History bestsellers

Everything Is Tuberculosis

The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection

By: John Green
Narrated by: John Green
Length: 5 hours 35 minutes

“Everything is Tuberculosis is primarily an account of widespread and systemic healthcare inequity. It is also a call for disability justice, and for an end to both the stigmatization and romanticization of illness. Green goes into great detail about the strange turns in history which this disease has taken, but he is never dense nor is he... Read more

A People's History of the United States

By: Howard Zinn
Narrated by: Jeff Zinn
Length: 34 hours 9 minutes

“What this classic, alternative, and, yes, overtly leftist history of the United States most impressed upon me is that the history of American protest is just as vital and as old a tradition as the stars and stripes. The American people have always protested, gone on strike, marched - for suffrage, abolition, labor rights, civil rights,... Read more

The Wager

A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder

By: David Grann
Narrated by: Dion Graham & David Grann
Length: 8 hours 28 minutes

“Gripping and thrilling, this story dives into the making of a mutinous voyage that inspired adventurers and authors for centuries to follow. Spanning the course of several decades, Grann's ability to blend handwritten accounts and perspectives of a handful of men in order to paint a complete picture of a historical shipwreck & the ensuing... Read more

On Tyranny

Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century

By: Timothy Snyder
Narrated by: Timothy Snyder
Length: 1 hour 47 minutes

“This pocket guide to preserving our freedoms and resisting authoritarianism, penned by Yale historian of fascism Timothy Snyder, takes lessons from the fall of democracies across Europe in the 20th Century, each posing a warning to us now in the 21st Century. A brief but mind blowing, eye-opening read that left me feeling sobered and empowered... Read more

Challenger

A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space

By: Adam Higginbotham
Narrated by: Jacques Roy
Length: 17 hours 9 minutes

“Insightful, fascinating, deeply researched and fast paced. A great listen! Read more

How Fascism Works

The Politics of Us and Them

By: Jason Stanley
Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews
Length: 5 hours 44 minutes

“With unsettling insight and disturbing clarity, How Fascism Works is an essential guidebook to our current national dilemma of democracy vs. authoritarianism.”—Jelani Cobb, New Yorker staff writer

“No single book is as relevant to the present moment.”—Claudia Rankine, author of Citizen

NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS’ CHOICE • A Yale... Read more

Caste (Oprah's Book Club)

The Origins of Our Discontents

By: Isabel Wilkerson
Narrated by: Robin Miles
Length: 15 hours 10 minutes

“This is an important and beautifully written book examining the links and common elements between the caste systems of America, India, and Nazi Germany. Highly recommended. Read more

A Promised Land

By: Barack Obama
Narrated by: Barack Obama
Length: 29 hours 9 minutes

“No one really needs my blurb to help sell this book, but I wanted to give it anyway, especially for the audiobook, narrated by Barack Obama himself. If you want to know his incredible knowledge and wisdom that guided him through major decisions, and also hear him drop a few F-bombs, you need to listen to this fantastically written book. Read more

Nexus

A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI

By: Yuval Noah Harari
Narrated by: Vidish Athavale
Length: 17 hours 27 minutes

“A fascinating journey through the history of information systems. Read more

Spare

By: Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex
Narrated by: Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex
Length: 15 hours 37 minutes

“Surprisingly enjoyable, especially on audio. Prince Harry is a smart man, with some pointed insights, and is a delightful narrator. Read more

On Tyranny: Expanded Audio Edition

Updated with Twenty New Lessons from Russia's War on Ukraine

By: Timothy Snyder
Narrated by: Timothy Snyder
Length: 9 hours 45 minutes

The #1 New York Times bestseller, now in an expanded audiobook edition that includes detailed historical context for the democracy-threatening Ukrainian conflict and a call to action for modern times.

This edition includes the bestselling original essay collection On Tyranny, read by the author.

In this exclusive audiobook edition, which... Read more

Off with Her Head

Three Thousand Years of Demonizing Women in Power

By: Eleanor Herman
Narrated by: Erin Bennett
Length: 10 hours 57 minutes

New York Times bestseller Eleanor Herman, author of Sex with Kings and Sex with Presidents, returns with another work of popular history, exploring the history of misogyny against women with power from Cleopatra to Kamala Harris.
Imagine Donald Trump as a woman, called Donna. Would Donna Trump have been viewed as blunt, honest, and refreshing?... Read more

Say Nothing

A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland

By: Patrick Radden Keefe
Narrated by: Matthew Blaney
Length: 14 hours 40 minutes

“I would literally read a cereal box if Patrick Radden Keefe wrote it. I loved how he wove the history of The Troubles in with the tragic death of a relatively random woman. Read more

Killers of the Flower Moon

The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI

By: David Grann
Narrated by: Will Patton, Ann Marie Lee & Danny Campbell
Length: 9 hours 4 minutes

“The three sections of the book each cover a different part of this bizarre and unbelievable but true murder mystery: the investigation, the trial, and the aftermath. Each time I finished a section, I kind of assumed the interesting part was over. And each time I was WRONG. This book kept me guessing all the way to the end, and then some. Read more

Talking to Strangers

What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know

By: Malcolm Gladwell
Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
Length: 8 hours 57 minutes

“Fascinating! How and why we so frequently misinterpret the words, intentions, and sincerity of strangers. Computers, analyzing only information, are far better at judging someone’s guilt or innocence (and future behavior) than judges, psychologists, and witnesses. Based on our preconceptions of how people should behave in certain situations, the... Read more

The Dawn of Everything

A New History of Humanity

By: David Graeber & David Wengrow
Narrated by: Mark Williams
Length: 24 hours 19 minutes

“What do you do when a 700-page book about the entirety of human history has been sitting unopened on your desk for weeks, taunting you every time you pass it because you know you're going to love it but, man, it's intimidating? You download the audiobook. I've been listening to this radical, invigorating reexamination of the history of... Read more

The Demon of Unrest

A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War

By: Erik Larson
Narrated by: Will Patton & Erik Larson
Length: 17 hours 17 minutes

“Larson tells the story of the chaotic five months leading up to the Confederate bombing of Fort Sumter. The abolitionists enraged the Southerners, who feared losing their free labor, and were led by fanatics and members of the planter class who assumed political positions. Lincoln was elected president in November, however the officiating... Read more

A Fever in the Heartland

The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them

By: Timothy Egan
Narrated by: Timothy Egan
Length: 10 hours 29 minutes

“Some pride themselves on knowing historical facts and hidden histories, and yet, Egan, with his horror story about the KKK, will stop you in your tracks. Wasn't this just a 19th century Southern phenomenon? Who knew American Terror happened literally in our own backyard. Read more

Fight Like Hell

The Untold History of American Labor

By: Kim Kelly
Narrated by: Em Grosland
Length: 12 hours 11 minutes

“In Fight Like Hell, Kim Kelly celebrates the untold stories and unsung heroes of the American labor movement, taking great care to center voices that have historically been sidelined or silenced in mainstream conversations around workers' rights. The result is an inclusive, fascinating, and galvanizing retrospective that mines the depths of the... Read more

The Barn

The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi

By: Wright Thompson
Narrated by: Wright Thompson
Length: 11 hours 38 minutes

“This is the story/history of the kidnapping, torture and murder of 14 year old Emmett Till in Mississippi in the summer of 1955. It is a reckoning with the horrors and injustices that Black Americans face daily, even today, but specifically in the South. It is a history of the insular community surrounding this (and other) murders. It is the... Read more

Sapiens

A Brief History of Humankind

By: Yuval Noah Harari
Narrated by: Derek Perkins
Length: 15 hours 17 minutes

“I think this book should be a required read if you consider yourself a member of the human race. This was an interesting and dynamic text on the evolution of early humans to modern man. Sapiens helps recreate a narrative of our existence in relation to other early human subspecies, as well as helps elaborate on how we came to be today. I learned... Read more

Dinosaurs at the Dinner Party

How an Eccentric Group of Victorians Discovered Prehistoric Creatures and Accidentally Upended the World

By: Edward Dolnick
Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
Length: 8 hours 50 minutes

“A look at how the discovery of and theories surrounding dinosaurs pitted science and religion (Christianity specifically) against each other during the Victorian era. The fascinating stories of a cast of colorful characters including geologists, fossil hunters, and clergymen are woven together beautifully by historian Edward Dolnick. As well as... Read more

The Small and the Mighty

Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History, from the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement

By: Sharon McMahon
Narrated by: Sharon McMahon
Length: 10 hours 13 minutes

“A thoroughly informative and enjoyable look at 12 Americans who made a difference. Sharon McMahon narrates the book herself, and it’s all the better for her own inflections and emotions. Cannot recommend enough! Read more

An Unfinished Love Story

A Personal History of the 1960s

By: Doris Kearns Goodwin
Narrated by: Doris Kearns Goodwin
Length: 17 hours 37 minutes

“Pulitzer winner Kearns Goodwin’s magnificent work describes experiences that she and her husband Dick Goodwin shared and their personal influence on sweeping issues and events of the 1960’s. As Dick hits age 80, they go through boxes of items from those days and treat us to amazing memories, quotes, conversations and even the stories behind... Read more

Jesus and John Wayne

How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation

By: Kristin Kobes du Mez
Narrated by: Suzie Althens
Length: 12 hours 3 minutes

“This 75-year-spanning study by a Christian historian traces American evangelicals’ takeover of the Republican Party and shows how their highest values - militarism and masculinity, patriarchy and patriotism - turned a modest Jesus Christ into a macho John Wayne, and made voting for Donald Trump not a necessary evil, but a natural conclusion. As... Read more

Mythos

By: Stephen Fry
Narrated by: Stephen Fry
Length: 15 hours 24 minutes

“I'm really enjoying listening to Stephen Fry's narration of his book Mythos. Told with a wink and a nod, he brings the classical mythologies alive with great zest. Weaving the many personalities and stories into a whole tapestry of delight. Wonderful fun for making that walk longer. Read more

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You

A Remix of the National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning

By: Jason Reynolds & Ibram X. Kendi
Narrated by: Jason Reynolds
Length: 4 hours 11 minutes

“This book was so informative and a joy to listen to. Jason Reynolds has such a way with words, and with him narrating the book as well, you're swept up in the history being told. This is a perfect audiobook for high schoolers to listen to with their parents. Read more

Let This Radicalize You

Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care

By: Kelly Hayes & Mariame Kaba
Narrated by: Diana Blue
Length: 10 hours 41 minutes

What fuels and sustains activism and organizing when it feels like our worlds are collapsing? Let This Radicalize You is a practical and imaginative resource for activists and organizers building power in an era of destabilization and catastrophe.



Longtime organizers and movement educators Mariame Kaba and Kelly Hayes examine some of the... Read more

The Sirens' Call

How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource

By: Chris Hayes
Narrated by: Chris Hayes
Length: 8 hours 54 minutes

An Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller

From the New York Times bestselling author and MSNBC and podcast host, a powerful wide-angle reckoning with how the assault from attention capitalism on our minds and our hearts has reordered our politics and the very fabric of our society

“An ambitious analysis of how the trivial amusements offered by... Read more

Original Sins

The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of AmericanRacism

By: Eve L. Ewing
Narrated by: Robin Miles & Eve L. Ewing
Length: 12 hours 14 minutes

“In our house, we are massive Eve Ewing fans and can’t wait to read every book her visionary mind gifts us. Original Sins reveals how our schools have their foundation in efforts of forced cultural assimilation, reinforcing racial hierarchies, and indoctrination with the emerging worker/consumer ethos. While this is a bleak and heavy history, it... Read more

Democracy Awakening

Notes on the State of America

By: Heather Cox Richardson
Narrated by: Heather Cox Richardson
Length: 8 hours 51 minutes

A New York Times Bestseller

A vital and urgent call to action about the precarious state of American democracy, charting its historical challenges and current threats, from one of our era’s most important and insightful historians, with a new afterword by the author.

“Magisterial.” –The Washington Post

“An excellent primer for anyone who needs the... Read more

Prequel

An American Fight Against Fascism

By: Rachel Maddow
Narrated by: Rachel Maddow
Length: 13 hours 9 minutes

“This eye opening true history of the Nazi plot to overthrow American Democracy in the 1930s and 1940s reads like a page-turning spy thriller novel! Tracking the historical strain of American far right politics that longs for an authoritarian ruler, Maddow draws astonishingly relevant parallels to our current political moment in America.... Read more

The Splendid and the Vile

A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz

By: Erik Larson
Narrated by: John Lee & Erik Larson
Length: 17 hours 48 minutes

“What riveting trip through the war on the capable albeit somewhat eccentric shoulders of Churchill. Not only does Larson provide a top-notch history of World War II, but he also provides an intimate look at the man and the family and associates of that one man, that unlikely hero, who now seems the only one who could have led Britain through the... Read more

How the Word Is Passed

A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America

By: Clint Smith
Narrated by: Clint Smith
Length: 10 hours 6 minutes

“From plantation to Angola Prison. From Blandford Cemetery in Petersburg, VA to the African Burial Ground in New York City. From Île de Gorée to Whitney Plantation. From the Emancipation Proclamation to Juneteenth. Clint Smith takes us on an unforgettable journey through the history of slavery in the United States, revealing many truths we’ve... Read more

A Woman of No Importance

The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II

By: Sonia Purnell
Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
Length: 13 hours 53 minutes

“Fans of World War II, Women’s and Resistance History will love this biography of Virginia Hall. The story is told like a spy THRILLER and every page is riveting!! Sonia Purnell’s years of extensive research tells the extraordinary tale of a very brave female American spy behind enemy lines during World War II in occupied France. Virginia Hall... Read more

Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here

The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis

By: Jonathan Blitzer
Narrated by: André Santana & Jonathan Blitzer
Length: 18 hours 13 minutes

A National Bestseller • A New York Times Top 10 Book of 2024 • Named a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker, Chicago Tribune, Newsweek, PBS NewsHour, LitHub, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Lunch, Christian Science Monitor, and Counterpunch • One of Barack Obama's Summer Reading List Picks • Named a Notable Book by New York Times and Washington... Read more

Erasing History

By: Jason Stanley
Narrated by: Dion Graham
Length: 4 hours 56 minutes

From the bestselling author of How Fascism Works, a global call to action that tells us “why the past is a frontline in the struggle for a future free of fascism” (Jeff Sharlet, New York Times bestselling author) as it reveals the far right’s efforts to rewrite history and undo a century of progress on race, gender, sexuality, and class.

In the... Read more

The Bookshop

A History of the American Bookstore

By: Evan Friss
Narrated by: Jay Myers
Length: 10 hours 15 minutes

“I adored every moment of this book. It is a love letter to the history of book selling and the integral place that independent bookstores has left imprinted on the hearts of bibliophiles. Read more

The Hundred Years' War on Palestine

A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017

By: Rashid Khalidi
Narrated by: Fajer Al-Kaisi & Rashid Khalidi
Length: 10 hours 30 minutes

This program includes an introduction read by the author.

A landmark history of one hundred years of war waged against the Palestinians from the foremost US historian of the Middle East, told through pivotal events and family history.

In 1899, Yusuf Diya al-Khalidi, mayor of Jerusalem, alarmed by the Zionist call to create a Jewish national home... Read more

The Radium Girls

The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women

By: Kate Moore
Narrated by: Angela Brazil
Length: 15 hours 52 minutes

1917. As a war raged across the world, young American women flocked to work, painting watches, clocks and military dials with a special luminous substance made from radium. It was a fun job, lucrative and glamorous—the girls themselves shone brightly in the dark, covered head to toe in the dust from the paint. They were the radium girls.


As the... Read more

The 1619 Project

A New Origin Story

By: Caitlin Roper, Ilena Silverman & Jake Silverstein
Narrated by: Nikole Hannah-Jones & Full Cast
Length: 18 hours 56 minutes

“This book was a true education, even coming after many recent books I’ve read on race in America. It details the history of African Americans, making clear not only how central it is to the history of the United States, but how revealing it is of our national character, past and present. Chapters of historical events alternate with poetry and... Read more

Before We Were Trans

A New History of Gender

By: Dr. Kit Heyam
Narrated by: Dr. Kit Heyam
Length: 8 hours 2 minutes

A groundbreaking global history of gender nonconformity  

Today’s narratives about trans people tend to feature individuals with stable gender identities that fit neatly into the categories of male or female. Those stories, while important, fail to account for the complex realities of many trans people’s lives.  
 
Before We Were Trans illuminates... Read more

Debt - Updated and Expanded

The First 5,000 Years

By: David Graeber
Narrated by: Grover Gardner
Length: 17 hours 48 minutes

Now in audio, the updated and expanded edition : David Graeber’s “fresh . . . fascinating . . . thought-provoking . . . and exceedingly timely” (Financial Times) history of debt

Here anthropologist David Graeber presents a stunning reversal of conventional wisdom: he shows that before there was money, there was debt. For more than 5,000 years,... Read more

The Shock Doctrine - Abridged

The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

By: Naomi Klein
Narrated by: Jennifer Wiltsie
Length: 9 hours 1 minute

The bestselling author of No Logo shows how the global "free market" has exploited crises and shock for three decades, from Chile to Iraq

In her groundbreaking reporting, Naomi Klein introduced the term "disaster capitalism." Whether covering Baghdad after the U.S. occupation, Sri Lanka in the wake of the tsunami, or New Orleans post-Katrina, she... Read more

Black Pill

How I Witnessed the Darkest Corners of the Internet Come to Life, Poison Society, and Capture American Politics

By: Elle Reeve
Narrated by: Elle Reeve
Length: 8 hours 28 minutes

“This is a car crash you can't quite look away from. Embedding with the worst people you've never heard of, Reeve faced real and constant danger to bring us this wild oral history, in which you'll learn about Wizardchan and "the Night of Wrong Wives," and meet outlandish figures from every corner of the alt-right -- a group that redefines... Read more

Cue the Sun!

The Invention of Reality TV

By: Emily Nussbaum
Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
Length: 15 hours 11 minutes

“Are you low-key fascinated by reality tv? This is the book for you! It follows unscripted television from its game-show-type origins all the way up to today. It's a big part of our culture so I think it's great someone is studying it with such detail. Read more

The Wide Wide Sea

Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook

By: Hampton Sides
Narrated by: Peter Noble
Length: 15 hours 40 minutes

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A “thrilling and superbly crafted” (The Wall Street Journal) account of the most momentous voyage of the Age of Exploration, which culminated in Captain James Cook’s death in Hawaii, and left a complex and controversial legacy still debated to this day.

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: THE NEW YORK TIMES, TIME, THE ECONOMIST,... Read more

Fascism: A Warning

By: Madeleine Albright
Narrated by: Madeleine Albright
Length: 9 hours 53 minutes

?#1 New York Times Bestseller “Albright outlines the warning signs of fascism and offers concrete actions for restoring America’s values and reputation. There is priceless wisdom on every page.” —Booklist (starred review)“Fascism [is] the work of a woman who knows authoritarianism when she sees it. And she sees the seeds of it not only in a slew... Read more

The Devil in the White City

Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America

By: Erik Larson
Narrated by: Scott Brick
Length: 14 hours 58 minutes

“The Devil in the White City is one of the most fascinating books I've ever read. Set amidst the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, Erik Larson's historical narrative interweaves the stories of two men who would come to define it, for better and for worse. One is Daniel Burnham, chief architect of the Fair, who threw his entire being into creating a... Read more

Cults Like Us

Why Doomsday Thinking Drives America

By: Jane Borden
Narrated by: Jane Borden
Length: 10 hours 53 minutes

For readers of Fantasyland and Cultish, a colorful and enlightening pop history that explains why the eccentric doomsday beliefs of our Puritan founders are still driving American culture today, contextualizes the current rise in far-right extremism as a natural result of our latent indoctrination, and proposes that the United States is the... Read more