Biography and Memoir

Heed the Call

By John A Boock Sr

Listen with Sir Michael Caine™ and 1,000+ voices

Length2h 10m

About this audiobook

In 1937, John Boock was a boy from Depression-era Minnesota with an unshakable hunger to see the world. John bought a one-way ticket to adventure, hitchhiking across America, working his passage across the Atlantic on a freighter, and cycling through a Europe on the brink of war in 1938. Told with warmth, wit, and unflinching honesty, this is the story of one man's extraordinary journey.

Audiobook details

GenreBiography and Memoir

Length2 hrs 10 mins

Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices

FormateBook with Audio

Publish dateDec 15, 2025

LanguageEnglish

1Introduction

31Gone

2Copyright

32The Fourth of July in Jail

3Introduction

33Roman Dumpster King

4Faribault

34The Climb Back

5Education

35Stowaway

Show all chapters

6Wanderlust

36The Plan (If You Could Call It That)

7A Hitchhiker’s Tale

37The SS Manhattan

8New York: A Crucible of Dreams

38The Cavalry Charge

9Working the Docks

39The Throne Room

10Crossing the Atlantic

40First Class

11Land Ho

41The Jig Is Up

12The Road&#x27;s Routine

42&quot;Throw This Rascal in the Brig&quot;

13Landscapes and Landmarks

43Working Passage

14Encounters

44The Papers

15Next Stop Holland

45The Interrogation

16Holland: The Journey Continues

46American Soil

17Belgium: A Taste of Europe

47The Long View

18Deutschland über alles

48Seven Seas: A Love Story Born in War

19The Jugend Herberge

49The Meeting That Almost Didn’t Happen

20The Same Questions, Every Time

50Into the Navy

21Eight-Year-Olds With Daggers

51The Proposal

22Der Grosser Amerikaner

52To Sea

23&quot;Heil Hitler&quot;

53The Mediterranean

24The Crack in the Armor

54Westward

25What I Didn’t Know

55A Son

26The Long Shadow

56Alaska and After

27Paradise and Purgatory

57Epilogue

28The Most Beautiful Thing I Had Ever Seen

58About the Author

29The $25 Miracle

59Also by Russell A. Beck

30The Packard and the Stillmans

About the author

John A Boock Sr

Russell Beck grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana, where a few outstanding English teachers at Cathedral High School sparked a lifelong love of writing and critical thinking. In 1967 and 1968, while at the University of Buffalo, he wrote a sports column titled The Athletic Supporter for the student newspaper. It was more humor than highlights, à la Dave Barry. He’s written numerous articles in his professional field, nonprofit management. He now lives in Chiang Mai, Thailand, with his wife, Naruedee, where he continues to write, reflect, and occasionally volunteers… to take out the garbage. View all by John A Boock Sr