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NPR American Chronicles
World War II: NPR American Chronicles
Released in time for the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, nearly 30 stories from NPR reflect on the deadliest war in human history.
NPR reveals remarkable stories of valor, bravery, and survival from the deadliest conflict in history with this vast panorama of interview, memories, and first person accounts from fronts in Europe, the Pacific, and at home. Harrowing, heartbreaking and deeply personal, this collection offers an intimate, engaging way to learn more about the war that changed the world.
Copyright 2011, HighBridge Audio.
NPR reveals remarkable stories of valor, bravery, and survival from the deadliest conflict in history with this vast panorama of interview, memories, and first person accounts from fronts in Europe, the Pacific, and at home. Harrowing, heartbreaking and deeply personal, this collection offers an intimate, engaging way to learn more about the war that changed the world.
Copyright 2011, HighBridge Audio.
3 pages, Audio CD
First published January 1, 2011
34 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
May 11, 2017
This was amazing. The personal interviews and eye witness commentary brought the past to life. One of the best WWII related pieces of literature I have come across.
September 24, 2021
2021 Reading Challenge #21: A WWll Story
I really appreciate this challenge because it’s getting me to read stories that I would not read. I’m not a fan of historical pieces so reading something like this was not on my mind at all. But this was just so eye opening and informative. I didn’t really know too much about the war so this was overwhelming because of how much information I learned. This war was really fucking wild. I can’t imagine living through something like this. People in London didn’t know if they were going to die that day or not. They lived through bombs being dropped every day. A whole squad of female heroes was erased. Luis survived being captured and tortured! People had to endure so much! I think learning about the Ghost Soldiers was my favorite because it was so inventive and really was a genius idea.
Notes:
London Blitz, from 1940-19421, Germans dropped bombs on London. 33,000 killed
The goal was to destroy the world air force by calling it into the skies to pro text civilians and break Britain down so eventually they would want to make peace. This turned the people against Germany.
A mother couldn’t feed her son. He came home from school asking what’s to eat and she said “I don’t have anything” She had spent the entire day looking for food. That’s so sad and upsetting.
Story of war and separation: Women didn’t know if their man would come home or not. And if they did then how would life be with them being back. Some men had children or missed the births of their baby. I imagine coming back home and trying to go back to how things was was extremely difficult. Also some men had PTSD and that could be hard on their women
Joyce Butler
Dot Kelley- mom
She had a divorce and had to find work to be able to feed her 4 children. Her mom worked at a few different places, one being at the shipyard as a welder. Her neck and chest was spotted with burn marks. She worked the night shift to be home with her children during the day. When the shipyard closed she had to work 2 jobs to make due so the children were on their own most of the time.
A Japanese man was tied to a fence and used him for practice. He was still alive when people woke up the next morning, moaning in pain. He stayed there until he died and Japanese men had to bury him.
The Japanese would set traps in their dead soldiers. That’s so clever.
Luis Zamperini
If a plane went down the odds of finding someone on the raft was slim. Luis used the air pumps on the raft and he took the cases they came in to make rain catchers. Since the water was spoiled, he couldn’t drink any seawater. He sucked out water and spit it into the cans of water they had. As for food, a few birds landed on their heads and they would catch them. He tied fishhooks to his hand and actually grabbed a fish. They wrestled sharks onto the raft and killed them. They were rescued by the Japanese and sent to prison camps. They are balls of rice thrown on the floor and there was shit on the floor. The water was a tiny cup of tea a day. Medical experiment were done on them and they survived.
Ghost soldiers
More than 1,000 troops were recruited into the 23rd and many came out of art school. They were the camouflage unit, working to make fake weapons and vehicles. Their job was to take the attention away from the real soldiers. They made a Jeep from burlap and a wood frame, later switching to rubber. They were sent to France and at night they would inflate their weapons and tanks to trick the Germans. They were sworn to secrecy, even when the American General asked what was going on, the soldier couldn’t tell him. Another way they tricked the Germans was through fake recordings: men moving up, tanks driving, a bridge being built. They were told to go into town and make sure their seen and they would spread the word that they were real
There was a women flying group called Wasps and since they weren’t considered to be in the military, even though they helped, they didn’t get the perks. A woman died and her team had to ship her body home because the military wouldn’t pay for it. Her mom also draped the flag over her casket when she wasn’t supposed to. They were erased and forgotten.
1976- The Air Force came out and said they were going to admit women to the force and that it was the first time they did that. They completely ignored the women who were actually FIRST.
1977- They won their case to have Military status.
Alexander Jefferson
Black US Air Force
I really appreciate this challenge because it’s getting me to read stories that I would not read. I’m not a fan of historical pieces so reading something like this was not on my mind at all. But this was just so eye opening and informative. I didn’t really know too much about the war so this was overwhelming because of how much information I learned. This war was really fucking wild. I can’t imagine living through something like this. People in London didn’t know if they were going to die that day or not. They lived through bombs being dropped every day. A whole squad of female heroes was erased. Luis survived being captured and tortured! People had to endure so much! I think learning about the Ghost Soldiers was my favorite because it was so inventive and really was a genius idea.
Notes:
London Blitz, from 1940-19421, Germans dropped bombs on London. 33,000 killed
The goal was to destroy the world air force by calling it into the skies to pro text civilians and break Britain down so eventually they would want to make peace. This turned the people against Germany.
A mother couldn’t feed her son. He came home from school asking what’s to eat and she said “I don’t have anything” She had spent the entire day looking for food. That’s so sad and upsetting.
Story of war and separation: Women didn’t know if their man would come home or not. And if they did then how would life be with them being back. Some men had children or missed the births of their baby. I imagine coming back home and trying to go back to how things was was extremely difficult. Also some men had PTSD and that could be hard on their women
Joyce Butler
Dot Kelley- mom
She had a divorce and had to find work to be able to feed her 4 children. Her mom worked at a few different places, one being at the shipyard as a welder. Her neck and chest was spotted with burn marks. She worked the night shift to be home with her children during the day. When the shipyard closed she had to work 2 jobs to make due so the children were on their own most of the time.
A Japanese man was tied to a fence and used him for practice. He was still alive when people woke up the next morning, moaning in pain. He stayed there until he died and Japanese men had to bury him.
The Japanese would set traps in their dead soldiers. That’s so clever.
Luis Zamperini
If a plane went down the odds of finding someone on the raft was slim. Luis used the air pumps on the raft and he took the cases they came in to make rain catchers. Since the water was spoiled, he couldn’t drink any seawater. He sucked out water and spit it into the cans of water they had. As for food, a few birds landed on their heads and they would catch them. He tied fishhooks to his hand and actually grabbed a fish. They wrestled sharks onto the raft and killed them. They were rescued by the Japanese and sent to prison camps. They are balls of rice thrown on the floor and there was shit on the floor. The water was a tiny cup of tea a day. Medical experiment were done on them and they survived.
Ghost soldiers
More than 1,000 troops were recruited into the 23rd and many came out of art school. They were the camouflage unit, working to make fake weapons and vehicles. Their job was to take the attention away from the real soldiers. They made a Jeep from burlap and a wood frame, later switching to rubber. They were sent to France and at night they would inflate their weapons and tanks to trick the Germans. They were sworn to secrecy, even when the American General asked what was going on, the soldier couldn’t tell him. Another way they tricked the Germans was through fake recordings: men moving up, tanks driving, a bridge being built. They were told to go into town and make sure their seen and they would spread the word that they were real
There was a women flying group called Wasps and since they weren’t considered to be in the military, even though they helped, they didn’t get the perks. A woman died and her team had to ship her body home because the military wouldn’t pay for it. Her mom also draped the flag over her casket when she wasn’t supposed to. They were erased and forgotten.
1976- The Air Force came out and said they were going to admit women to the force and that it was the first time they did that. They completely ignored the women who were actually FIRST.
1977- They won their case to have Military status.
Alexander Jefferson
Black US Air Force
July 17, 2017
Interesting stories.
December 2, 2022
Hearing voices out of the past is always a moving experience.
March 14, 2017
I was skeptical in the beginning, but was soon drawn into the stories. These included connections made between soldiers and individuals rescued from concentration camps, Russian/German hostile exchanges, Japanese/American conflicts, the WASPs (Women Airforce Service Pilots), the Tuskegee Airmen (the first black servicemen to serve as military aviators in the U.S. armed forces), and almost any other aspect of the war that shaped the outcome and our countries. These individuals were truly heroes. Thank goodness for those who serve in our military and thank God for our allies.
August 19, 2013
In September of 1939, the German army invaded Poland. It was only the beginning of what was to become the greatest and most terrible war the world had ever seen. One of the first Polish towns entered by the Germans, was the tiny village of Makoww, where one woman witnessed several of her neighbors, Jews, being hanged. When an interviewer asked her why she went out to see that, she replied simply, “Just to know. I knew that if I survived, I would have to tell other people about it.” Even at that early stage, people knew something big was happening. This is just the first of many stops on NPR’s tour of World War II, in their latest installment in the American Chronicles series.
From Poland, we are whisked away to London, where German bombers have begun their nightly raids. Through first-hand witness accounts, we learn of the courage and stoicism of a people under what amounted to terrorist attacks. From London, it’s off to Hawaii to listen to an account of the Pearl Harbor attack from a radio officer who literally had an eagle’s eye view of the scene, high atop the command tower of the USS California. Then it’s back across the ocean to America’s west coast where a Japanese-American tells the story of how his family, and many others, was gathered into internment camps. Even after all these years, he can’t relate the story without sobbing.
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack, the devastating event that launched America into war. We have all heard stories of Pearl Harbor, D-day, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the tragic concentration camps. NPR covers all of those landmarks, but goes a step further in delivering the stories that we don’t usually get to hear about, like Rosie the Riveter, the Wasps, the Tuskegee airmen, and the 23rd Special Troops Division. This three-hour set is filled with the stories that bring history to life, the actual memories of real men and women. This is what history is all about, not a bunch of names and dates in a stuffy old textbook, but real people telling their own stories. Nobody does this kind of work better than NPR.
The full list of documents on this collection includes:
Introduction by Neal Conan
Voices from the WWII Memorial
Reflections on Germany, Poland, and WWII
The London Blitz
Pearl Harbor: A Personal History
Hearing Voices: A Japanese-American in a WWII Camp
A Mother-in-Law’s WWII Saga
WWII Heroes Recall the Doolittle Raid
Pearl Harbor: A Personal History Part 2
The Kitchen Sisters: War & Separation
StoryCorps: My Mother’s Story: Dot the Welder
War in the Pacific
Unbroken by War
Artists of Battlefield Deception: Soldiers of the 23rd
Female WWII Pilots: The Original Fly Girls
A Tuskegee Airman’s Harrowing WWII Tale
Remembrances of D-Day
The “Mad Piper” of Normandy
Kate Nolan, WWII Combat Nurse
WWII Combat Cameraman: ‘The Public Had To Know’
WWII Veterans on the Battle of the Bulge
StoryCorps: Joseph Robertson
Holocaust Survivors Honor Camp Liberator
The Greatest Generation
Remembering the Final Days of World War II
Pilot Remembers Fateful Bombing Mission Over Nagasaki
Thanks, Grandpa Tommy, for Saving the World
Narrator Neal Conan, host of the American Chronicles series, handles this delicate material with the candor and dignity that it deserves. From start to finish, NPR has put together a powerful documentary. Three hours isn’t much time to cover World War II, but the stories on this set are a nice representation. American Chronicles: World War II is a must have for fans of history documentaries.
Steven Brandt @ Audiobook-Heaven
From Poland, we are whisked away to London, where German bombers have begun their nightly raids. Through first-hand witness accounts, we learn of the courage and stoicism of a people under what amounted to terrorist attacks. From London, it’s off to Hawaii to listen to an account of the Pearl Harbor attack from a radio officer who literally had an eagle’s eye view of the scene, high atop the command tower of the USS California. Then it’s back across the ocean to America’s west coast where a Japanese-American tells the story of how his family, and many others, was gathered into internment camps. Even after all these years, he can’t relate the story without sobbing.
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack, the devastating event that launched America into war. We have all heard stories of Pearl Harbor, D-day, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the tragic concentration camps. NPR covers all of those landmarks, but goes a step further in delivering the stories that we don’t usually get to hear about, like Rosie the Riveter, the Wasps, the Tuskegee airmen, and the 23rd Special Troops Division. This three-hour set is filled with the stories that bring history to life, the actual memories of real men and women. This is what history is all about, not a bunch of names and dates in a stuffy old textbook, but real people telling their own stories. Nobody does this kind of work better than NPR.
The full list of documents on this collection includes:
Introduction by Neal Conan
Voices from the WWII Memorial
Reflections on Germany, Poland, and WWII
The London Blitz
Pearl Harbor: A Personal History
Hearing Voices: A Japanese-American in a WWII Camp
A Mother-in-Law’s WWII Saga
WWII Heroes Recall the Doolittle Raid
Pearl Harbor: A Personal History Part 2
The Kitchen Sisters: War & Separation
StoryCorps: My Mother’s Story: Dot the Welder
War in the Pacific
Unbroken by War
Artists of Battlefield Deception: Soldiers of the 23rd
Female WWII Pilots: The Original Fly Girls
A Tuskegee Airman’s Harrowing WWII Tale
Remembrances of D-Day
The “Mad Piper” of Normandy
Kate Nolan, WWII Combat Nurse
WWII Combat Cameraman: ‘The Public Had To Know’
WWII Veterans on the Battle of the Bulge
StoryCorps: Joseph Robertson
Holocaust Survivors Honor Camp Liberator
The Greatest Generation
Remembering the Final Days of World War II
Pilot Remembers Fateful Bombing Mission Over Nagasaki
Thanks, Grandpa Tommy, for Saving the World
Narrator Neal Conan, host of the American Chronicles series, handles this delicate material with the candor and dignity that it deserves. From start to finish, NPR has put together a powerful documentary. Three hours isn’t much time to cover World War II, but the stories on this set are a nice representation. American Chronicles: World War II is a must have for fans of history documentaries.
Steven Brandt @ Audiobook-Heaven
August 22, 2013
I found the first hand accounts of life during WWII to be incredibly heart warming. From women returning to work to men on the battle front, all of them were filled with inspiration and an overall sense of feel good.
It's nice to see of a time when the country banded together in support of the war efforts.
It's nice to see of a time when the country banded together in support of the war efforts.
April 26, 2016
Good coverage of much of the American side to World War II. I'm glad they included spotlights on the WASPs and Tuskegee Airmen and would certainly welcome more from this NPR series on those lesser-heard voices of war.
September 25, 2016
Some excellent stories are included of some aspects of WWII that I'd never heard about previously. At times it's difficult to hear some of the words on the audiobook, in part because some of the audio utilized is original to the era.
February 19, 2012
Stories from the greatest generation. Listen to the story of the woman who was simultaneously engaged to six soldiers and more.
May 17, 2012
A pleasant listen into the lives and stories of American soldiers and civilians in some of America's greatest trials.
December 18, 2014
Anything NPR does I really like and I'm encouraged to find/listen and read more on the subject!
June 6, 2015
Such a fantastic collection of real American stories from an era that changed history forever. I could have listened to 3 more CDs full of them
September 30, 2015
An excellent read. This is a "must" for anyone curious or interested in WWII history.
July 29, 2016
Poor sound design for mobile listening. Otherwise, great research and voices.
Read
October 31, 2016A good listen
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews