The War: stories of life and death, from World War II.

Clint Willis, Ed. Adrenaline Series. 2001. Read by Colleen Delaney, Grover Gardner, Terrence Aselford, Barrett Whitener. Selections. 4 tapes, 6 hours. Listen & Live Audio. 1-885408-67-6. $24.95. Cardboard; content notes. SA

This anthology contains eight selections that provide a look at different aspects of WW II. Four professional readers provide excellent performances, generally semi-voiced and with appropriate seriousness. In "Goodbye, Darkness," author William Manchester recounts an event that he had buried for more than 30 years--the first time he killed a Japanese soldier. In an excerpt from The Longest Day, writer Cornelius Ryan focuses on the chaos and confusion of the Normandy landing on D-Day and YA listeners may wonder how the invasion could have possibly succeeded. Paul Fussell's "The Making of a Skeptic" looks at blunders caused by "friendly fire." "Mollie," by A.J. Leibling, is the poignant story of a sharp-dressing, outspoken, ambitious GI who captures hundreds of enemy soldiers and is awarded the Silver Star.

Janet Flanner relates the harrowing experiences of a middle-aged American woman's attempt to leave Paris during the war in "The Escape of Mrs. Jeffries." In "Parachute Infantry," David Kenyon Webster relives his experiences as a paratrooper whose unit lands behind German lines on D-Day. "Pacific War Diary 1942-1945," by James J. Fahey, reports on life on a warship in the Pacific in 1944.

Finally, a passage from Lewis H. Carlson's "We Were Each Others' Prisoners" describes the frightening experience of a German POW. Interesting and informative. Prof. John E. Boyd, Jenkintown, PA