Secret Warriors, Taylor Downing
Secret Warriors, Taylor Downing
List: $22.95 | Sale: $16.07
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Secret Warriors
Key Scientists, Code Breakers, and Propagandists of the Great War

Author: Taylor Downing

Narrator: Derek Perkins

Unabridged: 13 hr 8 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/15/2015

Synopsis

A startling and vivid account of World War I, Secret Warriors uncovers how wartime code-breaking, aeronautics, and scientific research laid the foundation for many of the innovations of the twentieth century.World War I is often viewed as a war fought by armies of millions living and fighting in trenches, aided by brutal machinery that cost the lives of many. But behind all of this an intellectual war was also being fought between engineers, chemists, code-breakers, physicists, doctors, mathematicians, and intelligence gatherers. This hidden war was to make a positive and lasting contribution to how war was conducted on land, at sea, and in the air and, most importantly, to life at home.Secret Warriors provides an invaluable and fresh history of World War I, profiling a number of the key incidents and figures that led to great leaps forward for the twentieth century. Told in a lively and colorful narrative style, Secret Warriors reveals the unknown side of this tragic conflict.

About Taylor Downing

Taylor Downing is an award-winning television producer and the author of several acclaimed books of history, including The Cold War and Churchill’s War Lab. He has also written for the Observer, London Sunday Times, LondonDaily Telegraph, History Today, and Military History Monthly.

About Derek Perkins

Derek Perkins is a professional narrator and voice actor. He has earned numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards and the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration, as well as numerous Society of Voice Arts nominations. AudioFile magazine named him a Best Voice consecutively in 2014, 2015, and 2016. Augmented by a knowledge of three foreign languages and a facility with accents, he has narrated numerous titles in a wide range of fiction and nonfiction genres.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Julian on April 24, 2021

This is an amazing book that really explains the inventions and the new technologies that helped make WWI and all subsequent war more deadly and more modern. Mr. Downing meticulously spells out the processes in which each of the 5 themes were created, who were the main actors in helping get them int......more

Goodreads review by William on July 18, 2019

An entertaining and enlightening book with knowledge of the war that is either forgotten or unknown. Highly readable.......more

Goodreads review by A.L. on June 24, 2019

I read this as research for my post-WW1 work, looking for references to Trench Code. It didn't have much in it about that, but it's an absolutely fascinating look at the behind-the-scenes skullduggery of the First World War. I found the bits about propaganda most interesting.......more

Goodreads review by Phil on September 08, 2016

I’ve never really known why there are not more well-written histories of World War 1. Other than Barbara Tuchman and John Eisenhower, I am not familiar with any historians dealing with this war to end all wars. So, when a book comes along on the subject I am always anxious to read it. This one is a v......more

Goodreads review by Jimmy on January 10, 2018

This work is about how the Great War/World War One was a different military conflict than the wars that came before it since it was a war in which the world entered a new age with modern warfare. I think the author presented his case quite persuasively with his focus being primarily on the British t......more

Quotes

“An ingenious history that sets aside WWI’s immense slaughter in order to concentrate on those who labored behind the scenes…Downing’s fine history of the war’s most notable weapons—machine guns, tanks, poison gas—precedes chapters giving even finer histories of vast advances in surgery (90% of wounded soldiers in WWI survived, versus 60% during the American Civil War) and sanitation (10% of deaths stemmed from disease in WWI, versus 70% in the Civil War). He also outlines how Hitler and Goebbels admired and emulated Britain’s surprisingly effective journalism and propaganda operations during WWI, which have been adopted by countries at war ever since. For better or worse, these military developments remain with us, and Downing delivers a riveting account of how they happened.” Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Recounts the complete transformation of warfare during World War I, the first industrialized war…Gone was the idea of a gentleman’s war; spying and even chemical warfare were fair game. Those who felt things were ‘just not done’ were overruled by the endless stalemate of trench warfare and brutality of chemical attacks. England’s scientific community successfully overcame pure science’s prejudice against applied science…A meticulously detailed, welcome addition to the literature of World War I, the ‘first “total” war in which all the resources of the state were involved.’” Kirkus Reviews

“Derek Perkins is one of the great audiobook narrators. His clear and well-paced performance makes Downing’s sometimes technical explanations easy to follow, and his deep tone and cultured British accent enhance the experience. Pronouncing names, Perkins seems as at home in French and German as he is in English.” AudioFile

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