. To my ear, his pronunciations are correct.
I'm mainly writing this because I nearly skipped over this audible book because of the negative comments. I am glad I didn't.
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- S. H. Moore
- 06-09-21
Great book but weird odd pronunciations of normal words
This is a good overall coverage of the Gulf war. I wonder if this was one of Atkinsons early works because his later books are the same “wide view” coverage interspersed with personal accounts and detailed coverage of certain events. However in this book it wasn’t done quite as well. Probably your best choice if you want to learn about the war. But there are much better audiobooks about the armored fighting if that’s what you’re after.
My only REAL complaint was the reader. He had an odd propensity to mispronounce common words. CinC was spoken C-I-N-C instead of C-in-C. Saudi Arabia was spoken Say-o-dee-y Arabia. Just weird stuff.
I did enjoy it none the less.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Josh
- 04-26-18
Great Content Terrible Narrator
The content of the book is excellent. It covers in detail the events of the war with the same piercing insight and level of research one finds in other great works about war such as The Guns of August. A distinguishing feature shows in the moments where small jokes and levities of the individual soldier and squad are sprinkled in to highlight the human experience of the war.
The narrator for this audio book, however, is by far the worst I’ve ever heard in an audio book. LibriVox’s volunteers are more consistent. He is unable to pronounce dozens of relevant words, mangling well know names so badly they are not recognizable, butchering place names, and at times even stumbling over basic vocabulary to render comprehension difficult.
Go compund his staggering failures of pronunciation (which you will encounter every few minutes for the duration), he also stutters through the book like Captain Kirk with his brain set to stun. He often says the first syllable of a sentence, pauses for several seconds, and then restarts. These pauses are perfectly timed to make you think the recording is paused by accident or you are receiving a call (if listening on a phone.) They often happen in the middle of key events, destroying the author’s pacing.
It’s a great book on the First Gulf War. But know you will likely return it after you finish because I couldn’t imagine listening to it twice.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lyle Wincentsen
- 08-12-13
A very decent account of the gulf war
Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?
Yes. Gives a pretty detailed account of the sequence of events. I am actually a gulf war vet according to Congress' definition (no direct combat for me though), but I learned a lot of things I hadn't known about it from this book.
Could you see Crusade being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?
One sub-plot has sort of already been done with "Jarhead", but there are a lot of other things that could probably be turned into a movie. And it would probably be a pretty decent film if they did the whole thing.
Any additional comments?
One annoying thing is the author's unconcealed political grandstanding at various points. The book would have been a lot better if he could have restrained himself on that point.
9 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- dexter
- 11-22-18
Good story, except
The narration of this book was horrible. The way that some names were pronounced was bad and long pauses during the narration.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Hal VT
- 04-13-13
Great account of Desert Shield/Storm
Would you consider the audio edition of Crusade to be better than the print version?
No. In fact, I got most of the way through this, then ordered it in hardcover.
What did you like best about this story?
Atkinson has a knack for finding a perfect middle-ground between The War as an event run by entire coalitions of governments and massive military units on the one side, and the troops in the proverbial trenches on the other side. It is therefore more readable than a history of politics and policy or of divisional maneuvers and terrain, while being broader in scope than, say, Jarhead. Stylistically, his writing brings things to life while giving the "big picture" history.
Have you listened to any of Jeff Riggenbach’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
This was my first. As other reviewers have doubtlessly pointed out, he mispronounces household names like Dick Cheney and Colin Powell. He also pronounces Arabic place names oddly; though "Sa-OO-di" may well be technically correct, it's not how anyone pronounced it when I was there twice with Operation Southern Watch. Aggravating.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Chris
- 08-22-12
Narrator needs a pronunciation guide
Would you consider the audio edition of Crusade to be better than the print version?
Unfortunately no. The narrator's inability to pronounce simple words correctly consistently detracted from the grand scale of the story. While some of these words were understandable (i.e. military jargon and Arabic words/names), others were just silly pronunciations of common English words. If someone familiar with the content "proof-listened" his recording, it certainly didn't show.
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Patrick
- 01-11-19
the narrator was horrible
The story was fantastic and well-written however, the narrator cannot pronounce a word to save his life. Even simple names you couldn't pronounce. It's a shame because the story is well written well-researched and provides excellent insight in to the National Command Authority in time of war.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Southwest Side Of Chicago
- 03-24-16
we lived through it, saw the news accounts...
and now this book fills in the gaps. Answers questions, dispells myths , sometimes unpleasantly, but all in all a good account of a moment in US history.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Doggie
- 06-17-22
Crusader
I have enjoyed listening to this book and I believe that you will enjoy it too