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Samurai!
- Narrated by: Kevin Waites
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
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Publisher's summary
Saburo Sakai became a living legend in Japan during World War II. Pilots everywhere spoke in awe of his incredible exploits in the air. Of all Japan’s aces, Saburo Sakai is the only pilot who never lost a wingman in combat. For a man who engaged in more than 200 aerial combats, this was an incredible achievement. His remarkable book Samurai! written by Martin Caiden but with the assistance of Sakai and Fred Saito is a brilliant account of life as a Japanese pilot in the Second World War.
Samurai! charts Sakai’s remarkable life from his lowly, poor origins, to signing up with the military at the age of 16, to his conflicts with American aircraft over Guadalcanal where he had the heavy fragments of two 50-caliber machine gun bullets embedded in his skull, through to the moment when Japan eventually surrendered. For many listeners Samurai! will do much to bring the Pacific air war into new perspective. The story of Saburo Sakai provides for the first time an intimate look into the “other side”.
Martin Caidin was an American author and an authority on aeronautics and aviation. Caidin was an airplane pilot as well, and bought and restored a 1936 Junkers Ju 52 airplane. Samurai! was first published in 1957, and Caidin passed away in 1997. Saburo Sakai was a Japanese naval aviator and flying ace who had 64 aerial victories. He passed away in 2000.
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Born in the Philippines to an American father and a Filipina mother, George Cooper is one of the few surviving veteran pilots who saw action over such fearsome targets as Rabaul and Wewak. Not just another flag-waving story of air combat, Jayhawk describes the war as it really was - a conflict with far-reaching tentacles that gripped and tore at not only the combatants, but also their families, friends, and the way they lived their lives.
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An absolute must for any student of the Pacific Air War
- By Ginger on 10-07-20
By: Jay A. Stout, and others
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Fighter Group
- The 352nd “Blue-Nosed Bastards” in World War II
- By: Lt. Col. Jay A. Stout
- Narrated by: Donald Corren
- Length: 17 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Jay A. Stout breaks new ground in World War II history with this gripping account of one of the war’s most highly decorated American fighter groups. Stout combines the storytelling gifts and careful research for a seasoned historian with the combat experience of a former fighter pilot to tell the remarkable story of the 352nd Fighter Group. This isn’t just the story of a single fighter group; it’s the story of how the United States won the air war over Europe.
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This is a fantastic, through, in depth, and personal history of the 352nd fighter group.
- By S. H. Moore on 02-23-21
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Lucky 666
- The Impossible Mission
- By: Bob Drury, Tom Clavin
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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From the authors of the New York Times best-selling The Heart of Everything That Is and Halsey's Typhoon comes the dramatic untold story of a daredevil bomber pilot and his misfit crew who fly their lone B-17 into the teeth of the Japanese Empire in 1943, engage in the longest dogfight in history, and change the momentum of the war in the Pacific - but not without making the ultimate sacrifice.
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A WWII Pacific Tale
- By A. L. DeWitt on 11-15-16
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A Dawn Like Thunder
- The True Story of Torpedo Squadron Eight
- By: Robert J. Mrazek
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 15 hrs and 29 mins
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One of the great untold stories of World War II finally comes to light in this thrilling account of the members of Torpedo Squadron Eight and their heroic efforts in helping an outmatched U.S. fleet win critical victories at Midway and Guadalcanal. These 35 American men - many flying outmoded aircraft - changed the course of history, going on to become the war's most decorated naval air squadron, while suffering the heaviest losses in U.S. naval aviation history.
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Excellent story well told
- By Kismet on 01-30-09
By: Robert J. Mrazek
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Aces Falling
- War Above the Trenches, 1918
- By: Peter Hart
- Narrated by: Roger Davis
- Length: 16 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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At the beginning of 1918, the great aces seemed invincible. Flying above the battlefields of the Western Front, they cut a deadly swathe through the ranks of their enemies, as each side struggled to keep control of the air. This audiobook charts the rise and fall of the WWI aces in the context of the vast battles that were taking place in 1918. It shows the vital importance of reconnaissance, and how large formations of aircraft became the norm - bringing an end to the era of the old, heroic 'lone wolves'.
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A MUST READ for students of military aviation
- By B Taub on 03-03-20
By: Peter Hart
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Big Week
- The Biggest Air Battle of World War II
- By: James Holland
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 15 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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During the third week of February 1944, the combined Allied air forces based in Britain and Italy launched their first round-the-clock bomber offensive against Germany. Their goal: to smash the main factories and production centers of the Luftwaffe while also drawing German planes into an aerial battle of attrition to neutralize the Luftwaffe as a fighting force prior to the cross-channel invasion, planned for a few months later. Officially called Operation ARGUMENT, this aerial offensive quickly became known as “Big Week,” and it was one of the turning-points of World War II.
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War in the Air: Sets stage with gripping narrative
- By Nashville Cat on 11-17-18
By: James Holland
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Duel Under the Stars
- The Memoir of a Luftwaffe Night Pilot in World War II
- By: Wilhelm Johnen, James Holland
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Listen to this captivating memoir by Wilhelm Johnen who flew his first operational mission in July 1941, having completed his blind-flying training. In his first couple of years he brought down two enemy planes. The tally went up rapidly once the air war was escalated in spring 1943, when Air Marshal Arthur Harris of the RAF Bomber Command began the campaign dubbed the Battle of the Ruhr.
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The best pilots in history
- By Nick Broms on 06-16-18
By: Wilhelm Johnen, and others
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The Mighty Eighth
- The Air War in Europe as Told by the Men Who Fought It
- By: Gerald Astor
- Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith
- Length: 23 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Europe has fallen. Pearl Harbor is in flames. Enter: the Eighth. In 1941 the RAF fought a desperate battle of survival against the Luftwaffe over Britain. Then, from across the Atlantic, came a new generation of American pilots, gunners, and bombardiers, a new generation of flying machines called the B-17 Flying Fortress, the B-24 Liberator, the P-47 Thunderbolt, and the P-51 Mustang fighter.
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A Good Listen with 1 problem
- By Matthew Schuller on 08-23-19
By: Gerald Astor
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Dead Reckoning
- The Story of How Johnny Mitchell and His Fighter Pilots Took on Admiral Yamamoto and Avenged Pearl Harbor
- By: Dick Lehr
- Narrated by: Will Damron
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“AIR RAID, PEARL HARBOR. THIS IS NOT DRILL.” At 7:58 a.m. on December 7, 1941, an officer at the Ford Island Command Center frantically typed what would become one of the most famous radio dispatches in history as the Japanese navy launched a surprise aerial assault on the American navy stationed in Hawaii. In a little over two hours, the Japanese killed more than 2,400 Americans and propelled the US’s entry into World War II. Dead Reckoning is the story of the mission to avenge that devastating strike.
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Half Soap Opera, target audience 20 something male
- By Donald L. Hogan on 03-20-21
By: Dick Lehr
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The Twilight Warriors
- The Deadliest Naval Battle of World War II and the Men Who Fought It
- By: Robert Gandt
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 11 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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April 1945. The end of World War II finally appears to be nearing. The Nazis are collapsing in Europe, and the Americans are vastly overpowering the Japanese in the Pacific. For a group of pilots in their early 20s who were trained during the twilight of the war, the biggest concern is that they'll never actually see real action and will go home without having a chance to face the enemy.
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Excellent Selection: One of the Best in this Genre
- By David on 09-22-11
By: Robert Gandt
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Black Thursday
- The Story of the Schweinfurt Raid
- By: Martin Caidin
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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On Thursday, October 14, 1943, 291 B-17 Flying Fortresses set out for a strategic bombing raid on the factories in Schweinfurt. Sixty of those planes never returned and 650 men were lost during the course of that mission. It was the greatest failure that the United States Air Force had ever suffered and became known as "Black Thursday". Martin Caidin's Black Thursday: The Story of the Schweinfurt Raid is a brilliant account of that day that should never be forgotten. This audiobook uncovers in thrilling detail the build-up to that fateful raid.
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The Best Look at Bomb Groups of the 8th
- By Nicholas Robinson on 09-19-18
By: Martin Caidin
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Air Apaches
- The True Story of the 345th Bomb Group and Its Low, Fast, and Deadly Missions in World War II
- By: Jay A. Stout
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 15 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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The American 345th Bomb Group - the Air Apaches - was legendary in the war against Japan. The first fully trained and fully equipped group sent to the South Pacific, the 345th racked up a devastating score against the enemy. Armed to the teeth with machine guns and fragmentation bombs, and flying their B-25s at impossibly low altitudes - often below 50 feet - the pilots and air crews strafed and bombed enemy installations and shipping with a fury that helped cripple Japan.
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Boring and unorganized unit history
- By R. Denton on 04-25-19
By: Jay A. Stout
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Operation Vengeance
- The Astonishing Aerial Ambush That Changed World War II
- By: Dan Hampton
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1943, the United States military began to plan one of the most dramatic secret missions of World War II. Its code name was Operation Vengeance. Naval Intelligence had intercepted the itinerary of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the commander in chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet, whose stealth attack on Pearl Harbor precipitated America’s entry into the war. Harvard-educated, Yamamoto was a close confidant of Emperor Hirohito and a brilliant tactician who epitomized Japanese military might.
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I want 1/2 my money back
- By DPM on 08-11-20
By: Dan Hampton
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An Excellent History of the Samurai
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Surprising and shocking. It explains a lot.
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What listeners say about Samurai!
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Dillon Saeger
- 04-06-23
One of the best ww2 books I’ve read
I’ve read over 200 books on WWII and this has to be one of my favorites. It’s so refreshing to read about the other side of the air war. The book reads like a movie and keeps your riveted for the next chapter of Saburo Sakai’s war experience.
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- Spectre444
- 10-18-19
Shamefully Edited but Magnificent Story
I've studied the Pacific Air Campaign in great detail, but never from the point of view of a Japanese pilot. This autobiography offers incredible insight as to the mindset of the Japanese people in WW2. Saburo Sakai was a true artist in telling his story. The narrator however, was horrible. Unprofessional and horrendously edited. The overdubbing overlapped every 20 minutes on average, (at best.) The editor left in all of the narrator's frustrated exclamations when he came across a word too difficult for his limited vocabulary. (Hopefully that was all, poor guy.) I'd have immediately fired my editor and found a new one had I listened to this travesty. Unfortunately the narrator did not. He did this amazing story a great injustice. "Shame" is the only word i have for the production team on this one. For Saburo Sakai, only thanks for relating his tale.
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- David Janssen
- 01-07-23
Excellent.
Very worthwhile. A story about an awesome and admirable man. Highly recommended and worth the read.
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- Tyler
- 01-17-23
Great story, so-so narration with a few errors
It is important to realize that war memoirs are never 100% accurate, as memory is very malleable. On top of that, Martin Caidin does embellish some facts and mesh together stories, but overall the narrative is really good
There are some weird narration/editing errors in there, like awkward stutters or clips spliced over each other, but it is not the worst thing in the world.
While none of the errors made are deal breakers, aircraft names (towards the end mainly) are incorrect. Although, unless you are a big fan of 20th century aviation, it doesn’t really matter.
If you are looking for a rarely heard perspective on history, I would highly recommend this book. Saburo and Martin will make you change how you view Japanese pilots from this period
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- Chris Hall
- 05-09-23
A great story of WW2 Japanese history
A very good telling of WW2 Japanese history. Refreshing hearing it from the other sides point of view and great learning just how great the Japanese aces were!
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- RAP61
- 07-12-19
very poor narration
very poor narrator but great story if you can look past it. interesting to hear the other side of things
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- Anonymous User
- 12-08-21
A classic Martin Cardin book
This is a classic Martin Cardin book about Japan’s highest scoring fighter pilot that survived WWII. The story is good and gives insight to “the other side”. Well worth a read.
Unfortunately, the reading is marred by many mispronunciations of non-English names and locations by the person who did the reading. Also, listening was made difficult by the reader not doing his job by pre-reading to himself to get the flow and punctuation of sentences right.
The story gets 4stars from me, but the performance only gets 2 stars.
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- Magary Damico
- 12-31-19
Great book! Especially from the Japanese! side!
Very interesting! From start to finish! a very able fighter pilot! But also a very lucky one!
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- Brandon L Current
- 01-26-23
One of the best books I’ve ever listen to!
Way beyond expectations! This book is phenomenal and keep me on edge throughout the book. The perspectives of the aerial combat from the eyes of a Samurai class Japanese Ace of WWII is rare and in a very detailed recalling of the air battles. It’s got to be an audible classic and I had a hard time to stop listening because I felt glued to my headphones :-)!
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- B Taub
- 06-22-19
Interesting But Worst Narration Ever!
For all of its flaws of this book and especially this recording, it is still worth the time for someone looking for an interesting aviation war story with lots of action from a completely different perspective that we typically see in the West. Saburo Sakai, the subject of this book, fought in China and in many Pacific campaigns - both winning and losing. He lived the meteoric rise and the eventual fall of the Japanese empire. He, therefore, provides a great perspective on the Japanese fighter pilot experience and how it evolved over the course of the war. He was there in the early days, when the Zero was supreme. He was there in the later days when his side just couldn't keep up with their enemies' tactics, manufacturing capacity, and technological innovation. So, there is a lot to learn here.
It's also exciting stuff. There are a ton of dogfights and flying adventures, many told in detail. (as a slightly surprising aside, I found it interesting that I just couldn't separate myself from an American focus, really feeling bad for the crews that Sakai shot down - even though the story is told from his, not their, perspective. When I read material told from the American perspective, I don't feel nearly so bad for the enemy pilots who are suffering from the same horrible fates.)
Not that the material is completely accurate. As, I guess, might be expected, Sakai never mentions the treatment of conquered people or prisoners of war. He once does refer to a brothel at Rabaul but never discusses how it was likely staffed with sex slaves. I also know that in aerial combat, kill totals are frequently inflated. While some of his kills have been documented in other literature I've read, I wonder if anyone has correlated his records with American & Australian records.
Finally, I can generally live with just about any narrator, and I managed to suffer through this one, but it was tough! There were many mispronunciations throughout the text and many places where a few seconds of audio are repeated and overlapped on each other. There was even one spot where the narrator seemed to record a phrase three times, hurling what I believe was an expletive after the second time. The reader's voice was fine and his attempt to add drama to some scenes was, I guess, forgivable but this title could really benefit from some serious editing. I don't mean to cast aspersions, especially if this was a recording done by the reader charitably for people who can't read, but this one is worth a redo,
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