Art audiobooks

The Speed of Sound

By: Scott Eyman

Narrated by: Adams Morgan

Length: 13 hours 39 minutes

Abridged: No

It was the end of an era—it was a turbulent, colorful, and altogether remarkable period, four short years in which America’s most popular industry reinvented itself.Here is the epic story of the transition from silent films to talkies, that moment when movies were totally transformed and the American public cemented its love affair with... Read more

The Hollywood Studios

By: Ethan Mordden

Narrated by: Barrett Whitener

Length: 12 hours 26 minutes

Abridged: No

Hollywood in the years between 1929 and 1948 was a town of moviemaking empires. The great studios were estates of talent: sprawling, dense, diverse. It was the Golden Age of the Movies, and each studio made its distinctive contribution. But how did the studios, “growing up” in the same time and place, develop so differently? What combinations of... Read more

Michelangelo

By: George Bull

Narrated by: Nadia May

Length: 18 hours 44 minutes

Abridged: No

Michelangelo was recognized during his lifetime as the greatest living artist, creator of a number of masterpieces in sculpture, fresco painting, and architecture. He impressed his contemporaries as a forceful personality, a divine genius endowed with intense emotional power. Often portrayed as a solitary and austere figure, he in fact enjoyed a... Read more

Christian Dior

By: Marie-France Pochna

Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon

Length: 12 hours 15 minutes

Abridged: No

Christian Dior's career, a veritable fairy tale, is set in a rich tapestry of Paris cultural life before, during, and after the war. Much of Dior's daily inspiration emanated from the world of the intellectual and artistic elite, in which he moved with such people as Erik Satie, Francis Poulenc, Henry Sauguet, Jean Cocteau, and Raoul Dufy.Born... Read more

Cary Grant

By: Graham McCann

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 8 hours 44 minutes

Abridged: No

For two moviegoing generations, Cary Grant was class—an effortless embodiment of gentlemanly grace and humor. But Cary Grant’s greatest achievement was in creating himself and the irresistible character he became. In this savvy, fascinating portrait, McCann tracks the transformation of a life and looks closely at the sources of Cary Grant’s... Read more

Steve Martin

By: Morris Wayne Walker

Narrated by: Barrett Whitener

Length: 8 hours 32 minutes

Abridged: No

This is the story of the wild and crazy years that the author spent growing up with Steve Martin and their apprenticeship in comedy. No one could better chronicle Steve’s life than his best and oldest friend, Morris Walker.Steve and Morris were class clowns together, charming the girls and the teachers with their wit and later setting out on the... Read more

The Gross

By: Peter Bart

Narrated by: Stuart Langton

Length: 10 hours 9 minutes

Abridged: No

When movies cost hundreds of millions to make and market, the magnitude of the wagers is astonishing. Vast riches rain down on those who gamble wisely, and careers are made and lost in one weekend. But never is this box office race more feverish than during the summer blockbuster season, when the studios roll out their most expensive,... Read more

Lives of the Artists, Vol. 1

By: Giorgio Vasari

Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon

Length: 18 hours 16 minutes

Abridged: No

Georgio Vasari’s original vision of the arts was to see the artist as divinely inspired. This historical work describes the lives of forty-five artists, including Giotto, Brunelleschi, Fra Angelico, Botticelli, da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Titian, with striking immediacy conveyed through character sketches, anecdotes, and detailed... Read more

Who Killed Hollywood?

By: Peter Bart

Narrated by: Edward Lewis

Length: 11 hours 53 minutes

Abridged: No

In this passionate love-hate letter to the film industry, Peter Bart pulls together his best columns from Variety and GQ, outlining in detail the history and inner workings of Hollywood. In story after story, Bart shows how the major studios have diverted their energies away from production of the shrewdly crafted pictures that once made the... Read more

Wonderful Memories of It’s a Wonderful Life

By: Jimmy Hawkins

Narrated by: Jimmy Hawkins

Length: 1 hour 31 minutes

Abridged: No

When the movie It’s a Wonderful Life opened in December 1946, it captured five Academy Award nominations. It also captured the hearts of millions of Americans. Over the past fifty years, It’s a Wonderful Life has become as much a holiday tradition as Thanksgiving dinner and the Christmas tree. For many people, Christmas just isn’t complete until... Read more

Flying Colors

By: Tim Lefens

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 6 hours 41 minutes

Abridged: No

When Tim Lefens walked into the Matheny School in New Jersey to show slides of his paintings, his one-hour visit became a life-changing experience. The students he met had severe physical challenges: only one of them could talk, none could walk, and all lacked the use of their hands. As a painter facing his own gradual loss of eyesight, Tim had... Read more

You’re Only as Good as Your Next One

By: Mike Medavoy

Narrated by: Robertson Dean

Length: 13 hours 18 minutes

Abridged: No

Mike Medavoy is a Hollywood rarity: a studio executive who, though never far from controversy, remained loved and respected through four decades of moviemaking. He helped bring to the screen some of the most acclaimed Oscar-winning films of our time, including Apocalypse Now, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Amadeus, The Silence of the Lambs,... Read more

Name Dropping

By: Barnaby Conrad

Narrated by: Barnaby Conrad

Length: 6 hours 15 minutes

Abridged: No

When El Matador opened in 1958, Bennett Cerf called it "the most attractive room in America." Part saloon, part salon, Barnaby Conrad's nightclub was nestled in the heart of San Francisco's cabaret and nightlife district. On any given night, one might find Noël Coward, Marilyn Monroe, Truman Capote, Frank Sinatra, Ava Gardner, or Tyrone Power... Read more

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints

By: Dito Montiel

Narrated by: Jason Collins

Length: 5 hours 5 minutes

Abridged: No

Orlandito “Dito” Montiel grew up wild in the streets of Astoria, Queens, pulling pranks for Greek and Italian gangsters and confessing at the Church of the Immaculate Conception, gobbling hits of purple mescaline and Old English, sneaking into Times Square whore houses, and at times getting near much graver trouble. Entering adulthood in the... Read more

Mahalia Jackson

By: Montrew Dunham

Narrated by: Pam Ward

Length: 1 hour 55 minutes

Abridged: No

“Halie” Jackson grew up in poverty on the levees of New Orleans, hunting for alligators for food along the Mississippi River with her brother, Peter. But every Sunday young Mahalia sang proudly in the church choir, the youngest member at age five. She left school after eighth grade and worked as a maid to help support her family. However, her... Read more

The Joke’s Over

By: Ralph Steadman

Narrated by: James Adams

Length: 11 hours 58 minutes

Abridged: No

In early 1970, artist Ralph Steadman went to America in search of work and found more than he bargained for. At the Kentucky Derby he met a former Hell’s Angel, one Hunter S. Thompson. Thompson wrote later that “The rest of that day blurs into madness. The rest of that night, too. Steadman was lucky to get out of Louisville without serious... Read more

What Is Art?

By: Leo Tolstoy

Narrated by: Geoffrey Blaisdell

Length: 6 hours 32 minutes

Abridged: No

What Is Art? is the result of fifteen years’ reflection on the nature and purpose of art.Tolstoy claims that all good art is related to the authentic life of the broader community and that the aesthetic value of a work of art is not independent of its moral content. The book is noteworthy not only for its famous iconoclasm and compelling attacks... Read more

Red Star over Hollywood

By: Ronald Radosh & Allis Radosh

Narrated by: Jeff Riggenbach

Length: 10 hours 19 minutes

Abridged: No

Until now, Hollywood’s political history has been dominated by a steady stream of films and memoirs decrying the nightmare of the Red Scare and how it victimized political innocents. But Ronald and Allis Radosh tell for the first time the “backstory” behind this myth. They show how the Soviet Comintern targeted the film capital in the late... Read more

Tammy Wynette

By: Jimmy McDonough

Narrated by: Robertson Dean

Length: 15 hours 46 minutes

Abridged: No

Tammy Wynette was one of the great female singers of the twentieth century, an artist who could plumb the darkest corners of her heart and transform private grief into public drama. Bestselling biographer Jimmy McDonough tells the story of the small-town girl who grew up to be the woman behind the microphone and whose meteoric rise led to a... Read more

The Twilight Zone Companion, Second Edition

By: Marc Scott Zicree

Narrated by: Tom Weiner

Length: 16 hours 44 minutes

Abridged: No

The Twilight Zone Companion is the complete, five season (1959-64) show-by-show guide to one of television's greatest series. Zicree's well-written account is fascinating reading for even the casual fan. Coverage of each episode includes plot synopsis, Rod Serling's opening narration, behind-the-scenes stories from the original artists who... Read more

When Janey Comes Marching Home

By: Laura Browder

Narrated by: a full cast

Length: 4 hours 33 minutes

Abridged: No

Women are officially barred from combat in the American armed services, yet in today's wars, where there are no front lines, the ban on combat is virtually meaningless. More than in any previous conflict in our history, American women are engaging with the enemy, suffering injuries, and even sacrificing their lives in the line of duty.When Janey... Read more

The Beautiful Fall

By: Alicia Drake

Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne

Length: 16 hours 19 minutes

Abridged: No

In the 1970s, Paris fashion exploded like a champagne bottle left out in the sun. Amid sequins and longing, celebrities and aspirants flocked to the heart of chic, and Paris became a hothouse of revelry, intrigue, and searing ambition. At the center of it all were fashion’s most beloved luminaries—Yves Saint Laurent, the reclusive enfant... Read more

Dear Theo

By: Vincent van Gogh

Narrated by: Clive Chafer

Length: 21 hours 18 minutes

Abridged: No

Each night, when the hours of painting and drawing were over, Vincent van Gogh put pen to paper and poured out his heart through letters to his beloved brother Theo, his confidant and companion. No thought was too small, no element of his craft too insignificant, no happening too trivial. It was all scrupulously recorded and shared. In these... Read more

Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho

By: Stephen Rebello

Narrated by: Richard Powers

Length: 8 hours 18 minutes

Abridged: No

Here is a gripping, behind-the-scenes look inside the classic suspense shocker Psycho—and the creative genius who revolutionized filmmaking.First released in June 1960, Psycho altered the landscape of horror films forever. But just as compelling as the movie itself is the story behind it.Stephen Rebello brings to life the creation of one of... Read more