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Prisoners of the Castle
- An Epic Story of Survival and Escape from Colditz, the Nazis' Fortress Prison
- Narrated by: Ben Macintyre
- Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins
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Publisher's Summary
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The “entertaining [and] often-moving account” (The Wall Street Journal) of the remarkable POWs whose relentlessly creative attempts to escape a notorious Nazi prison embodied the spirit of resistance against fascism, from the author of The Spy and the Traitor
“Macintyre has a knack for finding the most fascinating story lines in history.”—David Grann, author of The Wager and Killers of the Flower Moon
In this gripping narrative, Ben Macintyre tackles one of the most famous prison stories in history and makes it utterly his own. During World War II, the German army used the towering Colditz Castle to hold the most defiant Allied prisoners. For four years, these prisoners of the castle tested its walls and its guards with ingenious escape attempts that would become legend.
But as Macintyre shows, the story of Colditz was about much more than escape. Its population represented a society in miniature, full of heroes and traitors, class conflicts and secret alliances, and the full range of human joy and despair. In Macintyre’s telling, Colditz’s most famous names—like the indomitable Pat Reid—share glory with lesser known but equally remarkable characters like Indian doctor Birendranath Mazumdar whose ill treatment, hunger strike, and eventual escape read like fiction; Florimond Duke, America’s oldest paratrooper and least successful secret agent; and Christopher Clayton Hutton, the brilliant inventor employed by British intelligence to manufacture covert escape aids for POWs.
Prisoners of the Castle traces the war’s arc from within Colditz’s stone walls, where the stakes rose as Hitler’s war machine faltered and the men feared that liberation would not come soon enough to spare them a grisly fate at the hands of the Nazis. Bringing together the wartime intrigue of his acclaimed Operation Mincemeat and keen psychological portraits of his bestselling true-life spy stories, Macintyre has breathed new life into one of the greatest war stories ever told.
What the critics say
“In retelling the story of Colditz, [Macintyre] makes it his own. [An] entertaining yet objective and often-moving account.”—The Wall Street Journal
“Not since Ian Fleming and John le Carré has a spy writer so captivated readers.”—The Hollywood Reporter
“Macintyre details the famous escapes, but, just as importantly, gives a vivid picture of everyday life in what became Germany’s most elite prison. Set aside a few hours for this book, since once you start reading, you will not stop until the last page.”—AirMail
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- Peter O. Schionning
- 2022-12-15
Amazing story by an amazing author!
The book grips to from the beginning. Fantastic research. Nice voice. I very much like when the author reads his own book.
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- Roberta W
- 2022-09-18
Outstanding
As usual for Ben MacIntyre, very well researched, written and narrated. A really interesting account of the lives of these prisoners of war…and so many escapes! I found myself study the castle’s layout to picture them. Also learned about how coded messages were sent to/from the POWs, and how contraband was snuck in. Eye opening.
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- Andrew
- 2024-04-12
An incredible account
Ben MacIntyre hit this one out of the park. Placing a group of people under multiple competing pressures yields incredible ingenuity. The cast of characters was wonderful and diverse. As an audiobook listener, it was sometimes hard to follow certain storylines, although it didn't take away from inspiring tales. This book has comedy and tragedy, with heroism demonstrated throughout.
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- Anonymous User
- 2023-02-16
Colditz history.
Interesting history. Well written. I wonder if the the paper copy includes photographs? Pictures would enhance visualization.
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- Jay
- 2022-09-18
As always, Captivating
I have enjoyed every book Ben Macintyre has written and this one did not fail to keep my attention. With many themes rolled into one riveting tale of a castle that housed some truly eccentric and unique characters this story was funny, heart warming, depressing, and all together engaging.
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2 people found this helpful
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- LNM
- 2022-11-17
easy listening and interesting story
if you are looking for a good book on WWII history this is an easily digestible story
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2 people found this helpful
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- fishface42
- 2022-09-19
Fundamentally differs from spy bios.
Having heard and hugely enjoyed all of McIntyre's books on Audible, I preordered this one in happy anticipation. There is a fundamental divergence by this book from the others: it is about one place, not one character moving around from setting to setting in constant fear or exposure or capture. I don't fault the author, given the limitation of the subject matter, being primarily the setting. There is a cast of hundreds of brave ingenious inmates (and guards) who literally don't go anywhere and become a salad of characterization.
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