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Prisoners of the Castle

An Epic Story of Survival and Escape from Colditz, the Nazis' Fortress Prison

An Epic Story of Survival and Escape from Colditz, the Nazis' Fortress Prison

An Epic Story of Survival and Escape from Colditz, the Nazis' Fortress Prison

An Epic Story of Survival and Escape from Colditz, the Nazis' Fortress Prison

An Epic Story of Survival and Escape from Colditz, the Nazis' Fortress Prison

An Epic Story of Survival and Escape from Colditz, the Nazis' Fortress Prison

By Ben Macintyre

By Ben Macintyre

By Ben Macintyre

By Ben Macintyre

By Ben Macintyre

By Ben Macintyre

By Ben Macintyre

By Ben Macintyre

By Ben Macintyre
Read by Ben Macintyre

By Ben Macintyre
Read by Ben Macintyre

By Ben Macintyre
Read by Ben Macintyre

By Ben Macintyre
Read by Ben Macintyre

Best Seller
Paperback $18.00

Aug 01, 2023 | ISBN 9780593136355

Large Print $31.00

Oct 04, 2022 | ISBN 9780593632079

Hardcover $28.99

Sep 13, 2022 | ISBN 9780593136331

Ebook $14.99

Sep 13, 2022 | ISBN 9780593136348

Audiobook Download $25.00

Sep 13, 2022 | 806 Minutes

CD $45.00

Oct 25, 2022 | 810 Minutes

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    Prisoners of the Castle by Ben Macintyre
    Paperback $18.00
    Aug 01, 2023 | ISBN 9780593136355

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    • Large Print $31.00

      Oct 04, 2022 | ISBN 9780593632079

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    • Hardcover $28.99

      Sep 13, 2022 | ISBN 9780593136331

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      Sep 13, 2022 | ISBN 9780593629253

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    About Prisoners of the Castle

    NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The “entertaining [and] often-moving account” (The Wall Street Journal) of the remarkable POWs whose relentlessly creative attempts to escape a notorious Nazi prison embodied the spirit of resistance against fascism, from the author of The Spy and the Traitor

    “Macintyre has a knack for finding the most fascinating story lines in history.”—David Grann, author of The Wager and Killers of the Flower Moon

    In this gripping narrative, Ben Macintyre tackles one of the most famous prison stories in history and makes it utterly his own. During World War II, the German army used the towering Colditz Castle to hold the most defiant Allied prisoners. For four years, these prisoners of the castle tested its walls and its guards with ingenious escape attempts that would become legend.

    But as Macintyre shows, the story of Colditz was about much more than escape. Its population represented a society in miniature, full of heroes and traitors, class conflicts and secret alliances, and the full range of human joy and despair. In Macintyre’s telling, Colditz’s most famous names—like the indomitable Pat Reid—share glory with lesser known but equally remarkable characters like Indian doctor Birendranath Mazumdar whose ill treatment, hunger strike, and eventual escape read like fiction; Florimond Duke, America’s oldest paratrooper and least successful secret agent; and Christopher Clayton Hutton, the brilliant inventor employed by British intelligence to manufacture covert escape aids for POWs.

    Prisoners of the Castle traces the war’s arc from within Colditz’s stone walls, where the stakes rose as Hitler’s war machine faltered and the men feared that liberation would not come soon enough to spare them a grisly fate at the hands of the Nazis. Bringing together the wartime intrigue of his acclaimed Operation Mincemeat and keen psychological portraits of his bestselling true-life spy stories, Macintyre has breathed new life into one of the greatest war stories ever told.

    About Prisoners of the Castle

    NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The “entertaining [and] often-moving account” (The Wall Street Journal) of the remarkable POWs whose relentlessly creative attempts to escape a notorious Nazi prison embodied the spirit of resistance against fascism, from the author of The Spy and the Traitor

    “Macintyre has a knack for finding the most fascinating story lines in history.”—David Grann, author of The Wager and Killers of the Flower Moon

    In this gripping narrative, Ben Macintyre tackles one of the most famous prison stories in history and makes it utterly his own. During World War II, the German army used the towering Colditz Castle to hold the most defiant Allied prisoners. For four years, these prisoners of the castle tested its walls and its guards with ingenious escape attempts that would become legend.

    But as Macintyre shows, the story of Colditz was about much more than escape. Its population represented a society in miniature, full of heroes and traitors, class conflicts and secret alliances, and the full range of human joy and despair. In Macintyre’s telling, Colditz’s most famous names—like the indomitable Pat Reid—share glory with lesser known but equally remarkable characters like Indian doctor Birendranath Mazumdar whose ill treatment, hunger strike, and eventual escape read like fiction; Florimond Duke, America’s oldest paratrooper and least successful secret agent; and Christopher Clayton Hutton, the brilliant inventor employed by British intelligence to manufacture covert escape aids for POWs.

    Prisoners of the Castle traces the war’s arc from within Colditz’s stone walls, where the stakes rose as Hitler’s war machine faltered and the men feared that liberation would not come soon enough to spare them a grisly fate at the hands of the Nazis. Bringing together the wartime intrigue of his acclaimed Operation Mincemeat and keen psychological portraits of his bestselling true-life spy stories, Macintyre has breathed new life into one of the greatest war stories ever told.

    About Prisoners of the Castle

    NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The “entertaining [and] often-moving account” (The Wall Street Journal) of the remarkable POWs whose relentlessly creative attempts to escape a notorious Nazi prison embodied the spirit of resistance against fascism, from the author of The Spy and the Traitor

    “Macintyre has a knack for finding the most fascinating story lines in history.”—David Grann, author of The Wager and Killers of the Flower Moon

    In this gripping narrative, Ben Macintyre tackles one of the most famous prison stories in history and makes it utterly his own. During World War II, the German army used the towering Colditz Castle to hold the most defiant Allied prisoners. For four years, these prisoners of the castle tested its walls and its guards with ingenious escape attempts that would become legend.

    But as Macintyre shows, the story of Colditz was about much more than escape. Its population represented a society in miniature, full of heroes and traitors, class conflicts and secret alliances, and the full range of human joy and despair. In Macintyre’s telling, Colditz’s most famous names—like the indomitable Pat Reid—share glory with lesser known but equally remarkable characters like Indian doctor Birendranath Mazumdar whose ill treatment, hunger strike, and eventual escape read like fiction; Florimond Duke, America’s oldest paratrooper and least successful secret agent; and Christopher Clayton Hutton, the brilliant inventor employed by British intelligence to manufacture covert escape aids for POWs.

    Prisoners of the Castle traces the war’s arc from within Colditz’s stone walls, where the stakes rose as Hitler’s war machine faltered and the men feared that liberation would not come soon enough to spare them a grisly fate at the hands of the Nazis. Bringing together the wartime intrigue of his acclaimed Operation Mincemeat and keen psychological portraits of his bestselling true-life spy stories, Macintyre has breathed new life into one of the greatest war stories ever told.

    About Prisoners of the Castle

    NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The “entertaining [and] often-moving account” (The Wall Street Journal) of the remarkable POWs whose relentlessly creative attempts to escape a notorious Nazi prison embodied the spirit of resistance against fascism, from the author of The Spy and the Traitor

    “Macintyre has a knack for finding the most fascinating story lines in history.”—David Grann, author of The Wager and Killers of the Flower Moon

    In this gripping narrative, Ben Macintyre tackles one of the most famous prison stories in history and makes it utterly his own. During World War II, the German army used the towering Colditz Castle to hold the most defiant Allied prisoners. For four years, these prisoners of the castle tested its walls and its guards with ingenious escape attempts that would become legend.

    But as Macintyre shows, the story of Colditz was about much more than escape. Its population represented a society in miniature, full of heroes and traitors, class conflicts and secret alliances, and the full range of human joy and despair. In Macintyre’s telling, Colditz’s most famous names—like the indomitable Pat Reid—share glory with lesser known but equally remarkable characters like Indian doctor Birendranath Mazumdar whose ill treatment, hunger strike, and eventual escape read like fiction; Florimond Duke, America’s oldest paratrooper and least successful secret agent; and Christopher Clayton Hutton, the brilliant inventor employed by British intelligence to manufacture covert escape aids for POWs.

    Prisoners of the Castle traces the war’s arc from within Colditz’s stone walls, where the stakes rose as Hitler’s war machine faltered and the men feared that liberation would not come soon enough to spare them a grisly fate at the hands of the Nazis. Bringing together the wartime intrigue of his acclaimed Operation Mincemeat and keen psychological portraits of his bestselling true-life spy stories, Macintyre has breathed new life into one of the greatest war stories ever told.

    About Prisoners of the Castle

    NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The “entertaining [and] often-moving account” (The Wall Street Journal) of the remarkable POWs whose relentlessly creative attempts to escape a notorious Nazi prison embodied the spirit of resistance against fascism, from the author of The Spy and the Traitor

    “Macintyre has a knack for finding the most fascinating story lines in history.”—David Grann, author of The Wager and Killers of the Flower Moon

    In this gripping narrative, Ben Macintyre tackles one of the most famous prison stories in history and makes it utterly his own. During World War II, the German army used the towering Colditz Castle to hold the most defiant Allied prisoners. For four years, these prisoners of the castle tested its walls and its guards with ingenious escape attempts that would become legend.

    But as Macintyre shows, the story of Colditz was about much more than escape. Its population represented a society in miniature, full of heroes and traitors, class conflicts and secret alliances, and the full range of human joy and despair. In Macintyre’s telling, Colditz’s most famous names—like the indomitable Pat Reid—share glory with lesser known but equally remarkable characters like Indian doctor Birendranath Mazumdar whose ill treatment, hunger strike, and eventual escape read like fiction; Florimond Duke, America’s oldest paratrooper and least successful secret agent; and Christopher Clayton Hutton, the brilliant inventor employed by British intelligence to manufacture covert escape aids for POWs.

    Prisoners of the Castle traces the war’s arc from within Colditz’s stone walls, where the stakes rose as Hitler’s war machine faltered and the men feared that liberation would not come soon enough to spare them a grisly fate at the hands of the Nazis. Bringing together the wartime intrigue of his acclaimed Operation Mincemeat and keen psychological portraits of his bestselling true-life spy stories, Macintyre has breathed new life into one of the greatest war stories ever told.

    About Prisoners of the Castle

    NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The “entertaining [and] often-moving account” (The Wall Street Journal) of the remarkable POWs whose relentlessly creative attempts to escape a notorious Nazi prison embodied the spirit of resistance against fascism, from the author of The Spy and the Traitor

    “Macintyre has a knack for finding the most fascinating story lines in history.”—David Grann, author of The Wager and Killers of the Flower Moon

    In this gripping narrative, Ben Macintyre tackles one of the most famous prison stories in history and makes it utterly his own. During World War II, the German army used the towering Colditz Castle to hold the most defiant Allied prisoners. For four years, these prisoners of the castle tested its walls and its guards with ingenious escape attempts that would become legend.

    But as Macintyre shows, the story of Colditz was about much more than escape. Its population represented a society in miniature, full of heroes and traitors, class conflicts and secret alliances, and the full range of human joy and despair. In Macintyre’s telling, Colditz’s most famous names—like the indomitable Pat Reid—share glory with lesser known but equally remarkable characters like Indian doctor Birendranath Mazumdar whose ill treatment, hunger strike, and eventual escape read like fiction; Florimond Duke, America’s oldest paratrooper and least successful secret agent; and Christopher Clayton Hutton, the brilliant inventor employed by British intelligence to manufacture covert escape aids for POWs.

    Prisoners of the Castle traces the war’s arc from within Colditz’s stone walls, where the stakes rose as Hitler’s war machine faltered and the men feared that liberation would not come soon enough to spare them a grisly fate at the hands of the Nazis. Bringing together the wartime intrigue of his acclaimed Operation Mincemeat and keen psychological portraits of his bestselling true-life spy stories, Macintyre has breathed new life into one of the greatest war stories ever told.

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    Also by Ben Macintyre

    Agent Sonya
    The Spy and the Traitor
    Rogue Heroes
    A Spy Among Friends
    Double Cross
    See all books by Ben Macintyre

    Also by Ben Macintyre

    Agent Sonya
    The Spy and the Traitor
    Rogue Heroes
    A Spy Among Friends
    Double Cross
    See all books by Ben Macintyre

    Also by Ben Macintyre

    Agent Sonya
    The Spy and the Traitor
    Rogue Heroes
    A Spy Among Friends
    Double Cross
    See all books by Ben Macintyre

    Also by Ben Macintyre

    Agent Sonya
    The Spy and the Traitor
    Rogue Heroes
    A Spy Among Friends
    Double Cross
    See all books by Ben Macintyre

    Also by Ben Macintyre

    Agent Sonya
    The Spy and the Traitor
    Rogue Heroes
    A Spy Among Friends
    Double Cross
    See all books by Ben Macintyre

    Also by Ben Macintyre

    Agent Sonya
    The Spy and the Traitor
    Rogue Heroes
    A Spy Among Friends
    Double Cross
    See all books by Ben Macintyre

    About Ben Macintyre

    Ben Macintyre is a writer-at-large for The Times (U.K.) and the bestselling author of The Spy and the Traitor, A Spy Among Friends, Double Cross, Operation Mincemeat, Agent Zigzag, and Rogue Heroes, among other books. Macintyre has also written and… More about Ben Macintyre

    About Ben Macintyre

    Ben Macintyre is a writer-at-large for The Times (U.K.) and the bestselling author of The Spy and the Traitor, A Spy Among Friends, Double Cross, Operation Mincemeat, Agent Zigzag, and Rogue Heroes, among other books. Macintyre has also written and… More about Ben Macintyre

    About Ben Macintyre

    Ben Macintyre is a writer-at-large for The Times (U.K.) and the bestselling author of The Spy and the Traitor, A Spy Among Friends, Double Cross, Operation Mincemeat, Agent Zigzag, and Rogue Heroes, among other books. Macintyre has also written and… More about Ben Macintyre

    About Ben Macintyre

    Ben Macintyre is a writer-at-large for The Times (U.K.) and the bestselling author of The Spy and the Traitor, A Spy Among Friends, Double Cross, Operation Mincemeat, Agent Zigzag, and Rogue Heroes, among other books. Macintyre has also written and… More about Ben Macintyre

    About Ben Macintyre

    Ben Macintyre is a writer-at-large for The Times (U.K.) and the bestselling author of The Spy and the Traitor, A Spy Among Friends, Double Cross, Operation Mincemeat, Agent Zigzag, and Rogue Heroes, among other books. Macintyre has also written and… More about Ben Macintyre

    About Ben Macintyre

    Ben Macintyre is a writer-at-large for The Times (U.K.) and the bestselling author of The Spy and the Traitor, A Spy Among Friends, Double Cross, Operation Mincemeat, Agent Zigzag, and Rogue Heroes, among other books. Macintyre has also written and… More about Ben Macintyre

    Product Details

    Category: World War II Military History | True Crime

    Paperback | $18.00
    Published by Crown
    Aug 01, 2023 | 384 Pages | 5-3/16 x 8 | ISBN 9780593136355

    Category: World War II Military History | True Crime

    Large Print | $31.00
    Published by Random House Large Print
    Oct 04, 2022 | 576 Pages | 6-1/8 x 9-1/4 | ISBN 9780593632079

    Category: World War II Military History | True Crime

    Hardcover | $28.99
    Published by Crown
    Sep 13, 2022 | 368 Pages | 6-1/8 x 9-1/4 | ISBN 9780593136331

    Category: World War II Military History | True Crime

    Ebook | $14.99
    Published by Crown
    Sep 13, 2022 | 384 Pages | ISBN 9780593136348

    Category: World War II Military History | True Crime | Audiobooks

    Audiobook Download | $25.00
    Published by Random House Audio
    Sep 13, 2022 | 806 Minutes | ISBN 9780593629253

    Category: World War II Military History | True Crime | Audiobooks

    CD | $45.00
    Published by Random House Audio
    Oct 25, 2022 | 810 Minutes | ISBN 9780593629246

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    Praise

    Praise for Prisoners of the Castle

    “Macintyre so seamlessly fuses so many different accounts that their compilation creates something more profound than a simple escape yarn.”―The Washington Post

    “In retelling the story of Colditz, [Macintyre] makes it his own. [An] entertaining yet objectiveand often-moving account.”—The Wall Street Journal
     
    “Not since Ian Fleming and John le Carré has a spy writer so captivated readers.”—The Hollywood Reporter

    “Macintyre details the famous escapes, but, just as importantly, gives a vivid picture of everyday life in what became Germany’s most elite prison. Set aside a few hours for this book, since once you start reading, you will not stop until the last page.”—AirMail

    “Riveting . . . This is another engrossing tale of WWII intrigue from a master of the genre.”—Publishers Weekly

    “A mixture of derring-do and a vivid, warts-and-all portrayal of the iconic castle.”—Kirkus Reviews
     


    Praise for Ben Macintyre

    “John le Carré’s nonfiction counterpart.”—The New York Times
    “Macintyre has a knack for finding the most fascinating story lines in history.”—David Grann
    “One of the most gifted espionage writers around.”—Annie Jacobsen
    “Macintyre is a supremely gifted storyteller. . . . His books are absurdly entertaining.”—The Boston Globe

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