History audiobooks

Malcolm X

By: Manning Marable

Narrated by: G. Valmont Thomas

Length: 21 hours 59 minutes

Abridged: No

Selected by The New York Times Book Review as a Notable Book of the Year Years in the making-the definitive biography of the legendary black activist.

Of the great figure in twentieth-century American history perhaps none is more complex and controversial than Malcolm X. Constantly rewriting his own story, he became a criminal, a minister, a... Read more

American Tempest

By: Harlow Giles Unger

Narrated by: William Hughes

Length: 8 hours 12 minutes

Abridged: No

On Thursday, December 16, 1773, an estimated seven dozen men, many amateurishly disguised as Indians—then a symbol of freedom—dumped about ┬ú10,000 worth of tea in the harbor. Whatever their motives at the time, they unleashed a social, political, and economic firestorm that would culminate in the Declaration of Independence two and a half years... Read more

12 Strong

By: Doug Stanton

Narrated by: Jack Garrett

Length: 16 hours 40 minutes

Abridged: No

Now a major motion picture from Jerry Bruckheimer starring Chris Hemsworth and Michael Shannon!

“A thrilling action ride of a book” (The New York Times Book Review)—the New York Times bestselling, true-life account of a US Special Forces team deployed to dangerous, war-ridden Afghanistan in the weeks following 9/11.

In the weeks following the... Read more

Truman

By: David McCullough

Narrated by: Nelson Runger

Length: 54 hours 11 minutes

Abridged: No

The Pulitzer Prize–winning biography of Harry S. Truman, whose presidency included momentous events from the atomic bombing of Japan to the outbreak of the Cold War and the Korean War, told by America’s beloved and distinguished historian.

The life of Harry S. Truman is one of the greatest of American stories, filled with vivid... Read more

Comrades

By: Stephen E. Ambrose

Narrated by: Nelson Runger

Length: 4 hours 32 minutes

Abridged: No

From the author of Undaunted Courage and D-Day comes this celebration of male friendship, taken both from the pages of history and from Ambrose’s own life.

Acclaimed historian Stephen Ambrose begins his examination with a glance inward—he starts this book with his brothers, his first and forever friends, and the shared experiences that join them... Read more

To America

By: Stephen E. Ambrose

Narrated by: Henry Strozier

Length: 9 hours 41 minutes

Abridged: No

Completed shortly before Ambrose's untimely death, To America is a very personal look at our nation's history through the eyes of one of the twentieth century's most influential historians.

Ambrose roams the country's history, praising the men and women who made it exceptional. He considers Jefferson and Washington, who were progressive thinkers... Read more

High Noon

By: Karen Southwick

Narrated by: Sneha Mathan

Length: 8 hours 55 minutes

Abridged: No

In 1982, a little upstart named Sun was making waves in the high-tech industry with its groundbreaking workstation technology, even as early competitors dismissed the company as not worth losing sleep over. Since then, Sun Microsystems has become a formidable presence in the industry, making its own rules and taking no prisoners, and is... Read more

Las lagrimas del sol

By: Jose Maria Merino

Narrated by: Luis Carlos De La Lombana

Length: 5 hours 46 minutes

Abridged: No

Miguel Villace Yocotl, hijo de un conquistador espanol y de una india mexicana, emprende una nueva aventura, en compania de su padrino y de la india Lucia. Un viaje con destino a Peru, interrumpido en el Yucatan, le permitira recorrer "la tierra de los pavos y los venados," internarse en las viejas ciudades abandonadas que la selva ha invadido y... Read more

Rashi

By: Elie Wiesel

Narrated by: Walter Dixon

Length: 2 hours 21 minutes

Abridged: No

From Elie Wiesel, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, comes a magical audio book that introduces us to the towering figure of Rashi—Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki—the great biblical and Talmudic commentator of the Middle Ages.

Wiesel brilliantly evokes the world of medieval European Jewry, a world of profound scholars and closed communities ravaged by... Read more

A Bully Father

By: Joan Paterson Kerr & Theodore Roosevelt

Narrated by: John McDonough

Length: 8 hours 14 minutes

Abridged: No

Theodore Roosevelt was a colorful adventurer, statesman, and president. But he always felt that the most essential role he played was that of father to his six children. In A Bully Father, noted historical editor Joan Paterson Kerr brings together a collection of his letters, spanning the years between 1898 and 1919, which convey all the... Read more

Nazi Terror

By: Eric A. Johnson

Narrated by: Edward Lewis

Length: 17 hours 50 minutes

Abridged: No

Who were the Gestapo officers? Were they merely banal paper shufflers, or were they recognizably evil? Were they motivated by an eliminationist anti-Semitism? Did the average German know about the mass murder of Jews and other undesirables while they were happening? Exactly how was Nazi terror applied in the daily lives of ordinary Jews and... Read more

Behind the Black Door

By: Sarah Brown

Narrated by: Sarah Brown

Length: 14 hours 51 minutes

Abridged: No

'Today, Gordon's words are simple and heartfelt. He promises, as his own school motto said, "to do his utmost". I know that the same will go for me, too. We turn to the door, greeting the policeman on duty. It is time to play our part in contributing to what happens next in government and a new life behind the black door.'

In this personal memoir... Read more

Bringing Adam Home

By: Les Standiford & Joe Matthews

Narrated by: Robert Fass

Length: 9 hours 51 minutes

Abridged: No

“Les Standiford’s account of the decades-long attempt to solve the murder of Adam Walsh is chilling, heartbreaking, hopeful, and as relentlessly suspenseful as anything I’ve ever read. A triumph in every way.”
—Dennis Lehane, author of Mystic River“The most significant missing child case since the Lindbergh’s….A taut, compelling and often... Read more

On Gold Mountain

By: Lisa See

Narrated by: Kate Reading

Length: 18 hours 5 minutes

Abridged: No

From the bestselling author of The Island of Sea Women, here is the true story of the one-hundred-year-odyssey of the author’s Chinese-American family, combining years of research with “fascinating family anecdotes, imaginative details, and the historical details of immigrant life” (Amy Tan, bestselling author of The Joy Luck Club).

"As... Read more

Fire on the Horizon

By: Tom Shroder & John Konrad

Narrated by: Sean Pratt

Length: 8 hours 22 minutes

Abridged: No

""A phenomenal feat of journalism. . . . I tore through it like a novel but with the queasy knowledge that the whole damn thing is true."" —Sebastian Junger, author of The Perfect Storm and War Blending exclusive first-person interviews and penetrating investigative reporting, oil rig captain John Konrad and veteran Washington Post writer Tom... Read more

A Sailor’s History of the U.S. Navy

By: Thomas J. Cutler

Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner

Length: 11 hours 8 minutes

Abridged: No

Adopted by the US Navy for issue to all new sailors, A Sailor’s History of the U.S. Navy brings to life the events that have shaped and inspired the navy of today while highlighting the roles of all sailors—from seaman to admiral. Rather than focus entirely upon such naval icons as Stephen Decatur and Chester Nimitz, as most histories do, author... Read more

The Bitter Waters of Medicine Creek

By: Richard Kluger

Narrated by: Alan Sklar

Length: 14 hours 56 minutes

Abridged: No

The riveting story of a dramatic confrontation between Native Americans and white settlers, a compelling conflict that unfolded in the newly created Washington Territory from 1853 to 1857.

When appointed Washington’s first governor, Isaac Ingalls Stevens, an ambitious military man turned politician, had one goal: to persuade (peacefully if... Read more

To a Mountain in Tibet

By: Colin Thubron

Narrated by: Steven Crossley

Length: 7 hours

Abridged: No

This is the account of a journey to the holiest mountain on earth, the solitary peak of Kailas in Tibet, sacred to one-fifth of humankind. To both Buddhists and Hindus it is the mystic heart of the world and an ancient site of pilgrimage. It has never been climbed. Even today, under Chinese domination, the people of four religions circle the... Read more

The Information

By: James Gleick

Narrated by: Rob Shapiro

Length: 16 hours 36 minutes

Abridged: No

James Gleick, the author of the best sellers Chaos and Genius, now brings us a work just as astonishing and masterly: a revelatory chronicle and meditation that shows how information has become the modern era’s defining quality—the blood, the fuel, the vital principle of our world.
 
The story of information begins in a time profoundly unlike our... Read more

The King's Speech

By: Peter Conradi & Mark Logue

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 6 hours 54 minutes

Abridged: No

The King's Speech was written by London Sunday Times journalist Peter Conradi and Mark Logue—grandson of Lionel Logue, whose recently discovered diaries and correspondence contain fascinating details about these true events.



At the urging of his wife, Elizabeth, the Duke of York (known to the royal family as "Bertie") began to see speech... Read more

The Greatest Experiment Ever Performed on Women

By: Barbara Seaman

Narrated by: Barbara Caruso

Length: 7 hours 34 minutes

Abridged: No

For over 40 years Barbara Seaman has been a leading women's health advocate. Now she blows the lid off the estrogen industry in this fascinating book that holds the power to improve-possibly even save-women's lives. In America 30 million women take estrogen. Seaman shows that this powerful hormone is hardly the cure-all some claim it is. In... Read more

Hiroshima

By: John Hersey

Narrated by: George Guidall

Length: 5 hours 24 minutes

Abridged: No

A journalistic masterpiece. John Hersey transports us back to the streets of Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945-the day the city was destroyed by the first atomic bomb. Told through the memories of six survivors, Hiroshima is a timeless, powerful classic that will awaken your heart and your compassion. In this new edition, Hersey returns to... Read more

Billy Brown, I'll Tell Your Mother

By: Bill Brown

Narrated by: Bill Brown

Length: 8 hours 34 minutes

Abridged: No

By the time he was ten years old, Billy Brown was running a successful little business on the black market: whatever you needed, from bricks and firewood to dress material or machetes, Billy Brown could get it - or knew a man who could. And, for the right price, he would deliver it direct to your door in an old carriage pram.

With energy and... Read more

Quirk

By: Hannah Holmes

Narrated by: Susan Denaker

Length: 10 hours 35 minutes

Abridged: No

Who are you? It’s the most fundamental of human questions. Are you the type of person who tilts at windmills, or the one who prefers to view them from the comfort of an air-conditioned motorcoach? Our personalities are endlessly fascinating—not just to ourselves but also to our spouses, our parents, our children, our co-workers, our neighbors.... Read more