Shadow Warriors of World War II, Gordon Thomas
Shadow Warriors of World War II, Gordon Thomas
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Shadow Warriors of World War II
The Daring Women of the OSS and SOE

Author: Gordon Thomas, Greg Lewis

Narrator: Kate Reading

Unabridged: 11 hr 33 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/01/2017

Synopsis

They were told that the only crime they must never commit was to be caught. Women of enormous cunning and strength of will, the Shadow Warriors’ stories have remained largely untold—until now. In a dramatic tale of espionage and conspiracy in World War II, Shadow Warriors of World War II unveils the history of the courageous women who volunteered to work behind enemy lines.Sent into Nazi-occupied Europe by the United States’ Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and Britain’s Special Operations Executive (SOE), these women helped establish a web of resistance groups across the continent. Their extraordinary heroism, initiative, and resourcefulness contributed to the Allied breakout of the Normandy beachheads and even infiltrated Nazi Germany at the height of the war, into the very heart of Hitler’s citadel—Berlin. Young and daring, the female agents accepted that they could be captured, tortured, or killed, but others were always readied to take their place. So effective did the female agents become in their efforts, the Germans placed a price of a million francs on the heads of operatives who were successfully disrupting their troops.

About Gordon Thomas

Gordon Thomas is a political and investigative journalist and the bestselling author of over fifty books published worldwide, including Gideon’s Spies, Secrets and Lies, and The Pope’s Jews. He lives in Ireland and England.

About Greg Lewis

Greg Lewis is a journalist, BAFTA Award–winning producer, and author of several books, including A Bullet Saved My Life and The Death of Justice.

About Kate Reading

Kate Reading, named an AudioFile Golden Voice, has recorded hundreds of audiobooks across many genres, over a thirty–year plus career and won the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration. Among other awards, she has been recognized as an AudioFile Magazine Voice of the Century, Narrator of the Year, Best Voice in Science Fiction and Fantasy, and winner of an Publisher’s Weekly’s Listen-Up Award. She records at her home studio, Madison Productions, Inc., in Maryland.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Wilde

This book details some of the action completed by female secret agents during WWII. Probably only about a third of this book was actually about the woman involved and the writing was very dry. Overall rating 2.5......more

Goodreads review by Joyce

Perhaps because I've read so many thrillers and World War II stories, I found this absolutely fascinating. It's a group biography of the women recruited as agents during WWII--as couriers, spies, analysts, cryptographers, resistance fighters, and more. They were thoroughly trained--as carefully as t......more

Goodreads review by Kris (My Novelesque Life)

RATING: 2 STARS 2017; Chicago Review Press (Review Not on Blog) I was expecting something more focused on women in the war. I also found it hard to get through. I put it down a few times and found it hard to pick back up. It was a bit more dense then I imagined so I started skimming the last 3/4 of the......more

Goodreads review by Julia

The title of this book is misleading. Most of the book isn't about the women. There are large sections about the men who set up the SOE and the OSS, and about the history of the war. The last few chapters have vignettes of specific women, but they all run together and jump back and forth so it's dif......more

Quotes

“With a master storyteller’s skill, Reading immerses listeners in the lives of a group of the mostly unknown but courageous young women who became spies, couriers, cryptographers, analysts, and resistance fighters for the Allies in WWII…Reading’s accented portrayals characterize the varied cast…in a reading that matches the brisk pace of the account.” Booklist (starred audio review)

“Narrator Kate Reading tells their stories with a touch of the famous British stiff upper lip. It creates a sense of their duty and bravery.” AudioFile

“Impressively informed and informative. Exceptionally well written, organized, and presented, Shadow Warriors of World War II is strongly and unreservedly recommended.” Midwest Book Review

“An invaluable historical account, shedding light on the heroism and bravery of the women spies who helped usher the Allied forces toward a victory.” ForeWord magazine

“Award-winning journalists Thomas and Lewis bring their talent for telling detail and brisk pacing to an engrossing history…[drawn] from official records, memoirs, diaries, and letters…Spies were taught how to pick locks, reassemble documents from scraps in trash baskets, live off the land, manage a safe landing in a parachute, make a cast of a key in a bar of soap, and canvass surroundings using a shop window’s reflection…The authors make a strong case for the importance of these women to the course of war, offering a fresh perspective on military history. A welcome addition to WWII literature.” Kirkus Reviews

“There is no shortage of suspense and agony, all written in a smooth and easy-to-read style.” Internet Review of Books

“What gives this book weight is the interweaving of the SOE and OSS narratives, all too much divorced in histories of the secret war.” Clare Mulley, author of The Spy Who Loved

Awards

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