The Bergdoll Boys: America’s Most Notorious Millionaire Draft Dodgers
Timothy W. Lake
Dec 2023 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Sean Runnette
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Audiobook
18 hr 39 min
Unabridged
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Eligible
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About this audiobook
Heirs to the renowned German-American Bergdoll Beer fortune at a young age, the Bergdoll boys used their millions to become champion race car drivers and pioneer aviation heroes in the early 1900s. Grover, the most notorious, is celebrated for his daring record-setting flights in a Wright Brothers airplane. Erwin drives a powerful Benz to win a prestigious motor car race, the equivalent of the Daytona 500. Then they're snared by vengeful local military draft officials. Running and hiding from their war duty, the fugitives are so reviled by nationalistic Americans that two older brothers change their names to avoid infamy. Eluding capture for years, the Bergdoll boys are entangled with kidnapping and murder, federal agents and bounty hunters, Nazis, and Congressional investigators, and an incredible story of release and escape from an Army jail with bribery, all the way up to the White House to search for buried gold. Hounded by the unsympathetic press and public, and congress, the Bergdoll fortune is confiscated by the federal government. Their doting mother gets into pistol shootouts with agents trying to search their mansions. Grover remains one step ahead of bungling lawmen by hiding in Germany and secretly traveling into and out of America on fake passports and producing kinderreiche Familie with his attractive German wife.
About the author
Timothy Lake has enjoyed a long career as a newspaper, radio, and television journalist. He has reported on major stories throughout the southern United States, Texas, Washington, the Mid-Atlantic, and New York. He was the anchor and host of Empire State Weekly, a political talk show airing in New York State.
Sean Runnette, a multiple AudioFile Earphones Award winner, has also produced several Audie Award-winning audiobooks. His film and television appearances include Two If by Sea, Copland, Sex and the City, Law & Order, Third Watch, and lots and lots of commercials.
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