The Bridge at Andau: The Compelling True Story of a Brave, Embattled People
Written by James A. Michener
Narrated by Larry McKeever
4/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
The Bridge at Andau is James A. Michener at his most gripping. His classic nonfiction account of a doomed uprising is as searing and unforgettable as any of his bestselling novels. For five brief, glorious days in the autumn of 1956, the Hungarian revolution gave its people a glimpse at a different kind of future-until, at four o'clock in the morning on a Sunday in November, the citizens of Budapest awoke to the shattering sound of Russian tanks ravaging their streets. The revolution was over. But freedom beckoned in the form of a small footbridge at Andau, on the Austrian border. By an accident of history it became, for a few harrowing weeks, one of the most important crossings in the world, as the soul of a nation fled across its unsteady planks.
Related to The Bridge at Andau
Related audiobooks
Lazarus (CopyrightGroup) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Silence (CopyrightGroup) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLight in the Dark: The Last Sanctuary from the Holocaust Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Crossroads of Civilization: A History of Vienna Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn Wartime: Stories from Ukraine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lenin on the Train Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Berlin Wall: August 13, 1961 - November 9, 1989 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Gift Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blue Cities Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Kidnapped West: The Tragedy of Central Europe Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Revolution 1989: The Fall of the Soviet Empire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lotharingia: A Personal History of Europe's Lost Country Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Black Dragon River: A Journey Down the Amur River at the Borderlands of Empires Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Picnic: A Dream of Freedom and the Collapse of the Iron Curtain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Zhivago Affair: The Kremlin, the CIA, and the Battle over a Forbidden Book Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Marx's General: The Revolutionary Life of Friedrich Engels Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5March 1917: On the Brink of War and Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Revenge of Geography: What the Map Tells Us About Coming Conflicts and the Battle Against Fate Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Russia at War, 1941–1945: A History Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Blood of Others Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Lighthouse of Stalingrad: The Epic Siege at the Heart of the Greatest Battle of World War II Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Belarus: The Last European Dictatorship Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHistory of Europe: Europe in Turmoil During a Century of Conflict and War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Bitter Road to Freedom: A New History of the Liberation of Europe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A War Made in Russia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Stories Old Towns Tell: A Journey Through Cities at the Heart of Europe Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Tsar's Last Armada: The Epic Journey to the Battle of Tsushima Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Moscow 1941: A City and Its People at War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Wars & Military For You
Kill Anything That Moves Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Book of Five Rings Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Making of the Atomic Bomb: 25th Anniversary Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Strategy Masters: The Prince, The Art of War, and The Gallic Wars Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin - Book Summary: How U.S. Navy SEALS Lead And Win Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Last Kingdom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Diary of Anne Frank Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Korean War: A History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dirty Tricks Department: Stanley Lovell, the OSS, and the Masterminds of World War II Secret Warfare Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Shortest History of Israel and Palestine: From Zionism to Intifadas and the Struggle for Peace Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Watchmaker's Daughter: The True Story of World War II Heroine Corrie ten Boom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Left of Bang: How the Marine Corps' Combat Hunter Program Can Save Your Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing Patton: The Strange Death of World War II's Most Audacious General Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Valiant Women: The Extraordinary American Servicewomen Who Helped Win World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Palestine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Unbroken Bonds of Battle: A Modern Warriors Book of Heroism, Patriotism, and Friendship Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You're Stepping on My Cloak and Dagger Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Saved: A War Reporter's Mission to Make It Home Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Rape of Nanking: The History and Legacy of the Notorious Massacre during the Second Sino-Japanese War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Agincourt 1415: Field of Blood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Bridge at Andau
63 ratings5 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5These ruskies were pretty tough against unarmed men, woman, and children in tanks.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A very vivid account of the Hungarian revolt of 1956 by the well-known writer James Michener, at that time a fervently anti-communist JFK Democrat. It is done extremely effectively by presenting personal stories of individual rebels who became refugees after the collapse of the revolt, and whom Michener interviewed soon after they had escaped, in some cases by the bridge mentioned in the title. He admits the people described may be composites, with the identities blurred to protect their families and friends who were still in Hungary. This detracts from the book's value as a completely accurate source, but even so the atmosphere of the revolt comes across very clearly. Personally, I was struck by the fact that the revolt initially had mass popular support on the level that brought about the "fall of Communism" 33 years later --the crucial difference was that in 1956 the Soviets were prepared to use ruthless force to suppress the revolt. Michener ends by predicting the eventual collapse of the Soviet bloc, which turned out to be true, though it may have taken longer than he expected at that time.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An account of the brief Hungarian Revolution of 1956 as well as its crushing ending with when the Soviet tanks rolled into Budapest. Michener who was living in Austria at the time and had access to refugees, whose stories are composed into the characters shown in the book. It's fairly gripping and angering, though it will probably have more impact on those who lived during the Cold War era.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As is typical for a Michener book, this was very readable and full of historical information. I remember the Hungarian Revolution but being very young at the time, I do not remember many details from that time. Michener takes care of that for me.While the title refers to a bridge across which thousands of Hungarians fled after the Russians crushed the revolt, most of the book is about the actual uprising and what made the people do it at that time. Michener spends considerable time describing the secret police and their methods.He gathered his information from refugees that crossed the bridge of the title and then had it verified by others. He actually spend days at the bridge helping escapees to freedom.Written a year after the Revolution, it lacks historical perspective but does give the reader a close up view of what went on in Hungary in Octpber and November 1956.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A deeply moving book that tells the true story of the 1956 revolt in Hungary against Communism. The revolt failed and for a while one bridge from Hungary stood open for Hungarians to flee. Over 200,000 people made it out alive. The author was there interviewing people as they escaped. This is their story.
This book will open your eyes to evils of communism and the difficulties of living behind the Iron curtain. And very important book and one that should not be forgotten.