Essays audiobooks

The Bloody Crossroads

By: Norman Podhoretz

Narrated by: Phillip J. Sawtelle

Length: 6 hours 45 minutes

Abridged: No

This is a series of essays dealing with authors who stand at “the bloody crossroads: where literature and politics meet.” Why bloody? Because writers’ blood has often been shed when they boldly expressed their opinions, and their opinions have often influenced political leaders to shed the blood of others.In his analysis of contemporary writers... Read more

The Federalist Papers

By: Alexander Hamilton, John Jay & James Madison

Narrated by: Michael Edwards

Length: 18 hours 11 minutes

Abridged: No

Approved by the Constitutional Convention on September 17, 1787, the US Constitution was to become law only if ratified by nine of the thirteen states then comprising the United States. The eighty-five letters in support of the Constitution collected here have become recognized as the most important political science work ever written in the... Read more

Sailing Alone around the World

By: Joshua Slocum

Narrated by: Bernard Mayes

Length: 7 hours 25 minutes

Abridged: No

Challenged by an expert who said it couldn’t be done, Joshua Slocum, a fearless New England sea captain, set out in April 1895 to prove that a man could sail alone around the world. A little over three years and forty-six thousand miles later, the proof was complete. This is Slocum’s own account of his remarkable adventures during the historic... Read more

Radical Chic and Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers

By: Tom Wolfe

Narrated by: Harold N. Cropp

Length: 4 hours 6 minutes

Abridged: No

In these two devastatingly funny essays, Tom Wolfe examines political stances, social styles, "black rage," and "white guilt" in our status-minded world.In "These Radical Chic Evenings," Wolfe focuses primarily on one symbolic event: a gathering of the politically correct at Leonard Bernstein's duplex apartment on Park Avenue to meet spokesmen... Read more

The Oregon Trail

By: Francis Parkman

Narrated by: Robert Morris

Length: 12 hours 40 minutes

Abridged: No

This is the classic account of Francis Parkman’s rugged trip over the eastern part of the Oregon Trail with his cousin Quincy Adams Shaw in the spring and summer of 1846. They left St. Louis by steamboat and traveled on horseback, in company with guides and occasionally other travelers. They encountered storms and buffalo hunts, meeting Indians,... Read more

Days of Obligation

By: Richard Rodriguez

Narrated by: Michael Anthony

Length: 8 hours 14 minutes

Abridged: No

A series of ten essays span the five centuries of history, from Hernan Cortes’s conquest of Mexico to San Francisco's AIDS epidemic.Richard Rodriguez explores the conflicts of race, religion, and cultural identity for Mexican-Americans across the landscape of his beloved California—as well as the impact this history had on him.Rodriguez... Read more

Such, Such Were the Joys and Other Essays

By: George Orwell

Narrated by: Frederick Davidson

Length: 12 hours 23 minutes

Abridged: No

Viewed as too libelous to print in England until 1968, the title essay in this collection reveals the abuse Orwell experienced as a child at an expensive and snobbish boarding school and offers insights into his lifelong concern for the oppressed."Why I Write" describes Orwell's sense of political purpose, and the classic essay "Politics and the... Read more

Two Years before the Mast

By: Richard Henry Dana Jr.

Narrated by: Bernard Mayes

Length: 16 hours 30 minutes

Abridged: No

Richard Henry Dana referred to this book as "a voice from the sea." Influencing such authors as Conrad and Melville, it has become a maritime classic that has inflicted legions of men with a passion for the sea.Dana, a law student turned sailor for health reasons, sailed in 1834 on the brigPilgrimfor a voyage from Boston around Cape Horn to... Read more

Travels in Alaska

By: John Muir

Narrated by: Noah Waterman

Length: 7 hours 39 minutes

Abridged: No

In the late 1800s, John Muir made several trips to the pristine, relatively unexplored territory of Alaska, irresistibly drawn to its awe-inspiring glaciers and its wild menagerie of bears, bald eagles, wolves, and whales. Half poet and half geologist, he recorded his experiences and reflections in Travels in Alaska, a work he was in the process... Read more

The Sea and the Jungle

By: H. M. Tomlinson

Narrated by: Frederick Davidson

Length: 10 hours 41 minutes

Abridged: No

One rainy morning in the winter of 1909, a man with an altogether average look about him quit his job at the London Morning Leader, kissed his wife and children goodbye, and took a train to Swansea in Wales, where he talked his way aboard a freighter bound for the upper reaches of the Amazon. Three years later, Tomlinson published a book about... Read more

Desperate Journeys, Abandoned Souls

By: Edward E. Leslie

Narrated by: John Lescault

Length: 21 hours 24 minutes

Abridged: No

From Robinson Crusoe and The Swiss Family Robinson to Alive! and Adrift, tales of survival have always captivated readers. This powerful collection chronicles the remarkable true stories of real-life maroons, castaways, and other survivors as they struggle to endure against insurmountable odds. From the 1500s to the present, in the most isolated... Read more

Augusta

By: Steve Eubanks

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 7 hours 44 minutes

Abridged: No

The Augusta National Golf Club, founded in 1933 and home to the prestigious Masters Tournament, is an American icon shrouded in intrigue. Co-designed by legends Bobby Jones and Alister MacKenzie, Augusta boasts gorgeous fairways and perfectly manicured greens, set against a breathtaking backdrop of azaleas and pines. Behind the wondrous scenes... Read more

In Morocco

By: Edith Wharton

Narrated by: Anna Fields

Length: 4 hours 53 minutes

Abridged: No

"To step on board a steamer in a Spanish port, and three hours later to land in a country without a guidebook, is a sensation to rouse the hunger of the most replete sightseer. The sensation is attainable by any one who will take the trouble to row out into the harbor of Algeciras and scramble onto a little black boat headed across the... Read more

Pitching in a Pinch

By: Christy Mathewson

Narrated by: Adams Morgan

Length: 5 hours 44 minutes

Abridged: No

Christy "Matty" Mathewson was one of the most dominant pitchers ever to play baseball. Posthumously inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as one of the "Five Immortals," he was an unstoppable force on the mound, winning at least twenty-two games for twelve straight seasons and pitching three complete-game shutouts in the 1905 World... Read more

Still a Legend

By: Harvey Rosenfeld

Narrated by: Ian Esmo

Length: 13 hours 35 minutes

Abridged: No

This book recounts the slugger Roger Maris' life before, during, and after his headline season of 1961, when the taciturn North Dakota native topped Babe Ruth's all-time record by hitting sixty-one home runs. From his youth as a star high-school athlete and American Legion baseball player, Maris's went on to play for the Cleveland Indians, the... Read more

Tales from the Dugout

By: Mike Shannon

Narrated by: John Lescault

Length: 5 hours 25 minutes

Abridged: No

This memorable collection of anecdotes about America's national pastime will take you into the dugout, clubhouse, and press box with some of the game's greatest players and storytellers. From Hall-of-Famers Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays to the always-quotable Casey Stengel, to modern-day stars Ken Griffey, Jr. and Larry Walker, Tales from the... 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

Why Businessmen Need Philosophy and Other Essays

By: Ayn Rand, various authors, Leonard Peikoff, Har...

Narrated by: Susan O’Malley

Length: 4 hours 58 minutes

Abridged: No

"Ideas are the greatest and most crucially practical power on earth," wrote Ayn Rand.In the title essay of this collection, Leonard Peikoff applies this principle to the world of business. He shows that certain philosophic ideas, such as reason, egoism, and individualism, are needed to defend and protect the freedom of businessmen, while the... Read more

Under the Sea Wind

By: Rachel L. Carson

Narrated by: C. M. Hébert

Length: 6 hours 39 minutes

Abridged: No

The special mystery and beauty of the sea is the setting for Rachel Carson’s memorable portrait of the sea birds and sea creatures that inhabit the eastern coasts of North America. In a sequence of riveting adventures along the shore, within the open sea, and down in the twilight depths, Rachel Carson introduces us to the winds and currents of... Read more

The Medusa and the Snail

By: Lewis Thomas

Narrated by: Stuart Langton

Length: 4 hours 19 minutes

Abridged: No

Lewis Thomas has been said to be a philosopher who uses the language of biology. His fascinating observations on the quirkiness of the world's infinite creations causes listeners to ponder the workings of the cosmos through the most microscopic of life forms.The medusa, a tiny jellyfish that lives on the ventral surface of a sea slug found in... Read more

Sparring with Charlie

By: Christopher Hunt

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 8 hours 41 minutes

Abridged: No

When Christopher Hunt set off in search of Vietnam's notorious Ho Chi Minh Trail, he hardly expected to end up on a rickety, Russian-made motorcycle navigating 5,000 kilometers of paths rarely traveled by tourists and on roads missing from maps.Hunt left the United States expecting to explore the 1,700-kilometer highway that was once the supply... Read more

For the New Intellectual

By: Ayn Rand

Narrated by: Anna Fields

Length: 7 hours 58 minutes

Abridged: No

“Ideas are the greatest and most crucially practical power on earth.”—Ayn RandOne of the most controversial figures on the intellectual scene, Ayn Rand was the proponent of a moral philosophy of rational self-interest that stands in sharp opposition to the ethics of altruism and self-sacrifice. Her unique philosophy, Objectivism, has gained a... Read more

An Affair with Africa

By: Alzada Carlisle Kistner

Narrated by: C. M. Hébert

Length: 8 hours 53 minutes

Abridged: No

In June 1960, a young faculty wife named Alzada Kistner and her husband David, a promising entomologist, left their eighteen-month-old daughter in the care of relatives and began what was to be a four-month scientific expedition in the Belgian Congo. Three weeks after their arrival, the country was gripped by a violent revolution, trapping the... Read more

The Eternal Summer

By: Curt Sampson

Narrated by: Dennis McKee

Length: 8 hours 40 minutes

Abridged: No

Was there ever a year in golf like 1960? It was the year that the sport and its vivid personalities exploded on the consciousness of the nation, when the past, present, and future of the game collided. Television, still a new medium, provided a fresh window to the show and enabled this "rich man's sport" to win over millions of new fans.Here was... Read more