Act of War cover art

Act of War

Lyndon Johnson, North Korea, and the Capture of the Spy Ship Pueblo

Preview

Try for $0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo + applicable taxes after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Act of War

Written by: Jack Cheevers
Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer
Try for $0.00

$14.95 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $23.72

Buy Now for $23.72

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Tax where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

In 1968, a small, dilapidated American spy ship set out on a dangerous mission to pinpoint military radar stations along the coast of North Korea. Packed with advanced surveillance equipment and classified intelligence documents, the USS Pueblo was poorly armed and lacked backup by air or sea. Its crew, led by a charismatic, hard-drinking, ex-submarine officer named Pete Bucher, was made up mostly of untested sailors in their teens and twenties.

On a frigid January morning while eavesdropping near the port of Wonsan, the Pueblo was challenged by a North Korean gunboat. When Bucher tried to escape, his ship was quickly surrounded by more patrolboats, shelled and machine-gunned, and forced to surrender. One American was killed and ten wounded, and Bucher and his young crew were taken prisoner by one of the world's most aggressive and erratic totalitarian regimes.

Less than forty-eight hours before the Pueblo's capture, North Korean commandos had nearly succeeded in assassinating South Korea's president in downtown Seoul. Together the two explosive incidents pushed Cold War tensions toward a flashpoint as both North and South Korea girded for war - with fifty thousand American soldiers caught between them.

President Lyndon Johnson rushed US combat ships and aircraft to reinforce South Korea, while secretly trying to negotiate a peaceful solution to the crisis.

Act of War tells the riveting saga of Bucher and his men as they struggled to survive merciless torture and horrendous living conditions in North Korean prisons. Based on extensive interviews and numerous government documents released through the Freedom of Information Act, this book also reveals new details of Johnson's high-risk gambit to prevent war from erupting on the Korean peninsula while his negotiators desperately tried to save the sailors from possible execution.

The backdrop of an international diplomatic poker game, Act of War offers lessons on the perils of covertintelligence operations as America finds itself confronting a host of 21st-century enemies.

©2013 Jack Cheevers (P)2013 Blackstone Audio
Asia Biographies & Memoirs Freedom & Security International Relations Military United States Espionage War Transportation South Korea Vietnam War Sailing Computer Security
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about Act of War

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    12
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    9
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    10
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Fascinating. Could Use An Aggressive Editor

LA Times Reporter/Author Jack Cheevers offers a jawdropping account of a relatively forgotten Vietnam-Era incident between a spy-ship for the United States and North Korea. He shifts deftly from on-board personalities & events to geopolitical negotiations & conflicts (and back again) and has a genuine talent for putting readers/listeners "in the room". The research informing the chronicle is painstaking, the descriptions are mind's-eye vivid, and the imagined dialogue is strikingly realistic.
Less fortunately, Cheevers is too punctilious in his documentation - including in-depth biographical detail for even the most peripheral participant, for example. This 14 hour recording could easily have been delivered in 8.

The choice of narrator to read the book (Jeffrey Kafer) contributes to the "acceptable" quality of this audiobook. Kafer is undoubtedly professional - delivering quality diction, timbre, cadence, and tone.. but unspectacular. He is admirably interested in the text, but reads too slowly (listen at 1.15X) and with occasionally overdramatic voice-acting.

Taken altogether, this 7/10 star audiobook is appropriately offered as part of the 'Plus' initiative. It's well worth a download if you can get it for free, but worth a Credit only if you are a devoted student of the Cold War Conflict (and have some patience).

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

AMAZING STORY FEW KNOW ABOUT

Amazing Story About North Korea Seizing A Commissioned US Navy Vessel & The US Navy Sailors Whom Were Held In North Korean Custody For 11 Months

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful