A Higher Call

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

By: Adam Makos

Narrated by: Robertson Dean

Length: 13 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

Critic reviews

“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 must read WW II Story

Could not stop listening! Not all Germans were Nazis. This will restore your faith in humanity!

amazing story

amazing truly amazing. interesting fact. majority of german pilots were not nazi's. a fact in which I did not know

Simply incredible.

I had the great honor of meeting Mr. Brown in my youth. I happened upon this book while (ironically) searching for something to fill my time during a flight for work. I almost cannot wait to listen again. Them you to everyone involved in making this production possible.

Must read/listen to this book!

The German side of WWII told from the flightline! The Author's research makes this book work.

Awesome War Story

What a spectacular book! I was thrilled defined a timeless story of human nobility. Well written and well voiced in this Audible rendition.

What to say?

Even a bad story about this generation in this war is a good story. This one was truly great

This is one if the best stories I have ever heard!

This is one if the best stories I have ever heard! as a combat veteran, this story brought me to tears.

An heartwarming ww2 history from German perspective as well.

I read or listen to a great deal of historical fiction. I didn’t realize until now that i have never heard much information on the German perspective of what happened during World War II. It was incredibly enlightening and so full of humanity and values that seem gone or taken for granted. I can’t recommend this book enough to listeners of all ages. Fantastic family listen!

A Higher Call

A Higher Call is by far the best book that I have read in a long time. I listened to it every minute that I could squeeze in. The narrator is very good. I shed a tear at the end of the book.

Fantastic!

Wonderful true story that reminds us of the qualities of the “greatest generation,” teaches that the qualities are not uniquely U.S. based, and makes us long for a resurgence of decency and honor.