A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II

Adam Makos

Mar 2013 · Blackstone Audio Inc. · Narrated by Robertson Dean

About this audiobook

A beautiful story of a brotherhood between enemies emerges from the horrors of World War II in this New York Times bestseller by the author of Devotion, now a major motion picture

Four days before Christmas in 1943, a badly damaged American bomber struggled to fly over wartime Germany. At its controls was a twenty-one-year-old pilot. Half his crew lay wounded or dead. It was their first mission. Suddenly a sleek, dark shape pulled up on the bomber’s tail—a German Messerschmitt fighter. Worse, the German pilot was an ace, a man able to destroy the American bomber with the squeeze of a trigger. What happened next would defy imagination and later be called the most incredible encounter between enemies in World War II.

This is the true story of the two pilots whose lives collided in the skies that day—the American, Second Lieutenant Charlie Brown, a former farm boy from West Virginia who came to captain a B-17—and the German, Second Lieutenant Franz Stigler, a former airline pilot from Bavaria who sought to avoid fighting in World War II.

A Higher Call follows both Charlie and Franz’s harrowing missions. Charlie would face takeoffs in English fog over the flaming wreckage of his buddies’ planes, flak bursts so close they would light his cockpit, and packs of enemy fighters that would circle his plane like sharks.

Franz would face sandstorms in the desert, a crash alone at sea, and the spectacle of one thousand bombers, each with eleven guns, waiting for his attack.

Ultimately, Charlie and Franz would stare across the frozen skies at one another. What happened between them, the American Eighth Air Force would later classify as top secret. It was an act that Franz could never mention without facing a firing squad.

It was the encounter that would haunt both Charlie and Franz for forty years until, as old men, they would search for one another, a last mission that could change their lives forever.

Ratings and reviews

WHAT A REMARKABLE BOOK!! my grandfather, a vet from the 8th AF in ww2, gave me this book to read. as I don't have much time to sit down I got the audio book. if I had known the amount of emotions this book would put me through I might not have picked it up. if you are interested in fighter pilots from ww2, If you want to hear what it was like to be apart of the German Air force while a MAD man runs your country, or a story of unbelievable chivalry among soldiers then this book is for you. actually, even if you don't read it anyway. you will thank me afterwards. this author has a passion for the times of when men were MEN and youcan feel it in his words. I, for one, am so glad my grandfather leant me this book and I can wait to actually read it the second time. also have me inspiration to interview my grandfather. do yourself a favor and grab this one.

One of the best books I've read, hands down. Hearing about the war and this unbelievable story from both the German and American point of views gave me a perspective on the war I've never had before. An absolute must read/listen... You won't want to stop listening/reading this one!

Incredible heartwarm and terrifying story. Many facts from the German perspective that I've never heard before.

About the author

Adam Makos, hailed as “a masterful storyteller” by the Associated Press, is the author of the New York Times bestsellers A Higher Call and Spearhead and the critically acclaimed Devotion. Inspired by his grandfathers’ service, he chronicles the stories of American veterans in his trademark fusion of intense human drama and fast-paced military action, securing his place “in the top ranks of military writers,” according to the Los Angeles Times. In the course of his research, he has flown a World War II bomber, accompanied a Special Forces raid in Iraq, and journeyed into North Korea in search of an MIA American airman. Visit him online at AdamMakos.com and follow him on Instagram.

Larry Alexander has been a columnist for the Lancaster Newspapers, Inc., a newspaper in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, since 1993. He retired from the paper in 2015. While with Lancaster Newspapers, he was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 2005 and has won state-level journalism awards. His first book, Biggest Brother: The Life of Major Dick Winters, the Man Who Led the Band of Brothers, was published in 2005 and made the New York Times bestseller list. He followed up his first success with Shadows in the Jungle: The Alamo Scouts behind Japanese Lines in World War II and In the Footsteps of the Band of Brothers: A Return to Easy Company’s Battlefields with Sgt. Forrest Guth, both published in 2010. He then coauthored A Higher Call with journalist and historian Adam Makos, which also made the New York Times and international bestsellers lists, and Bloody Ridge and Beyond with Marlin Groft.

Robertson Dean has recorded hundreds of audiobooks in most every genre. He's been nominated for several Audie Awards, won nine Earphones Awards, and was named one of AudioFile magazine's Best Voices of 2010. He lives in Los Angeles, where he records books and acts in film, TV, and (especially) on stage.