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

Stellar story, performance and writing.

Edge of the seat tales of daring do and heroism and sometimes treachery. Loved this book.

Great history.

Glad to have learned of the remarkable men and their selfless service to the war effort and humanity. Sad to hear our current military leadership is more concerned with pronouns and drag queens than supporting today's heroes.

Awesome!

I loved it- gripping; only criticism is too short! Quite a cast of rouge heroes!

The SAS invented a new type of warfare

Churchill created the SAS to attack the Nazi machine in ways un-thought-of previously. The result was small attack parties of a dozen or fewer commandos, delivered behind enemy lines, creating havoc, and disappearing into the mists. These men wrote the rules of engagement on the fly, having no "book" to guide them.They certainly were no angels, but we owe our souls to them.
This is their story, never told completely before.

WWII buff must read.

Rough and always ready personalities of the SAS. Great read, well researched, and engrossing. Adventures, doubts, escapes, deaths brave and inadvertent.

Great Listen

Expertly narrated and detailed. I appreciated how the story focused on individuals, their backgrounds, and personalities. So far - this is the best book I’ve purchased and there is no second guessing.

One of my favorites

Rogue Heroes starts a little slow, but this audiobook quickly became one of my favorites. The sheer audacity of the SAS combined with the over-the-top Britishness was an absolute delight, despite the violent subject (and demise of a few of the men). I absolutely see myself listening again in the near future.

Lucky they were on our side.

This was one of those books that made me look for reasons to drive, so that I could listen to it. I didn't realize that the reader was the author, but his voice fit perfectly. It's amazing how the right people managed to come together at the precise moment they were needed. If not for them, who knows how the WWII might have turned out.

Truly the greatest generation!

Amazing! I can only hope that I would have overcome my fears as these heroes did year after year.

Engaging, albeit at times disturbing

This work draws us into the story of the creation of the SAS by the British armed forces, the first special operations unit. The men who created and staffed this unit were extraordinary, strange, and … well … a little bit off. despite (or because) of that, they had an impact on the the war far greater than their numbers would lead one to expect.

The narration is exquisite. There is a dry detachment to the text, which is badly needed at times given the horrific material being described. Those times are relatively few, and scattered throughout the work. They are still horrific.

There is a reason that the US general Sherman said, “War is Hell”. By the end of this work you will agree. You will also be in awe of the bravery and audacity of the men of the SAS in World War II.