Biography & Memoir audiobooks

Passages from the Diary of Samuel Pepys

By: Samuel Pepys

Narrated by: Fred Williams

Length: 13 hours 2 minutes

Abridged: No

"The diary which Samuel Pepys kept from January 1660 to May 1669…is one of our greatest historical records and…a major work of English literature," writes the renowned historian Paul Johnson.A witness to the coronation of Charles II, the Great Plague of 1665, and the Great Fire of 1666, Pepys chronicled the events of his day. His diary provides... Read more

The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini

By: Benvenuto Cellini

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 15 hours 29 minutes

Abridged: No

A master Italian sculptor, goldsmith, and writer, Benvenuto Cellini is best remembered for his magnificent autobiography. In this work, which was begun in 1558 but not published until 1730, Cellini beautifully chronicles his own flamboyant times. He tells of his adventures in Italy and France and his relations with popes, kings, and fellow... Read more

The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid

By: Pat F. Garrett

Narrated by: Daniel Luna

Length: 5 hours 31 minutes

Abridged: No

Of all firsthand accounts of lawlessness in the old Southwest, none is more fascinating than Pat F. Garrett's The Authentic Life of Billy, the Kid. It was first published in 1882, a year after Sheriff Garrett killed the Kid, "the bravest and most feared" gunman of the cattle war in Lincoln County, New Mexico. This book is at once the most... Read more

Ser niño "huacho" en la historia de Chile (siglo XIX) (Completo)

By: Gabriel Salazar Vergara

Narrated by: Natalia Valdebenito & Marcelo Pintos

Length: 3 hours 18 minutes

Abridged: No

Los textos que se reúnen en este libro dan cuenta de un continuo en escenarios distintos: niños pobres, huachos, los hijos de Rosaria hacia 1845, los hijos de Gregorio Ruiz hacia 1912, juan Machuca, de 14 años, hacia el 2000; todos ellos de laguna manera toman aquí la palabra para hablar de su cotidiano, de la suerte de sus padres, de su trabajo... Read more

Titanic

By: Colonel Archibald Gracie

Narrated by: Frederick Davidson

Length: 7 hours 2 minutes

Abridged: No

Archibald Gracie was probably among the last to leave the sinking Titanic on that cold April night in 1912, one of the most traumatic events in maritime history. In this unique account, he describes his personal experiences and remarkable escape from death in the icy waters of the Atlantic, painting a vivid picture of what it was like on board... Read more

Charlie Chaplin and His Times

By: Kenneth S. Lynn

Narrated by: Adams Morgan

Length: 21 hours 16 minutes

Abridged: No

With the psychologically penetrating insight that marked his award-winning Hemingway, Kenneth Lynn probes beneath the mystique of the "Little Tramp," the first true worldwide celebrity. This landmark, full-scale biography reveals the inner man whose unmatched comic genius masked a complex, sometimes tragic life.Lynn delves into Chaplin's... Read more

Bearing the Cross

By: David J. Garrow

Narrated by: Jeff Riggenbach

Length: 34 hours 22 minutes

Abridged: No

Winner of the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Biography and the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award, this is the most comprehensive book ever written about the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. David J. Garrow had unrestricted access to Martin Luther King's personal papers, to thousands of pages of newly released FBI documents, and to more than seven hundred... Read more

South

By: Ernest Shackleton

Narrated by: Geoffrey Howard

Length: 12 hours 13 minutes

Abridged: No

In 1911, veteran explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton set out to lead the first expedition across Antarctica, the last unknown continent. Instead, his ship, the Endurance, became locked in sea ice, and for nine months, Shackleton fought a losing battle with the elements before the drifting ship was crushed, marooning him and his crew.This gripping... Read more

Scott’s Last Expedition

By: Robert Falcon Scott

Narrated by: William Sutherland

Length: 18 hours 34 minutes

Abridged: No

In November 1910, the vessel Terra Nova left New Zealand carrying an international team of explorers led by Robert Falcon Scott, an Englishman determined to be the first man to reach the South Pole. Scott kept a detailed journal of his adventures until March 29, 1912, when he and the few remaining members of his team met their ends in a brutal... Read more

A Story of the Red Cross

By: Clara Barton

Narrated by: S. Patricia Bailey

Length: 4 hours 16 minutes

Abridged: No

Clara Barton was one of those diminutive New England women of the nineteenth century who was determined to make the world a better place. In 1881, she founded the American Red Cross to help the unfortunate victims of war and disaster, and served as its president from 1882 to 1904. The Red Cross of today stands as a living memorial to the... Read more

The Story of My Life

By: Helen Keller

Narrated by: Mary Woods

Length: 7 hours 14 minutes

Abridged: No

A serious illness destroyed Helen Keller’s sight and hearing before she reached the age of two. At seven, she was introduced to Ann Sullivan, the beloved teacher and friend who helped Helen to make contact with her world. Through sheer determination and resolve, Helen learned to speak, read, and write, and prepared herself for entry into prep... Read more

Pensées

By: Blaise Pascal

Narrated by: William Sutherland

Length: 12 hours 51 minutes

Abridged: No

Compiled after his death in 1662, Pascal's"pens├®es" (thoughts) are his ideas for a book in defense of faith in a rational world. These fragments give evidence of a profoundly original thinker who had resolved the conflict between his scientific mind and his heart-felt faith.The book begins with an analysis of the difference between mathematical... Read more

The English Governess at the Siamese Court

By: Anna Harriette Leonowens

Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon

Length: 10 hours 16 minutes

Abridged: No

This 1870 memoir, which was the basis for the musical The King and I, vividly recounts the experiences of Anna Harriette Leonowens, who served as a governess for the sixty-plus children of King Mongkut of Siam and as translator and scribe for the King himself. Bright, young, and energetic, Leonowens was well-suited to her role, and her writings... Read more

Sufferings in Africa

By: Captain James Riley

Narrated by: Brian Emerson

Length: 9 hours 58 minutes

Abridged: No

In this classic true adventure story, a young American sea captain named James Riley, shipwrecked off the western coast of North Africa in 1815, is captured by a band of nomadic Arabs and sold into slavery. Thus begins an epic adventure of survival and a quest for freedom that takes him across the Sahara desert.This dramatic account of Captain... Read more

The Worst Journey in the World

By: Apsley Cherry-Garrard

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 20 hours 6 minutes

Abridged: No

This gripping story of courage and achievement is an account of Robert Falcon Scott's last fateful expedition to the Antarctic, as told by surviving expedition member Apsley Cherry-Garrard. Cherry-Garrard tells of the journey from England to South Africa and southward to the ice floes, where began the unforgettable polar journey across a... Read more

The Grand Slam

By: Mark Frost

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 19 hours 7 minutes

Abridged: No

In the wake of the stock-market crash and the dawn of the Great Depression, a ray of light emerged from the world of sports. In the summer of 1930, Bobby Jones, a twenty-eight-year-old amateur golfer, mounted a campaign against the record books. In four months, this natural, self-taught player conquered the British Amateur Championship, the... Read more

God and Mr. Gomez

By: Jack Smith

Narrated by: William Dufris

Length: 6 hours 55 minutes

Abridged: No

When Jack and Denny Smith decided to build a vacation dream house in Baja, California, they had no idea they were entering a phase of their lives “that would capture the fancy of readers throughout the United States.” Through a series of strange and whimsical adventures, they would find that building a house takes God and Mr. Gomez.As their... Read more

“What Do You Care What Other People Think?”

By: Richard P. Feynman

Narrated by: Raymond Todd

Length: 6 hours 12 minutes

Abridged: No

One of the greatest theoretical physicists of the twentieth century, Richard Feynman possessed an unquenchable thirst for adventure and an unparalleled ability to tell the stories of his life. “What Do You Care What Other People Think?” is Feynman’s last literary legacy, prepared with his friend and fellow drummer, Ralph Leighton.Among the... Read more

A Son of the Middle Border

By: Hamlin Garland

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 13 hours 41 minutes

Abridged: No

A Son of the Middle Border is an epic story of the quest for new frontiers during the last half of the nineteenth century, and of the gradual, heartbreaking failure of America’s pioneer ideal.Drawing on the history of his own family, Pulitzer Prize winner Hamlin Garland chronicles the experiences of a generation. A Son of the Middle Border,... Read more

A Grief Observed

By: C. S. Lewis

Narrated by: Ralph Cosham

Length: 1 hour 51 minutes

Abridged: No

Written after his wife’s tragic death as a way of surviving the “mad midnight moments,” A Grief Observed is C. S. Lewis’ honest reflection on the fundamental issues of life, death, and faith in the midst of loss. This work contains his concise, genuine reflections on that period: “Nothing will shake a man—or at any rate a man like me—out of his... Read more

Miles to Go

By: Chris Murphy

Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor

Length: 8 hours 13 minutes

Abridged: No

Miles to Go is a frank and intimate exploration of Miles Davis’ eccentric working life, drug habits, paranoia, depression, and subsequent recovery. Murphy explores Davis’ troubled relationship with his children and the controversial role Cicely Tyson played in his life. The book also delves into the dynamics that made Davis’ band work so well... Read more

Marian McPartland’s Jazz World

By: Marian McPartland

Narrated by: Marian McPartland

Length: 7 hours 46 minutes

Abridged: No

In this collection of musical portraits, jazz pianist and radio host Marian McPartland pays sparkling tribute to such beloved and legendary figures as Benny Goodman, Bill Evans, Joe Morello, Paul Desmond, Alec Wilder, Mary Lou Williams, and others.In a preface to this new edition, published originally as All in Good Time, McPartland extends her... Read more

Nature Notes for 1906

By: Edith Holden

Narrated by: Vanessa Benjamin

Length: 2 hours 32 minutes

Abridged: No

More than one hundred years ago, a sensitive woman naturalist, nature lover, and accomplished artist began to chronicle all that she encountered while walking and cycling around the countryside of her native England and neighboring Scotland.Besides noting the flora and fauna, she included poems and quaint folk sayings, saints' days, mottoes, and... Read more

The Compleated Autobiography

By: Benjamin Franklin

Narrated by: Richard Ferrone

Length: 13 hours 48 minutes

Abridged: No

Benjamin Franklin’s celebrated autobiography, published after his death, is one of the greatest autobiographies of all time—but it was incomplete. Franklin ended his life’s story in 1757, when he was only fifty-one. He lived another thirty-three full, eventful, and dramatic years, some of the most dramatic years in American history—years in... Read more