History audiobooks

The Great Influenza

By: John M. Barry

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 19 hours 24 minutes

Abridged: No

In the winter of 1918, at the height of World War I, history's most lethal influenza virus erupted in an army camp in Kansas, moved east with American troops, then exploded, killing as many as 100 million people worldwide. It killed more people in twenty-four weeks than AIDS has killed in twenty-four years, more in a year than the Black Death... Read more

Cobra II - Abridged

By: Michael R. Gordon & Bernard E. Trainor

Narrated by: Craig Wasson

Length: 9 hours 36 minutes

Abridged: Yes

Informed by unparalleled access to still–secret documents, interviews with top field commanders, and a review of the military’s own internal after–action reports, Cobra II is the definitive chronicle of America’s invasion and occupation of Iraq—a conflict that could not be lost but one that the United States failed to win decisively. From the... Read more

WHY DO CLOCKS RUN CLOCKWISE - Abridged

By: David Feldman

Narrated by: David Feldman

Length: 58 minutes

Abridged: Yes

Ponder, if you will ...
What is the difference between a kit and a caboodle?
Why don't people get goose bumps on their faces?
Where do houseflies go in the winter?
What causes that ringing sound in your ears?Pop-culture guru David Feldman demystifies these topics and so much more in Why Do Clocks Run Clockwise? -- the unchallenged source of answers... Read more

Mao

By: Jung Chang & Jon Halliday

Narrated by: Robertson Dean

Length: 29 hours 54 minutes

Abridged: No

“Ever since the spectacular success of Chang’s Wild Swans we have waited impatiently for her to complete with her husband this monumental study of China’s most notorious modern leader. The expectation has been that she would rewrite modern Chinese history. The wait has been worthwhile and the expectation justified. This is a bombshell of a... Read more

The Big Oyster

By: Mark Kurlansky

Narrated by: John H. Mayer

Length: 9 hours 53 minutes

Abridged: No

Before New York City was the Big Apple, it could have been called the Big Oyster. Now award-winning author Mark Kurlansky tells the remarkable story of New York by following the trajectory of one of its most fascinating inhabitants–the oyster, whose influence on the great metropolis remains unparalleled.

For centuries New York was famous for its... Read more

The Big Oyster - Abridged

By: Mark Kurlansky

Narrated by: Tom Stechschulte

Length: 5 hours 1 minute

Abridged: Yes

Before New York City was the Big Apple, it could have been called the Big Oyster. Now award-winning author Mark Kurlansky tells the remarkable story of New York by following the trajectory of one of its most fascinating inhabitants–the oyster, whose influence on the great metropolis remains unparalleled.

For centuries New York was famous for its... Read more

Holy Blood, Holy Grail - Abridged

By: Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh & Henry Lincoln

Narrated by: Simon Prebble

Length: 9 hours 35 minutes

Abridged: Yes

Is the traditional, accepted view of the life of Christ in some way incomplete?

• Is it possible Christ did not die on the cross?
• Is it possible Jesus was married, a father, and that his bloodline still exists?
• Is it possible that parchments found in the South of France a century ago reveal one of the best-kept secrets of Christendom?
• Is it... Read more

The Colony

By: John Tayman

Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor

Length: 15 hours 19 minutes

Abridged: No

In the bestselling tradition of In the Heart of the Sea, The Colony reveals the untold history of the infamous American leprosy colony on Molokai and of the extraordinary people who struggled to survive under the most horrific circumstances.



In 1866, twelve men and women and one small child were forced aboard a leaky schooner and cast away to a... Read more

Manhunt - Abridged

By: James L. Swanson

Narrated by: Richard Thomas

Length: 9 hours 9 minutes

Abridged: Yes

The murder of Abraham Lincoln set off the greatest manhunt in American history -- the pursuit and capture of John Wilkes Booth. From April 14 to April 26, 1865, the assassin led Union cavalry troops on a wild, twelve-day chase from the streets of Washington, D.C., across the swamps of Maryland, and into the forests of Virginia.At the very center... Read more

A Generous Orthodoxy - Abridged

By: Brian D. McLaren

Narrated by: Brian D. McLaren

Length: 3 hours 57 minutes

Abridged: Yes

A confession and manifesto from a senior leader in the emerging church movement. A Generous Orthodoxy calls for a radical, Christ-centered orthodoxy of faith and practice in a missional, generous spirit. Brian McLaren argues for a post-liberal, post-conservative, post-protestant convergence, which will stimulate lively interest and global... Read more

The Gospel of Jesus

By: Daniel L. Johnson

Narrated by: Garrison Keillor

Length: 7 hours 17 minutes

Abridged: No

America’s favorite storyteller reads the world’s greatest story.
Garrison Keillor and Dan Johnson both grew up in the bosom of fundamentalism. Their shared love of the Bible and its stories led to this collaboration, which blends details from all the gospels into a single book-length story. Keillor narrates the biography of this... Read more

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

By: Benjamin Franklin

Narrated by: Fredd Wayne

Length: 6 hours 3 minutes

Abridged: No

Benjamin Franklin was not only one of America's Founding Fathers—he was also a fascinating character who lived an exciting life. Whether carousing with prostitutes in Paris, taunting lightning bolts with kites, or founding America's first volunteer firefighting organization, Franklin was always at the center of activity. The Autobiography of... Read more

At Canaan's Edge - Abridged

By: Taylor Branch

Narrated by: Joe Morton

Length: 9 hours 56 minutes

Abridged: Yes

At Canaan’s Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-68 is the final volume in Taylor Branch's magnificent history of America in the years of the Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam War, recognized universally as the definitive account and ultimate recognition of Martin Luther King's heroic place in the nation's history.

The final volume of Taylor... Read more

The Hitler Book

By: Henrik Eberle & Matthias Uhl

Narrated by: Michael Prichard

Length: 15 hours 18 minutes

Abridged: No

Joseph Stalin had never been able to shake off the nightmare of Adolf Hitler. Just as in 1941 he refused to understand that Hitler had broken their non-aggression pact, he was in 1945 unwilling to believe that the dictator had committed suicide in the debris of the Berlin bunker. In his paranoia, Stalin ordered his secret police, the NKVD,... Read more

Flags of Our Fathers

By: James Bradley & Ron Powers

Narrated by: Stephen Hoye

Length: 13 hours 21 minutes

Abridged: No

Now abridged for young people, Flags of Our Fathers is the unforgettable chronicle of perhaps the most famous moment in American military history: the raising of the U. S. flag at Iwo Jima. Here is the true story behind the immortal photograph that has come to symbolize the courage and indomitable will of America.

In February 1945, American... Read more

Parish Priest - Abridged

By: Douglas Brinkley & Julie M. Fenster

Narrated by: Julie M. Fenster

Length: 5 hours 55 minutes

Abridged: Yes

Father Michael McGivney was a man to whom ""family values"" represented more than mere rhetoric, a man who has left a legacy of hope still celebrated around the world.In the late 1800s, discrimination against American Catholics was widespread. Called to action in 1882, Father McGivney founded the Knights of Columbus, an organization that helped... Read more

My Year in Iraq - Abridged

By: L. Paul Bremer

Narrated by: Boyd Gaines

Length: 7 hours 10 minutes

Abridged: Yes

"Baghdad was Burning"

With these words, Ambassador L. Paul "Jerry" Bremer begins his gripping memoir of fourteen danger-filled months as America's proconsul in Iraq. My Year in Iraq is the only senior insider's perspective on the crucial period following the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime. In vivid, dramatic detail, Bremer reveals the... Read more

George Rogers Clark

By: Katharine E. Wilkie

Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor

Length: 1 hour 59 minutes

Abridged: No

George Rogers Clark was a famous general in the Revolutionary War, and his explorations served as the inspiration for his younger brother, William, the leader of the famous Lewis and Clark expedition. Now you can read about the boyhood of George and share in the first adventures of this lifelong hero.Praised by parents, teachers, and historians,... 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

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

The Nicomachean Ethics

By: Aristotle

Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon

Length: 8 hours 44 minutes

Abridged: No

Named for Aristotle's son, Nicomachus, who was the first to edit this work, The Nicomachean Ethics plays a prominent role in defining Aristotelian ethics. In the ten books of this work, Aristotle explains the good life for man: the life of happiness.For Aristotle, happiness exists when the soul is in accordance with virtue. Virtue exists in a... Read more

Room Full of Mirrors

By: Charles R. Cross

Narrated by: Lloyd James

Length: 13 hours 32 minutes

Abridged: No

For many, the name Jimi Hendrix conjures up a larger-than-life image of the man who set fire to guitars, women’s hearts, and the status quo. In this groundbreaking account, music journalist Charles R. Cross takes a far deeper look. Beyond Hendrix’s legendary onstage and offstage magnetism and his excessive lifestyle was a man who struggled to... Read more

Inhuman Bondage

By: David Brion Davis

Narrated by: Raymond Todd

Length: 16 hours 38 minutes

Abridged: No

David Brion Davis is recognized as the leading authority on slavery in the Western world. His books have won such awards as the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.In Inhuman Bondage, Davis sums up a lifetime of insight, beginning with the dramatic Amistad case. He looks at slavery in the American South, describing black slaveholding... 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