Freedom to Win
A Cold War Story of the Courageous Hockey Team That Fought the Soviets for the Soul of Its People—and Olympic Gold
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Freedom to Win
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Narrated by:
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Tom Beyer
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By:
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Ethan Scheiner
About this listen
During the height of the Cold War, a group of small-town young men would lead their underdog hockey team from the little country of Czechoslovakia against the Soviet Union, the juggernaut in their sport. As they battled on the ice, the young players would keep their people's quest for freedom alive, and forge a way to fight back against the authoritarian forces that sought to crush them.
From the sudden invasion of Czechoslovakia by an armada of tanks and 500,000 Warsaw Pact soldiers, to a hockey victory over the Soviets that inspired half a million furious citizens to take to the streets in an attempt to destroy all representations that they could find of their occupiers, Freedom to Win tells a story that ranges from iconic moments in history to courageous individual stories. And we will cheer as the team takes on its nemesis one last time with the Olympic gold medal at stake.
At the heart of Freedom to Win is the story of the Holiks, a Czechoslovak family whose resistance to the Communists embodied the deepest desires of the people of their country. Faced with life under the cruel and arbitrary regime that had stolen their family butcher shop, the Holik boys became national hockey icons and inspirations to their people.
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,348
If someone were to ask Jasmine Santos to describe the last few years of her life with a single word, it would definitely be a four-letter one. After 17 years - and countless broken bones and broken promises - she knows her window to compete in figure skating is coming to a close. But when the offer of a lifetime comes in from an arrogant idiot she's spent the last decade dreaming about pushing in the way of a moving bus, Jasmine might have to reconsider everything.
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5 out of 5 stars
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New Favorite MZ Slow Burn
- By Brittany M on 05-13-18
By: Mariana Zapata
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Bigger Leaner Stronger
- The Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Male Body
- By: Michael Matthews
- Narrated by: Michael Matthews
- Length: 14 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,950
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,389
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3,340
The bestselling fitness book for men who want to gain 25-35 pounds of lean muscle and lose as much fat or more in just 3-5 hours per week—and without giving up delicious foods or doing grueling workouts. Is Bigger Leaner Stronger a body building book that can help you pack on brain-shrinking amounts of muscle in 30 days flat? No. Is it a fitness nutrition book full of dubious diet and exercise “hacks” and “shortcuts” for melting belly fat faster than a roided hornet? Absolutely not.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Narration sounds like a Robot
- By pauly on 07-04-19
By: Michael Matthews
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The Other Talent
- The Curiously Complex Role of Mental Health in Athletic Greatness and Why It's Never Too Late to Harness Your Potential
- By: Matt Fitzgerald
- Narrated by: Gregory Abbey
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 17
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 16
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Story5 out of 5 stars 16
On the playing field, natural talent isn’t enough—there’s a mental component that determines whether athletes win the race or wipe out before the finish line. But what separates standout sports stars from the rest? In a paradigm-shifting new theory, acclaimed sportswriter Matt Fitzgerald identifies two key traits behind athletic success: strict self-regulation over thoughts and emotions and an unquenchable psychological need to pursue victory—even when it means enduring extreme mental and physical suffering.
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5 out of 5 stars
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a romance novel for exercise addicts like me
- By Anonymous User on 10-19-24
By: Matt Fitzgerald
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The Little Black Book of Workout Motivation
- By: Michael Matthews
- Narrated by: Michael Matthews
- Length: 5 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 822
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 708
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 701
Let’s face it: fitness is hard. Have you ever gotten into the car after a long day at work and headed straight for the couch instead of the gym? Have you ever been unable to stop hitting the snooze button in the morning? Have you even felt secretly afraid you just don’t have what it takes to transform your body and health? Welcome to the club.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Diamond in the rough
- By Mike on 09-03-18
By: Michael Matthews
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Barbarian Days
- A Surfing Life
- By: William Finnegan
- Narrated by: William Finnegan
- Length: 18 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 4,523
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,047
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,030
Pulitzer Prize, Biography, 2016. Barbarian Days is William Finnegan's memoir of an obsession, a complex enchantment. Surfing only looks like a sport. To initiates it is something else entirely: a beautiful addiction, a demanding course of study, a morally dangerous pastime, a way of life.
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2 out of 5 stars
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What a Jerk.
- By ML Sadler on 03-06-17
By: William Finnegan
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Wildlife Wars
- The Life and Times of a Fish and Game Warden
- By: Terry Grosz
- Narrated by: Pete Simonelli
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 495
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 451
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 450
In Wildlife Wars, Terry Grosz serves up fascinating stories - alternately hair-raising, hilarious, and heart-wrenching - from his 30-year struggle to protect wildlife in America. A natural storyteller, Grosz writes about the remarkable characters he met - on both sides of the law - as he matched wits with elk poachers, salmon snaggers, commercial-market duck hunters, and a host of other law-breakers. Best of all, though, these stories are so remarkably entertaining you won't want to put them down.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Title should be: "reckless egomaniac tells lies"
- By ross on 03-01-17
By: Terry Grosz
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The Unlikely Thru-Hiker
- An Appalachian Trail Journey
- By: Derick Lugo
- Narrated by: Derick Lugo
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 464
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 425
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 422
Derick Lugo had never been hiking. He certainly couldn't imagine going more than a day without manicuring his goatee. But with a job cut short and no immediate plans, this fixture of the New York comedy scene began to think about what he might do with months of free time. He had heard of the Appalachian Trail, but he had never seriously considered attempting to hike all 2,184.2 miles of it. Suddenly he found himself asking, Could he do it?
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5 out of 5 stars
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On My Feet All Day
- By bannedbum on 08-21-21
By: Derick Lugo
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The Best Hunting Stories Ever Told
- By: Jay Cassell - editor
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 32 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 177
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 154
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 158
Follow the trails of hunters - the original storytellers - as they interpret signs, examine tracks, and chase and catch their prey (or fail to). Listeners can curl up with the best authentic hunting fiction and non-fiction, bringing the great Mount Kenya and the prairies of the American Bison into your living room. From Theodore Roosevelt and Gene Hill to Rick Bass and Charles Dickens, remember classic hunting tales and discover new stories of hunters’ luck, camaraderie, and use of smarts on the trail.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A broad collection of hunting tales
- By Elaine on 06-21-15
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Playing to Win
- By: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Michael Lewis
- Length: 2 hrs and 13 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,268
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,930
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,918
All over America, families are investing blood, sweat, tears, and retirement savings in their children’s sports careers, all with the ultimate goal of…what exactly? A college scholarship? A professional contract? Simply the taste of victory? Through the lens of the highly competitive world of girls’ softball, Lewis reveals the youth sports industrial complex that has arisen to aggressively monetize after-school pastimes.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great Listen
- By Brian Bray on 10-15-20
By: Michael Lewis
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The Spartan Way
- Eat Better. Train Better. Think Better. Be Better.
- By: Joe De Sena, Jeff Csatari
- Narrated by: Christian Rummel
- Length: 4 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,148
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 994
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 985
Joe De Sena has one ultimate goal: to help improve everyone’s physical and emotional health by teaching them the tenets of Spartan living from ancient Greece: simple eating, smart training, mastering resilience, and an all-out commitment to achieving a goal.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Don’t know what to think...
- By bakaDOH! on 07-20-19
By: Joe De Sena, and others
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Buried in the Sky
- The Extraordinary Story of the Sherpa Climbers on K2's Deadliest Day
- By: Peter Zuckerman, Amanda Padoan
- Narrated by: David Doersch
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,222
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,061
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,056
When Edmund Hillary first conquered Mt. Everest, Sherpa Tenzing Norgay was at his side. Indeed, for as long as Westerners have been climbing the Himalaya, Sherpas have been the unsung heroes in the background. In August 2008, when eleven climbers lost their lives on K2, the world’s most dangerous peak, two Sherpas survived. They had emerged from poverty and political turmoil to become two of the most skillful mountaineers on earth. Based on unprecedented access and interviews, Buried in the Sky reveals their astonishing story for the first time.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Sherpas, The True Unsung Heroes
- By Kathy in CA on 07-26-15
By: Peter Zuckerman, and others
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Stay Sane in an Insane World
- How to Control the Controllables and Thrive
- By: Greg Harden
- Narrated by: Greg Harden
- Length: 5 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 190
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 171
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 171
Champions aren’t born. They’re built. Greg Harden spent over 30 years building them at the University of Michigan, including 400 future professional athletes, 50 NFL first-round draft picks, and 120 Olympians from over 20 countries. He gained national recognition when 60 Minutes Sports profiled him as “Michigan’s Secret Weapon.” Now, in his first book, Greg Harden is reaching out to help anyone who wants to live their best life by offering powerful and practical advice.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Good book, However, prejudice shows through a bit
- By Don Dotson on 08-22-23
By: Greg Harden
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Thinner Leaner Stronger
- The Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Female Body
- By: Michael Matthews
- Narrated by: Elliott Denkers
- Length: 13 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 792
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 657
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Story4 out of 5 stars 647
You can get that beautiful “beach-ready” body without following a bland, boring, bodybuilding diet and without doing exhausting strength training workouts you hate. And this exercise book shows you how.
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2 out of 5 stars
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"The Ultimate Female Body", but uses male examples
- By bookWorm on 06-29-15
By: Michael Matthews
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A Damn Near Perfect Game
- Reclaiming America's Pastime
- By: Joe Kelly, Rob Bradford - contributor
- Narrated by: L.J. Ganser
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 37
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 31
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 31
Baseball’s most outspoken fireballer brings the high heat—calling out the hacks, cheats, and ridiculous rules that have tarnished the game—and pitches A-plus stuff on how to make baseball pure, fun, and damn near perfect.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Could use a better narrator
- By Jason Monroe on 12-07-23
By: Joe Kelly, and others
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Pickleball Mindset
- The Blueprint for Peak Performance
- By: Dayne Gingrich, Jill Martin
- Narrated by: Dayne Gingrich, Jill Martin
- Length: 4 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 2
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2
Not just another book about how to play pickleball, Pickleball Mindset dives deep into how to think on the court. Coauthored by Dayne Gingrich, top senior professional pickleball player and renowned mental performance coach, and Jill Martin, an attorney turned personal trainer and pickleball fanatic, this book follows their year-long coaching relationship in which Jill seeks to become mentally dominant on and off the court.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Build The Confidence To Thrive in Pickleball
- By K. Ford on 11-16-24
By: Dayne Gingrich, and others
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Twisted
- The Story of Larry Nassar and the Women Who Took Him Down
- By: Mary Pilon, Carla Correa
- Narrated by: Mary Pilon, Carla Correa
- Length: 5 hrs and 17 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 2,941
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 2,593
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Story5 out of 5 stars 2,583
In early 2018, Larry Nassar, the former doctor for USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University, was sentenced to serve out the rest of his life in prison after pleading guilty to a variety of sex crimes. New York Times best-selling author Mary Pilon and Carla Correa chronicle the scandal from its inception, tracking the institutions that Nassar hid behind, the athletic culture that he benefited from, and the women who eventually brought him to justice.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The Truth as told by the Survivors
- By DKMarkham on 07-27-19
By: Mary Pilon, and others
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Ball Four
- The Final Pitch
- By: Jim Bouton
- Narrated by: Jim Bouton
- Length: 18 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,859
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,623
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,619
When Ball Four was published in 1970, it created a firestorm. Bouton was called a Judas, a Benedict Arnold and a “social leper” for having violated the “sanctity of the clubhouse.” Baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn tried to force Bouton to sign a statement saying the book wasn’t true. Ballplayers, most of whom hadn’t read it, denounced the book. It was even banned by a few libraries. Almost everyone else, however, loved Ball Four.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Three Ten Year Updates Give Bouton a 5th Star
- By Byron on 08-09-12
By: Jim Bouton
What listeners say about Freedom to Win
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Pavel B.
- 12-09-23
A great book, sub-par narration
Freedom to Win is an excellent book. If you enjoyed the stories of the Summit Series, the Miracle on Ice, Beartown, Bruce Berglund's "Fastest Game on Earth," or anything from Andrew Maraniss, this book is for you. Sadly, the book is seriously sold short by the narrator. I could forgive some pronunciation quirks (as a Czech, I know our language is a pain). But the accents? Please, no. Slapping a vague "Eastern European" accent on everyone from Czechoslovakia was not very satisfying.
In summary, the book is great, and I thoroughly recommend it. But as an audiobook, it leaves a bit to be desired.
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