A Higher Call

An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II

By: Adam Makos

Narrated by: Robertson Dean

Length: 13 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER: “Beautifully told.”—CNN • “A remarkable story…worth retelling and celebrating.”—USA Today • “Oh, it’s a good one!”—Fox News

A beautiful story of a brotherhood between enemies emerges from the horrors of World War II in this New York Times bestseller by the author of Devotion, now a Major Motion Picture.

Four days before Christmas in 1943, a badly damaged American bomber struggled to fly over wartime Germany. At its controls was a twenty-one-year-old pilot. Half his crew lay wounded or dead. It was their first mission. Suddenly a sleek, dark shape pulled up on the bomber’s tail—a German Messerschmitt fighter. Worse, the German pilot was an ace, a man able to destroy the American bomber with the squeeze of a trigger. What happened next would defy imagination and later be called the most incredible encounter between enemies in World War II.

This is the true story of the two pilots whose lives collided in the skies that day—the American—Second Lieutenant Charlie Brown, a former farm boy from West Virginia who came to captain a B-17—and the German—Second Lieutenant Franz Stigler, a former airline pilot from Bavaria who sought to avoid fighting in World War II.

A Higher Call follows both Charlie and Franz’s harrowing missions. Charlie would face takeoffs in English fog over the flaming wreckage of his buddies’ planes, flak bursts so close they would light his cockpit, and packs of enemy fighters that would circle his plane like sharks. Franz would face sandstorms in the desert, a crash alone at sea, and the spectacle of one thousand bombers, each with eleven guns, waiting for his attack.

Ultimately, Charlie and Franz would stare across the frozen skies at one another. What happened between them, the American Eighth Air Force would later classify as top secret. It was an act that Franz could never mention without facing a firing squad. It was the encounter that would haunt both Charlie and Franz for forty years until, as old men, they would search for one another, a last mission that could change their lives forever.

©2012 Adam Makos (P)2013 Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

Critic reviews

“This book grips you like a movie. It’s part Top Gun, part Valkyrie, and more!”(Marcus Brotherton, New York Times best-selling author

“It is often said that ‘war is hell’ - and it is - however, this story reveals how the human spirit can shine in the darkest hours. A Higher Call is an eye-opener.” (Col. Charles McGee, Tuskegee Airman, WWII)

“‘Can good men be found on both sides of a bad war?’ The author asks the question and delivers the answer. A powerful, haunting read.” (Chuck Tatum, author of Red Blood, Black Sand)

An Absolutely Incredcredible Audiobook!

This audiobook is probably one of the very best I have ever listened to. In fact, I would go so far as to say this book is on a par with Laura Hildebrand’s phenomenal book titled Unbroken.

A Higher Call is a true story about two WWII heroes - Second Lieutenant Charlie Brown, who is an Army Air Corps B-17 pilot, and Second Lieutenant Franz Stigler who is a Luftwaffe fighter pilot and one of Germany's most famous Aces.

The story is incredibly well researched and extremely well written, the narration is near perfection.

Listening to this book will be worth every minute of your time, the story and the experience will enrich your life.

If I could rate this book a 10, I would do it in a heartbeat.

Fascinating on many levels

This novel is centered around a remarkable incident that lasted all of 20 minutes, but the story of what lead up to this tremendous act of chivalry and its aftermath are equally remarkable. The book mainly follows the life of ace Luftwaffe pilot Franz Stegler who would be worthy of a novel had the incident never occurred. The story goes into many technical aspects of both the allied and German planes to help explain the challenges of these opposing forces, and if you're not technically minded, this could be a minus. I'm not terribly technical myself, but found it all very engaging. The book is well balanced with many lighter moments as well, as when Franz adopts a bear whom he takes along as a drinking companion to the local pub. I've read many WWII novels, and this is one of the cream of the crop.

Simply wonderful

I purchased this book quite a few months ago and just never got around to listening to it until this past week. Once I started listening to it I just couldn't put it down. The story is incredibly compelling and the narration is spot on with easy transitions to a very understandable German accent and back to lend character to the people in this book.

This book is not your typical WWII story. Too often those stories turn the Germans into two dimensional caricatures of real people and hide the internal conflicts that they too went through during the war.

This story does not glorify warfare. It does not glorify killing or death. It does not glorify either the Allied cause or the German cause. It simply tells the story of real people on both sides of a war. You will feel heartache for the losses of both the American bomber crew and the German pilots. You will find yourself cheering for the bomber crew to make it home, and for the German pilots to find a way to survive to the end of the war.

Sitting here today writing this I can't begin to tell you how happy I am that I picked up this audiobook and listened to it. This book is going to be a favorite of mine time and again in the future.

Very good, but not essential.

This book does a great job of bringing together the lives of two men who were supposed to be enemies. It's a really good look at humanity at its finest - particularly when the men are in a brutal situation. It also provides an inside look on WWII pilots and programs that's really interesting.

The fact-written-as-fiction aspect makes it similar to "Unbroken" - though this book lacks the edge-of-your-seat suspense. I'd recommend this book to someone who loves WWII history and consumes a ton of books a year. If you only have time to listen to a few books, there are others in this genre that I think are more rewarding.

Nothing finer out there to listen to !

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Wonderfully written and researched. The narrator hits it perfectly. I listened pretty much non stop for two days.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The description of the German Fighter pilot letting the American pilot and crew live to fight on another day.

Any additional comments?

If you listen to podcasts check out the John Batchelor Show May 25, 2015 hour 4. The podcast makes you decide quickly that you want to experience this novel.

A Wonderful story!

I had a hard time putting it down. I highly recommend this book. It was a pleasure.

A masterpiece of a story.

One of the best true stories of all time, still in shock. What a tale.

The best story you have never heard

Where to start. This is hands down the best WW2 story I've heard and the Narration is top notch! I'm not sure why this hasn't been made into a mini series or film yet. Between the Author's writing and the Narrator's delivery, you are transported along side these pilots through thinks and thin. most importantly, it shows the value of human life in the most grizzly of times. I appreciated learning more about the German airforce, knowing that they had little, or nothing to do with the Nazi party and flew according to a higher code of honor. I know I hope to live by a higher code as well.

Fantastic

One of the best, if not the best World War 2 stories
Very well narrated too.

Awesome, just Awesome

Best book and story I've read in years:) Please read this book, it will change your life.