Audiobooks by Ben Macintyre

The Siege: The Remarkable Story of the Greatest SAS Hostage Drama

"Brought to you by Penguin. From the author of Sunday Times #1 bestsellers COLDITZ, SAS: ROGUE HEROES and THE SPY AND THE TRAITOR . . . On April 30, 1980, six heavily armed gunmen burst into the Iranian embassy on Princes Gate, overlooking Hyde Park in London. There they took 26 hostages, including embassy staff, visitors, and three British citizens. A tense six-day siege ensued as millions gathered around screens across the country to witness the longest news flash in British television history, in which police negotiators and psychiatrists sought a bloodless end to the standoff, while the SAS – hitherto an organisation shrouded in secrecy – laid plans for a daring rescue mission: Operation Nimrod. Drawing on unpublished source material, exclusive interviews with the SAS, and testimony from witnesses including hostages, negotiators, intelligence officers and the on-site psychiatrist, bestselling historian Ben Macintyre takes readers on a gripping journey from the years and weeks of build-up on both sides, to the minute-by-minute account of the siege and rescue. Recreating the dramatic conversations between negotiators and hostages, the cutting-edge intelligence work happening behind-the-scenes, and the media frenzy around this moment of international significance, The Siege is the remarkable story of what really happened on those fateful six days, and the first full account of a moment that forever changed the way the nation thought about the SAS – and itself. ‘Macintyre does true-life espionage better than anyone else’ John Preston 'The pre-eminent historian of the secret world . . . His books have set the gold standard for accurate historical reporting, but read like heart-pounding thrillers' Mick Herron 'Masterly . . . it has never been recounted so pleasurably as it has been here' New York Times © Ben Macintyre 2024 (P) Penguin Audio 2024"

Ben Macintyre (Author), Ben Macintyre (Narrator)

Audiobook

[French] - Colditz: La forteresse d'Hitler: La forteresse d'Hitler

"Sur les hauteurs d’une colline, au coeur de l'Allemagne nazie, se dresse un imposant château gothique, magnifique et monstrueux. Dans ce colossal labyrinthe de pierre sont parqués les « ennemis n°1 » d’Hitler, 200 officiers haut gradés aux multiples nationalités. Tout au long de leur longue et éprouvante captivité dans l’enceinte ultrasécurisée de Colditz, ces « incorrigibles » n’auront qu’une seule obsession : s’évader. Dans un jeu haletant du chat et de la souris, où la tension ne cesse de monter à mesure que la machine de guerre nazie s’affaiblit, ces prisonniers mettent leurs geôliers à l'épreuve par de redoutables et rocambolesques tentatives d'évasion. Au fil de portraits psychologiques précis et captivants, l’historien à succès Ben Macintyre dépeint une société en miniature, pleine de héros et de traîtres, de conflits de classes et d'alliances secrètes, et insuffle une nouvelle vie à l'une des plus grandes histoires de guerre jamais racontées."

Ben Macintyre (Author), Stephane Cornicard (Narrator)

Audiobook

Colditz: Prisoners of the Castle

"Brought to you by Penguin. In a forbidding Gothic castle on a hilltop in the heart of Nazi Germany, an unlikely band of British officers spent the Second World War plotting daring escapes from their German captors. Or so the story of Colditz has gone, unchallenged for 70 years. But that tale contains only part of the truth. The astonishing inside story, revealed for the first time by bestselling historian Ben Macintyre, is a tale of the indomitable human spirit, but also one of class conflict, homosexuality, espionage, insanity and farce. Through an astonishing range of material, Macintyre reveals a remarkable cast of characters, wider than previously seen and hitherto hidden from history, taking in prisoners and captors who were living cheek-by-jowl in a thrilling game of cat and mouse. From the elitist members of the Colditz Bullingdon Club to America's oldest paratrooper and least successful secret agent, the soldier-prisoners of Colditz were courageous and resilient as well as vulnerable and fearful -- and astonishingly imaginative in their desperate escape attempts. Deeply researched and full of incredible human stories, this is the definitive book on Colditz. © Ben MacIntyre 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022"

Ben Macintyre (Author), Ben Macintyre (Narrator)

Audiobook

Agent Sonya: Lover, Mother, Soldier, Spy

"Brought to you by Penguin A TOP TEN SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'His best book yet' The Times 'Macintyre's page-turner is a dazzling portrait of a flawed yet driven individual who risked everything (including her children) for the cause' Sunday Times DISCOVER THE INCREDIBLE TRUE STORY OF THE SPY WHO ALMOST KILLED HITLER - FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE SPY AND THE TRAITOR Ursula Kuczynski Burton was a spymaster, saboteur, bomb-maker and secret agent. Codenamed 'Agent Sonya', her story has never been told - until now. Born to a German Jewish family, as Ursula grew, so did the Nazis' power. As a fanatical opponent of the fascism that ravaged her homeland, Ursula was drawn to communism as a young woman, motivated by the promise of a fair and peaceful society. From planning an assassination attempt on Hitler in Switzerland, to spying on the Japanese in Manchuria, to preventing nuclear war (or so she believed) by stealing the science of atomic weaponry from Britain to give to Moscow, Ursula conducted some of the most dangerous espionage operations of the twentieth century. In Agent Sonya, Britain's most acclaimed historian Ben Macintyre delivers an exhilarating tale that's as fast-paced as any fiction. It is the incredible story of one spy's life, a life that would alter the course of history . . . 'Macintyre does true-life espionage better than anyone else' John Preston 'Macintyre has found a real-life heroine worthy of his gifts as John le Carré's nonfiction counterpart' New York Times 'This book is classic Ben Macintyre . . . quirky human details enliven every page' Spectator © Ben MacIntyre 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2020"

Ben Macintyre (Author), Ben Macintyre (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War

"Brought to you by Penguin. *The No.1 Sunday Times Bestseller* *Shortlisted for the 2018 Baillie Gifford Prize* *Bill Gates' Top 5 Books for 2020* 'THE BEST TRUE SPY STORY I HAVE EVER READ' JOHN LE CARRÉ A thrilling Cold War story about a KGB double agent, by one of Britain's greatest historians - now with a new afterword On a warm July evening in 1985, a middle-aged man stood on the pavement of a busy avenue in the heart of Moscow, holding a plastic carrier bag. In his grey suit and tie, he looked like any other Soviet citizen. The bag alone was mildly conspicuous, printed with the red logo of Safeway, the British supermarket. The man was a spy. A senior KGB officer, for more than a decade he had supplied his British spymasters with a stream of priceless secrets from deep within the Soviet intelligence machine. No spy had done more to damage the KGB. The Safeway bag was a signal: to activate his escape plan to be smuggled out of Soviet Russia. So began one of the boldest and most extraordinary episodes in the history of spying. Ben Macintyre reveals a tale of espionage, betrayal and raw courage that changed the course of the Cold War forever... BEN MACINTYRE'S NEXT BOOK AGENT SONYA IS AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW © Ben MacIntyre 2018 (P) Penguin Audio 2018"

Ben Macintyre (Author), Ben Macintyre (Narrator)

Audiobook

SAS: Rogue Heroes

"From the secret SAS archives, and acclaimed author Ben Macintyre: the first ever authorized history of the SAS Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook edition of SAS: Rogue Heroes, written and read by Ben MacIntyre. 'Impeccably researched, superbly told - by far the best book on the SAS in World War II' - Antony Beevor In the summer of 1941, at the height of the war in the Western Desert, a bored and eccentric young officer, David Stirling, came up with a plan that was radical and entirely against the rules: a small undercover unit that would inflict mayhem behind enemy lines. Despite intense opposition, Winston Churchill personally gave Stirling permission to recruit the toughest, brightest and most ruthless soldiers he could find. So began the most celebrated and mysterious military organisation in the world: the SAS. Now, 75 years later, the SAS has finally decided to tell its astonishing story. It has opened its secret archives for the first time, granting historian Ben Macintyre full access to a treasure trove of unseen reports, memos, diaries, letters, maps and photographs, as well as free rein to interview surviving Originals and those who knew them. The result is an exhilarating tale of fearlessness and heroism, recklessness and tragedy; of extraordinary men who were willing to take monumental risks. It is a story about the meaning of courage. BEN MACINTYRE'S LATEST BOOK, COLDITZ, IS AVAILABLE TO PRE-ORDER NOW"

Ben Macintyre (Author), Ben Macintyre (Narrator)

Audiobook