Audio only
Length15h 48m
About this audiobook
Based on an extraordinary true story and soon to be a major film produced by and starring Benedict Cumberbatch, The War Magician is the remarkable tale of the man who used the powers of illusion to fight the Nazis—and created the most remarkable feat of legerdemain since the Trojan Horse.
How an Illusionist Changed the Course of World War II
When England went to war against Hitler in 1939, it mobilized its entire military and industrial resources. But there was no place in that vast army for legendary stage magician Jasper Maskelyne, whose family was renowned for creating modern theatrical illusions. Maskelyne was determined to fight the Nazis using his only weapon: he intended to apply the techniques of popular magic to the battlefield. Initially ignored and ridiculed by the staid military leadership, he eventually cajoled his way into the Camouflage Section and was sent to the western desert, where he created a new type of warfare.
With his small group of artists, the Magic Gang, Maskelyne designed and developed ingenious weapons, then tricked the Desert Fox, General Rommel, and his fabled Afrika Korps into believing there were tanks and battleships where there were none, concealed the Suez Canal, and even successfully “moved” Alexandria harbor.
But it required all his skills to pull off perhaps the largest and most complex magic trick in history. As General Bernard Montgomery told Maskelyne on the eve of the Battle of El Alamein, “The entire war will turn on what happens here. What I am about to ask you to do is impossible. It can’t be done, but it must be done. I hope you’ve brought your magic wand with you.”
This is the fact-based story of the illusion that won the war in the desert.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 4.1 (2.6K)
Includes Amazon, Goodreads, LibraryThing, StoryGraph
GenreAction and Adventure, Historical Fiction, General Fiction
Length15 hrs 48 mins
Narrated byAlex Jennings
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateApr 18, 2023
LanguageEnglish
More from David Fisher
Forgotten SeasonDonald L. Robertson10h4.7 (3.2K)$20
CollateralBrian Andrews, Jeffrey Wilson13h 8m4.6 (7K)$23
War LordBernard Cornwell13h 21m4.6 (33.1K)$33 · $0.00
Something Like LoveBeverly Jenkins10h 21m4.6 (2.7K)$29 · $0.00
The Newly Witch GameRobyn Peterman4h 39m4.7 (549)$15
Louis L’Amour’s Trio of TalesLouis L’Amour2h 8m4.7 (262)$10
Scaramouche (Annotated)Rafael Sabatini15h 24m4.6 (1.8K)$2 · $0.00
Northern ShadowsDaniel Greene12h 52m4.7 (281)$23
Jubal Stone: U.S. Marshal: Blood Trail To Hell: A Western Adventure NovelCasey Nash3h 42m4.6 (3.2K)$18 · $0.00
Can’t Ride Around ItAnn Charles, Sam Lucky10h 13m4.6 (796)$25
Punk’s FightWard Carroll10h 28m4.6 (796)$20
Sons of Valor IV: False FlagJeffrey Wilson, Brian Andrews11h 47m4.6 (1.1K)$25
The Labyrinth of the SpiritsCarlos Ruiz Zafon27h 55m4.5 (77.2K)$53 · $0.00
Ship of the Line (Annotated)Cecil Louis Troughton Smith11h 13m4.6 (1K)$2 · $0.00
Sons of War 3: SinnersNicholas Sansbury Smith12h 40m4.6 (1.7K)$23
Sons of War 4: SoldiersNicholas Sansbury Smith, Tom Abrahams12h 54m4.6 (507)$25
The Road to Gundagai (The Matilda Saga, #3)Jackie French12h 31m4.6 (1.2K)$33 · $0.00
The Skull of the WorldKate Forsyth10h 28m4.5 (3.8K)$20
TimelessR. A. Salvatore12h 30m4.5 (8K)$33 · $0.00
Hang Them SlowlyWilliam W. Johnstone9h 22m4.5 (609)$20
War LordBernard Cornwell13h 21m4.6 (33.1K)$33 · $0.00
Ivanhoe (Annotated)Walter Scott22h 52m4.8 (88)$2 · $0.00
Scaramouche (Annotated)Rafael Sabatini15h 24m4.6 (1.8K)$2 · $0.00
Northern ShadowsDaniel Greene12h 52m4.7 (281)$23
The Ghost by the Billabong (The Matilda Saga, #5)Jackie French14h 58m4.6 (773)$33 · $0.00
The Labyrinth of the SpiritsCarlos Ruiz Zafon27h 55m4.5 (77.2K)$53 · $0.00
The Things We Cannot SayKelly Rimmer13h 48m4.5 (359.1K)$33 · $0.00
Their Castilian OrphanAnna Belfrage14h 45m4.7 (122)$27
Lieutenant Hornblower (Annotated)C. S. Forester11h 41m4.5 (2.9K)$2 · $0.00
Eagles over BritainLee Jackson12h 26m4.5 (18.6K)$23
Rilla of InglesideLucy Maud Montgomery11h 44m4.5 (48.2K)$2 · $0.00
The Viennese DressmakerKathryn Gauci11h 46m4.5 (2.1K)$23 · $0.00
The Man in the Brown Suit & They Came to BaghdadAgatha Christie15h 43m4.6 (495)$33 · $0.00
Under the Light of the Italian MoonJennifer Anton12h 28m4.5 (5.3K)$23 · $0.00
Jubilee, 50th Anniversary EditionMargaret Walker15h 43m4.5 (9.5K)$25 · $0.00
Arch of TriumphErich Maria Remarque15h 51m4.4 (36.6K)$28
Serenade for NadiaZülfü Livaneli9h 9m4.4 (20.1K)$20
Pride and PrejudiceJane Austen14h 44m4.4 (4.7M)$2 · $0.00
Flying Colours (Annotated)Cecil Louis Troughton Smith9h 26m4.4 (10.1K)$2 · $0.00
With Love from HarlemReShonda Tate13h 48m4.5 (2K)$6 · $0.00
Heart of IronC. M. Alongi15h 24m4.8 (665)$30
Ethic IIAshley Antoinette9h 1m4.7 (8K)$20
RiversnowTess Thompson8h 11m4.7 (1.3K)$20
Supreme ClienteleAshley & JaQuavis8h 58m4.7 (3.4K)$20
Body Refinement in a Beast Tamer’s World, Book 1Seth Ring14h 7m4.7 (1.3K)$27
Desperate MeasuresBrenda Jackson8h 59m4.7 (669)$28 · $0.00
Searching For ThanksgivingS.E. Smith4h 24m4.8 (395)$20
Naughty 4Brenda Hampton7h 30m4.7 (726)$17
The Dance with Me TrilogyShelley Shepard Gray21h 44m4.7 (1.2K)$35
The DopemanJaQuavis Coleman5h 25m4.7 (3.8K)$20
BAEJahquel J.5h 22m4.7 (3.1K)$20
Dark RisingJeffrey Wilson, Brian Andrews13h 47m4.7 (1.3K)$27
WhistlerAnn Patchett10h 45m4.6 (4.6K)$29 · $0.00
Grand Opening 2Carl Weber9h 16m4.7 (2.4K)$20
Sons of Valor II: Violence of ActionBrian Andrews, Jeffrey Wilson12h 34m4.6 (3.6K)$23
Malevolent MagicMildred Abbott7h 13m4.7 (1.2K)$17
Bikes, Toys, and Hot BoyzGenesis Woods, Shantaé13h 9m4.7 (722)$23
This Side of Paradise - The Original 1920 Edition (Annotated)F. Scott Fitzgerald11h 30m4.6 (1.6K)$2 · $0.00
War LordBernard Cornwell13h 21m4.6 (33.1K)$33 · $0.00
Ghetto BastardK’wan7h 37m4.6 (2.9K)$20
You may also like
Biggles of the Camel SquadronW. E. Johns5h 35m4.2 (1.3K)$2 · $0.00
GreenmantleJohn Buchan10h 15m3.8 (7.4K)$2.30
GreenmantleJohn Buchan9h 51m3.8 (6.5K)$1 · $0.00
Sharpe's BattleBernard Cornwell12h 37m4.3 (16.2K)$33 · $0.00
Rescue at Los BanosBruce Henderson9h 55m4.4 (6.1K)$29 · $0.00
BattleJohn Toland14h 44m4.3 (2.1K)$23
Mr. StandfastJohn Buchan13h 17m4.0 (4K)$2.30
To the Fore with the Tanks!Percy F. Westerman4h 12m$2 · $0.00
The Flying SpyCamillo De Carlo6h 56m$2 · $0.00
Beryl of the Biplane: Being the Romance of an Air-Woman of To-DayWilliam Le Queux3h 48m$2.30
Army Boys On The Firing Line, or Holding Back the German DriveHomer Randall7h 38m3.8 (13)$2.30
First SEALsPatrick K. O’Donnell7h 3m3.9 (911)$20
The Thick of the Fray at Zeebrugge, April 1918Percy F. Westerman3h 22m$1 · $0.00
A Yankee Flier in the Far EastRutherford G. Montgomery4h 58m3.9 (15)$1 · $0.00
The Mighty KraitIan McPhedran7h 27m4.2 (47)$24 · $0.00
Sea WarfareRudyard Kipling3h 33m3.6 (146)$2.30
Dave Dawson at TrukRobert Sidney Bowen3h 52m4.2 (31)$2 · $0.00
Sea WarfareRudyard Kipling3h 22m3.8 (133)$2.30 · $0.00
Army Boys Marching Into Germany, or Over The Rhine with the Stars and StripesHomer Randall5h 4m$2.30
Our Young Aeroplane Scouts in Germany; or, Winning the Iron CrossHorace Porter5h 58m$2 · $0.00