History audiobooks

Understanding Movies: The Art and History of Films

By: Raphael Shargel

Narrated by: Raphael Shargel

Length: 7 hours 10 minutes

Abridged: No

Why does the cinema have the power to move the heart, stimulate the mind, and dazzle the imagination? The Story in Pictures covers the history and aesthetics of motion pictures from the United States and from around the world. Professor Raphael Shargel analyzes specific movies from each era in film history, including the films' importance,... Read more

Odyssey of the West V

By: Timothy B. Shutt

Narrated by: Donald Sutherland, Joel Richeimer, Fred Baumann...

Length: 7 hours 49 minutes

Abridged: No

In weaving together the varied and interrelated strands of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century discourse and events, this course focuses on the contributions to Western history that bear the most responsibility for shaping the world of today. Among these contributions are such vital, yet markedly different documents as the Federalist Papers and... Read more

Emily Post

By: Laura Claridge

Narrated by: Christine Williams

Length: 18 hours 13 minutes

Abridged: No

The first biography of the iconic woman whose name stands for good manners, Emily Post tells the story of a woman who steadfastly recorded the shifting, tumultuous historical epochs that shaped her—and that she helped shape. From the excesses of the late nineteenth-century Gilded Age, through the horrors of World War I, to the transformations of... Read more

Reading the OED

By: Ammon Shea

Narrated by: William Dufris

Length: 5 hours 8 minutes

Abridged: No

""I'm reading the OED so you don't have to. If you are interested in vocabulary that is both spectacularly useful and beautifully useless, read on...""So reports Ammon Shea, the tireless, word-obsessed, and more than slightly masochistic author of Reading the OED. The word lover's Mount Everest, the OED has enthralled logophiles since its... Read more

Creating Magic

By: Lee Cockerell

Narrated by: Lee Cockerell

Length: 7 hours 35 minutes

Abridged: No

“It’s not the magic that makes it work; it’s the way we work that makes it magic.”

The secret for creating “magic” in our careers, our organizations, and our lives is simple: outstanding leadership—the kind that inspires employees, delights customers, and achieves extraordinary business results.

No one knows more about this kind of leadership... Read more

Champlain's Dream - Abridged

By: David Hackett Fischer

Narrated by: Edward Herrmann

Length: 10 hours 18 minutes

Abridged: Yes

Winner of the Pritzker Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing

In this sweeping, enthralling biography, acclaimed historian David Hackett Fischer brings to life the remarkable Samuel de Champlain—soldier, spy, master mariner, explorer, cartographer, artist, and Father of New France.

Born on France's Atlantic coast, Champlain... Read more

The Reagan I Knew

By: William F. Buckley

Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner

Length: 6 hours 11 minutes

Abridged: No

No two people were more important to American conservatism in the postwar era than William F. Buckley Jr. and Ronald Reagan. Buckley's writings provided the intellectual underpinnings, while Reagan brought the conservative movement out of the wilderness and into the White House.The pair met in 1961 when Reagan introduced a speech by Buckley.... Read more

Tried by War

By: James M. McPherson

Narrated by: George Guidall

Length: 9 hours 38 minutes

Abridged: No

"James M. McPherson’s Tried by War is a perfect primer . . . for anyone who wishes to under­stand the evolution of the president’s role as commander in chief. Few histo­rians write as well as McPherson, and none evoke the sound of battle with greater clarity." —The New York Times Book Review

The Pulitzer Prize–winning author reveals how Lincoln... Read more

The Wordy Shipmates

By: Sarah Vowell

Narrated by: Sarah Vowell

Length: 7 hours 15 minutes

Abridged: No

New York Times bestselling author Sarah Vowell explores the Puritans and their journey to America in The Wordy Shipmates. Even today, America views itself as a Puritan nation, but Vowell investigates what that means -- and what it should mean. What was this great political enterprise all about? Who were these people who are considered the... Read more

A Short History of the United States - Abridged

By: Robert V. Remini

Narrated by: Oliver Wyman

Length: 10 hours 17 minutes

Abridged: Yes

In A Short History of the United States, National Book Award winner Robert V. Remini offers a much-needed, concise history of our country. This accessible and lively volume contains the essential facts about the discovery, settlement, growth, and development of the American nation and its institutions, including the arrival and migration of... Read more

The Ruin of the Roman Empire

By: James J. O'Donnell

Narrated by: Mel Foster

Length: 18 hours 56 minutes

Abridged: No

What really marked the end of the Roman Empire? Was it a long, inevitable decay, or did real people make real choices with surprising and unintended effects? The Ruin of the Roman Empire takes us back to the sixth century, into the lives, cultures, and events that influenced ancient Rome. James O'Donnell restores the reputations of many... Read more

World War I

By: John Ramsden

Narrated by: John Ramsden

Length: 8 hours 29 minutes

Abridged: No

"The Great War" as it was known at the time was also said to be the "war to end all wars." It seized all of Europe and much of the rest of the world in its grip of death and destruction. The first truly modern war, it changed how war-and peace-would be conducted throughout the remainder of the twentieth century and even to the present. The Great... Read more

Bard of the Middle Ages

By: Michael Drout

Narrated by: Michael Drout

Length: 8 hours 4 minutes

Abridged: No

Chaucer's works are today widely studied and serve as models for current literature around the world. Chaucer holds a place of esteem as the earliest and one of the foremost writers in the English language. Read more

Epochs European Civilization

By: Geoffrey Hosking

Narrated by: Henry Strozier

Length: 7 hours 57 minutes

Abridged: No

The period stretching from the Reformation to the twenty-first century proved a time of radical change for Europe-and with the continent's far-reaching influence, for the entire world as well. This course provides a greater understanding of the role played by such influential figures as Luther, Calvin, Napoleon, and Stalin, among others.... Read more

The World's First Superpower

By: Denis Judd

Narrated by: Denis Judd

Length: 7 hours 15 minutes

Abridged: No

This course will examine the growth and development of the largest empire in world history -the British Empire-beginning with the late 15th-century Tudor dynasty in England and ending with the death of the Queen-Empress Victoria in 1901. By the beginning of the 20th century, there were very few countries or people who had not been affected, one... Read more

Brotherhood of the Revolution

By: Joseph Ellis

Narrated by: Joseph Ellis

Length: 7 hours 1 minute

Abridged: No

In this course, readers are provided an in-depth look at the single most consequential event of American history: the American Revolution. Distinguished historian Edmund Morgan wrote that no one has ever quite understood the Revolution and that no one ever will. This course is an attempt, at least on some level, to prove him wrong. While the... Read more

World's First Superpower

By: Denis Judd

Narrated by: Denis Judd

Length: 7 hours

Abridged: No

Professor Denis Judd-London Metropolitan University In the second part of a two-part course on the nearly six-century- long history of the British Empire, Professor Denis Judd picks up the narrative at the beginning of the 20th century. The fascinating saga unfolds from the death of Queen Victoria, through the First World War, the resulting... Read more

From Jesus to Christianity

By: Thomas F. Madden

Narrated by: Thomas F. Madden

Length: 8 hours 13 minutes

Abridged: No

Entrusting the apostles to continue the work he had started by instructing them to "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit . . .," Jesus kindled the fires of a new religion in a world largely dominated by polytheism, cult leader worship, and mysticism. In the first... Read more

Odyssey of the West III

By: Timothy B. Shutt

Narrated by: Timothy B. Shutt

Length: 8 hours 47 minutes

Abridged: No

Odyssey of the West I and II explored timeless works from the ancient world that shaped, and continue to shape, the culture and philosophies of life today. In part three of this fascinating series, Professor Timothy B. Shutt of Kenyon College is joined by Professors Thomas F. Madden (Saint Louis University) and Monica Brzezinski Potkay (College... Read more

The Nightingale’s Song

By: Robert Timberg

Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor

Length: 22 hours 9 minutes

Abridged: No

Robert Timberg weaves together the lives of Annapolis graduates John McCain, James Webb, Oliver North, Robert McFarlane, and John Poindexter to reveal how the Vietnam War continues to haunt America. Casting all five men as metaphors for a legion of well-meaning if ill-starred warriors, Timberg probes the fault line between those who fought the... Read more

Masterpieces of Western Music

By: Jeffrey Lependorf

Narrated by: Jeffrey Lependorf

Length: 7 hours 42 minutes

Abridged: No

This lecture series focuses on the very best of Western music, and as we progress through these lectures, the following are two important questions that we will seek to answer as we examine the various musical selections: What makes these works masterpieces? Why highlight these works? - These works share, for the most part, a common language,... Read more

God Wills It!

By: Thomas F. Madden

Narrated by: Thomas F. Madden

Length: 8 hours 11 minutes

Abridged: No

For over 400 years, crusaders ("those signed by the cross"), out of Christian zeal, a declared love for their fellow man, and, in many cases, a simple desire for fortune, glory, and heavenly reward, marched to the Holy Land to battle both a real and perceived threat to their way of life and their religious beliefs. The story of the many crusades... Read more

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

By: Thomas F. Madden

Narrated by: Thomas F. Madden

Length: 8 hours 18 minutes

Abridged: No

Even millennia after its fall, the grand expanse of Roman achievement continues to affect not only American society, but the entire world as well. What caused a civilization of such accomplishments to disintegrate? In this informative and lively series of lectures, renowned history professor Thomas F. Madden serves as the ultimate guide through... Read more

The Law of the Land

By: Kermit Hall

Narrated by: Brian Keeler

Length: 8 hours 19 minutes

Abridged: No

The Supreme Court of the United States represents our most unusual and least understood branch of government. Unlike the other branches, the high court marches to an overtly legal drummer, one that demands there be cases and controversies, there be lawyers who function as adversaries, and that all arguments be made in open court. On the other... Read more