Samson: A Savior Will Rise
Written by Shawn Hoffman
Narrated by Shawn Hoffman
4/5
()
About this audiobook
Winner of 7 International Book Festival Competitions for Best Novel of the Year, including New York, Los Angeles, Paris, and San Francisco.
The year is 1941, and Samson Abrams makes a life-or-death decision that lands him, and his entire family, in the notorious concentration camp Auschwitz. When Samson is recognized by Dr. Josef Mengele and Commandant Rudolf Höss as a former boxing champion, he is ordered box for their entertainment. A win means extra rations, but the penalty for losing is death in the gas chambers.
One question haunts Samson as he and his family face one atrocity after another: Where is God in the face of such evil? An unexpected friendship between the Jewish Samson and the Polish Catholic priest Maximilian Kolbe challenges Samson to examine what little is left of his faith, but will it give him strength when he needs it most?
Based on true stories, Samson: A Savior Will Rise blends Shawn Hoffman’s thorough research with a compelling narrative that provokes questions about faith, hope, and love.
Shawn Hoffman
Shawn Hoffman is an actor, screenwriter, and producer whose credits include a leading role in Broadway’s The Survivor and many other leading roles in films and television, such as performing at the Academy Awards and being a producer on the NBC show The Apprentice. He has written ten screenplays that have sold to various film studios and production companies, and his screenplay for Samson has won several film festivals.
Related to Samson
Related audiobooks
Turned Around: Replying to Common Objections Against the Traditional Latin Mass Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDagger John: Archbishop John Hughes and the Making of Irish America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Saint Elizabeth of Hungary Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Father Jerzy Popieluszko - Martyr of Communism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOrigin of the True Cross Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOur Lady of Knock Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Saint Camillus de Lellis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe American Martyrs Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Saint Joan of Arc Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Our Lady of Pontmain Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Our Lady of Ostra Brama Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Life of Blessed Miguel Pro Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Magnificent Prayers of Saint Bridget of Sweden: Based on the Passion and Death of Christ Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Saint Bernard of Clairvaux Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Life of Saint Junipero Serra Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Heroes Popes in Hard Times Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSaint John Eudes Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Saint Nicholas of Tolentino Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Martyrs of the Eucharist: Stories to Inspire Eucharistic Amazement Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Life of Saint Charles Borromeo Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Under Siege: No Finer Time to be a Faithful Catholic Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Lion of Münster: The Bishop Who Roared Against the Nazis Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My Meditation on the Gospel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAdam's Deep Sleep: The Passion of Jesus Christ Prefigured in the Old Testament Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Defenders of the Faith: Saints of the Counter Reformation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Irish Martyrs Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My Meditations on Saint Paul Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPope Saint Pius X Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSaints and Other Powerful Men in the Church Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Top 10 Short Stories - Louisa May Alcott: The top ten Short Stories written by celebrated female author Louisa May Alcott Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Self-Improvement For You
101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Almanack of Naval Ravikant Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Power of Now Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Failosophy: A Handbook For When Things Go Wrong Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 48 Laws of Power Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Mountain is You: Transforming Self-Sabotage Into Self-Mastery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Courage to Be Disliked: How to Free Yourself, Change Your Life, and Achieve Real Happiness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Let’s Hang Out: Making (and Keeping) Friends, Acquaintances, and Other Nonromantic Relationships Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Live in the World and Still Be Happy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Win Every Argument: The Art of Debating, Persuading, and Public Speaking Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It Starts with Self-Compassion: A Practical Road Map Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bullet Journal Method: Track Your Past, Order Your Present, Plan Your Future Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Seduction: An Indispensible Primer on the Ultimate Form of Power Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Own It All: How to Stop Waiting for Change and Start Creating It. Because Your Life Belongs to You. Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Collaborating with the Enemy: How to Work with People You Don’t Agree with or Like or Trust Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Bulletproof: Lessons in fearlessness from a former Secret Service Agent Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Communicate or die! Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unfu*k Yourself: Get Out of Your Head and into Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Think Faster, Talk Smarter: How to Speak Successfully When You're Put on the Spot Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Eleven Minutes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Do the Work Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Everything is F*cked: A Book About Hope Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Stoic Mindset: Living the Ten Principles of Stoicism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Learned Optimism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5That Little Voice In Your Head: Adjust the Code that Runs Your Brain Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Little Book of Stoicism: Timeless Wisdom to Gain Resilience, Confidence, and Calmness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Samson
2 ratings1 review
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5During World War II, Jewish men were forced to box on Saturday night for Nazi entertainment. The winner got extra food. The loser went to the gas chambers. Shawn Hoffman took this aspect of the cruelties in Auschwitz-Birkenau, the stories, Saul, an Auschwitz survivor, told the author, and recent discoveries on the medical experiments Dr. Joseph Mengele did there to build his plot.
The Jewish Samson Abrams, 1936 Olympic boxing participant, made a life or death decision in 1940 in Polish Kraków rescuing a young Jewish boy beaten by the Nazis. That act costed him and his family much. He tried to escape the penalty (being brought to Auschwitz), but let the love for his dear ones prevail. They end up in the concentration camp, labored, digged mass graves and tried to survive. As soon Samson is recognized as the former boxer, lieutenant colonel Rudolf Höss offered Samson a deal: boxing matches on Saturday night. The loser will be sent to the gas chambers, the winner gets an additional share of food.
Remarkably, Samson is stronger than all of his opponents. Maximilian Kolbe, a Catholic monk also at the camp, is the one that calms down the anger and rage again and again. Don’t blame God for the evil men does. The monk strongly testifies about his Christian motives to help the Jews and stand for justice amidst the greatest cruelties you can think of. Is there a God? Why do the Jews have to suffer all these? Who can you trust? Will human power prove the Jewish to be superior to the Aryan race? “Not by might or power, but by the Holy Spirit…” is the lesson from both Old Testament Samson as well as this 20th century giant, tormented by the ongoing murders on his family members.
Step by step you feel your anger grow, as injustice does. And where you feel that it’s too coincidental to have Adolf HItler, Heinrich Himmler, Höss, and the angel of Death Mengele show up in this same plot, Hoffman throws in additional rounds, changed rules, bruises and opponents. After a culminating fight with Max Schmeling even Mengele is challenged to get in the ring. Samson: a Savior Will Rise strikes nerves, even though foot notes and historical details may distract for a minute. A powerful work of historical fiction.