Shadow Divers, Robert Kurson
Shadow Divers, Robert Kurson
17 Rating(s)
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Shadow Divers
The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II

Author: Robert Kurson

Narrator: Michael Prichard

Unabridged: 15 hr 42 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/05/2004

Synopsis

In 1991, acting on a tip from a local fisherman, two scuba divers discovered a sunken German U-boat–complete with its crew of 60 men–not too far off the New Jersey coast. The divers, realizing the momentousness of their discovery, began probing the mystery. Over the next six years, they became expert and well-traveled researchers, taught themselves German, hunted for clues in Germany, and constructed theories corrective of the history books, all in an effort to identify this sunken U-boat and its crew. During that time, three of their colleagues died exploring the wreck, including a father and son team. In 1997, when it all seemed in vain, the two divers came up with a final plan, so dangerous that the book ends with this last dive.

About The Author

Robert Kurson is the author of the runaway bestseller Shadow Divers, Crashing Through, and Pirate Hunters.Michael Prichard has played several thousand characters during his career. While he has been seen performing over a hundred of them in theater and film, SmartMoney magazine named him one of the Top Ten Golden Voices.

Reviews

AudiobooksNow review by Richard on 2007-07-10 18:40:57

If you like diving and WW2 stories you will love this.

AudiobooksNow review by Cyndie Browning on 2008-02-02 10:56:33

I don't know why but I LOVE reading stories about submarines and undersea exploration--even tho' I can't look at the pictures. The thing is, I'm phobic about deep water and drowning, and have been since I was a very little girl. I think that's because I didn't learn to swim until I was 14. But I still read Ballard's book about finding the Titanic, and Shadow Divers was just as exciting. I really enjoyed listening to all the history of Germany's U-boats and the re-enactment of the last days of the crew of U-869, all of which gave faces and being to the shadows of the dead that Chatterton and Kohler found onboard the sub, and I loved following the detective work that helped lead to identifying the U-Who. An excellent book for anyone who enjoys a good mystery, history, and adventure, all wrapped up in the same story. And if you want a thrill, check out the artist's drawing of the U-869 at Kurson's website that's EXACTLY the kind of illustration that terrifies me!

Goodreads review by Mara on March 10, 2020

Well, I've done some calculations, and it turns out that there are precisely one-bagillion ways to die while deep water diving. As I'm neither Boyle, nor Dalton nor Henry I won't be going into grave (as in watery grave) detail vis-à-vis the laws of physics that make humans so ill-equipped to brave t......more

Goodreads review by Blondish And on September 07, 2019

This is not only the most thrilling non-fiction book I've EVER read, it is one of the most exciting, thrilling books of any genre! So many times the description for a true story says, “reads like an adventure story”, and then you read it and it's boring. This—THIS is flat out adventure! The “shadow......more

Quotes

“An engrossing saga of the suspenseful, intriguing, and dangerous underwater investigation of a Mystery U-boat.”—Clive Cussler

“Robert Kurson’s Shadow Divers, about the divers exploring a sunken shipwreck off the New Jersey coast, is a gripping account of real-life adventurers and a real-life mystery. In addition to being compellingly readable on every page, the book offers a unique window on the deep, almost reckless nature of the human quest to know.”—Scott Turow, author of Reversible Errors

“A tremendously suspenseful story of discovery that comes as close as any book could to providing the reader with approximate sensations of deep sea diving and of life on a submarine at war, and that leaves us with a hell of an impression of the grit, guts, and compassion of a U-boat crew and the two American divers who risked everything to solve the mystery of their last mission.”—John McCain, author of Faith of My Fathers and Why Courage Matters

“Robert Kurson’s status as an undiscovered pleasure among Chicago readers is about to change, I suspect, in a hurry. Shadow Divers is so culturally astute and terrifyingly suspenseful that it should reach the sort of audience John Berendt, Susan Orlean, Jon Krakauer and Laura Hillenbrand have recently earned. Kurson’s new focus is the larger historical world--a world of U-Boats, forensics and lung-crushing pressure—and his prose is, as always, plain gorgeous.”—James McManus, author of Positively Fifth Street

“A winning tale exceedingly well told, Shadow Divers takes us on a dangerous and seemingly quixotic descent into the murk–and then, in a fog of nitrogen narcosis, brings us back to the surface with a richer, fuller fathoming of a history we only thought we knew.”—Hampton Sides, author of Ghost Soldiers: The Epic Account of World War II’s Greatest Rescue Mission

Awards

  • Alex Award
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