History audiobooks

Prisoner of the Vatican

By: David I. Kertzer

Narrated by: Alan Sklar

Length: 13 hours 35 minutes

Abridged: No

Based on a wealth of documents long buried in the Vatican archives, Prisoner of the Vatican tells the story of the Church's secret attempt to block the unification of Italy and seize control - not in ancient times, but in the late nineteenth century. For more than fifty years, the pope was a self-imposed prisoner within the Vatican walls,... Read more

Eleventh Month, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Hour - Abridged

By: Joseph E. Persico

Narrated by: Harry Chase

Length: 6 hours 12 minutes

Abridged: Yes

November 11, 1918. The final hours pulsate with tension as every man in the trenches hopes to escape the melancholy distinction of being the last to die in World War I. The Allied generals knew the fighting would end precisely at 11:00 A.M, yet in the final hours they flung men against an already beaten Germany. The result? Eleven thousand... Read more

The Captured

By: Scott Zesch

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 10 hours 34 minutes

Abridged: No

In 1870, ten-year-old Adolph Korn was kidnapped by Indians. He thrived in the Comanches’ rough, nomadic existence, quickly becoming one of the tribe’s fiercest warriors. Forcibly returned to his parents after three years, Korn never adjusted to life in white society. He spent his last years living in a cave, all but forgotten by his family.Then... Read more

Frank Lloyd Wright

By: Ada Louise Huxtable

Narrated by: Carrington MacDuffie

Length: 6 hours 42 minutes

Abridged: No

Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Ada Louise Huxtable's biography of America's greatest architect

Renowned architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable's biography Frank Lloyd Wright looks at the architect and the man, from his tumultuous personal life to his long career as a master builder. Along the way she introduces Wright's masterpieces--from the... Read more

The Last Season

By: Phil Jackson

Narrated by: Stephen Hoye

Length: 8 hours 11 minutes

Abridged: No

For the countless basketball fans who were spellbound by the Los Angeles Lakers’ 2003–2004 high-wire act, this book is a rare and phenomenal treat. In The Last Season, Lakers coach Phil Jackson draws on his trademark honesty and insight to tell the whole story of the season that proved to be the final ride of a truly great dynasty. From the... Read more

Edward R. Murrow and the Birth of Broadcast Journalism

By: Bob Edwards

Narrated by: Bob Edwards

Length: 4 hours 30 minutes

Abridged: No

"Most Americans living today never heard Ed Murrow in a live broadcast. This book is for them. I want them to know that broadcast journalism was established by someone with the highest standards. Tabloid crime stories, so much a part of the lust for ratings by today's news broadcasters, held no interest for Murrow. He did like Hollywood... Read more

Planet Simpson - Abridged

By: Chris Turner

Narrated by: Oliver Wyman

Length: 11 hours 49 minutes

Abridged: Yes

Going well beyond a critical discussion of a single television program, this book will use The Simpsons as a window on the culture at large to deliver first-hand reportage of the defining events and trends of our accelerated, confounding era. Read more

Alexander Hamilton - Abridged

By: Ron Chernow

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 11 hours 34 minutes

Abridged: Yes

The #1 New York Times bestseller, and the inspiration for the hit Broadway musical Hamilton!

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ron Chernow presents a landmark biography of Alexander Hamilton, the Founding Father who galvanized, inspired, scandalized, and shaped the newborn nation.

"Grand-scale biography at its best—thorough, insightful, consistently... Read more

Ask Not - Abridged

By: Thurston Clarke

Narrated by: Edward Herrmann

Length: 5 hours 40 minutes

Abridged: Yes

A close-up on one of American history's most splendid events, JFK's inaugural week, and the creation of the speech that inspired a generation and brought hope to a nation
"Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." On the January morning when John F. Kennedy assumed the presidency and stood to speak those... Read more

The Family

By: Kitty Kelley

Narrated by: Susan Denaker

Length: 29 hours 16 minutes

Abridged: No

They have wielded enormous financial power and dominated world politics for more than half a century. They have been appointed to positions of great power and have been elected as governors, congressmen, senators and presidents. They have shaped our past and, with our country at war under the leadership of their number one son, they are, more... Read more

Lost and Found Sound and Beyond

By: The Kitchen Sisters & Jay Allison

Length: 2 hours 31 minutes

Abridged: No

The second volume of the LOST & FOUND SOUND collection explores how recorded sound has shaped and captured the history of the last 100 years. Drawing from the archives and attics of the nation, this historic and intimate collection of radio documentaries presents a compelling array of sonic pioneers and legends, eccentric collectors, and... Read more

The Family - Abridged

By: Kitty Kelley

Narrated by: Kitty Kelley

Length: 10 hours 2 minutes

Abridged: Yes

They have wielded enormous financial power and dominated world politics for more than half a century. They have been appointed to positions of great power and have been elected as governors, congressmen, senators and presidents. They have shaped our past and, with our country at war under the leadership of their number one son, they are, more... Read more

Cary Grant: A Biography

By: Marc Eliot

Narrated by: Marc Eliot

Length: 15 hours 25 minutes

Abridged: No

Bringing up Baby. The Philadelphia Story. North by Northwest. An Affair to Remember. When Cary Grant passed away at age 82, fans from every generation mourned. Nearly 20 years later his star shines just as brightly from television and revival-house screens; his name remains synonymous with effortless charm. But perhaps the most remarkable fact... Read more

Where Do You Think You're Going, Christopher Columbus?

By: Jean Fritz

Narrated by: Jean Fritz

Length: 2 hours 33 minutes

Abridged: No

Newbery Honor author Jean Fritz takes us on a historic tour of Christopher Columbus! "In a simple, short biography of Columbus she has been extraordinarily successful in extracting the essence of the man."—The Horn BookChristopher Columbus thought he knew where he was going. He had planned to be the first to cross the ocean and reach the rich... Read more

What's the Big Idea, Ben Franklin?

By: Jean Fritz

Narrated by: Jean Fritz

Length: 1 hour 16 minutes

Abridged: No

A fun historic tale by Newbery Honor-winning author, Jean Fritz!No matter how busy he was, Ben Franklin always found time to try out new ideas: a remote-control lock (so he could lock his door without getting out of bed), a rocking chair with a fan over it (to keep flies away), and a windmill (to turn his roast meat on its spit). Aside from... Read more

Ulysses S. Grant - Abridged

By: Josiah Bunting, III

Narrated by: Richard Rohan

Length: 3 hours 24 minutes

Abridged: Yes

The underappreciated presidency of the military man who won the Civil War and then had to win the peace as well

As a general, Ulysses S. Grant is routinely described in glowing terms—the man who turned the tide of the Civil War, who accepted Lee's surrender at Appomattox, the man who had the stomach to see the war through to final victory. But... Read more

Nothing Down for the 2000s - Abridged

By: Robert G. Allen

Narrated by: John Dossett

Length: 4 hours 22 minutes

Abridged: Yes

With more than a million copies in print, Robert Allen's Nothing Down for the '90s has probably helped more people achieve success in real estate than any book in history. Countless numbers of his readers are now financially independent and many actual millionaires attribute their wealth to his techniques. Why has this blockbuster bestseller... Read more

Treason

By: Ann Coulter

Narrated by: Kathe Mazur

Length: 11 hours 17 minutes

Abridged: No

“Liberals’ loyalty to the United States is off-limits as a subject of political debate. Why is the relative patriotism of the two parties the only issue that is out of bounds for rational discussion?”

In a stunning follow-up to her number one bestseller Slander, leading conservative pundit Ann Coulter contends that liberals have been wrong on... Read more

My Life (Part B)

By: Bill Clinton

Narrated by: Michael Beck

Length: 25 hours 24 minutes

Abridged: No

President Bill Clinton’s My Life is the strikingly candid portrait of a global leader who decided early in life to devote his intellectual and political gifts, and his extraordinary capacity for hard work, to serving the public.

It shows us the progress of a remarkable American, who, through his own enormous energies and efforts, made the... Read more

My Life (Part A)

By: Bill Clinton

Narrated by: Michael Beck

Length: 24 hours 57 minutes

Abridged: No

President Bill Clinton’s My Life is the strikingly candid portrait of a global leader who decided early in life to devote his intellectual and political gifts, and his extraordinary capacity for hard work, to serving the public.

It shows us the progress of a remarkable American, who, through his own enormous energies and efforts, made the... Read more

We The People: Jefferson Lives

By: Thom Hartmann

Narrated by: Michael Toms

Length: 58 minutes

Abridged: No

When Thom Hartmann bought an old farmhouse in Vermont, he found a complete twenty-volume set of the complete writings of Thomas Jefferson, published in 1904, hidden away in the attic. The discovery led Hartmann to explore our founding fathers' true vision for America, and how that vision is and is not reflected in the government and society we... Read more

American Soldier - Abridged

By: Tommy R. Franks

Narrated by: Tommy R. Franks

Length: TBA

Abridged: Yes

To America, he was a hero.To his troops, he was a soldier.Now hear his story.The Commander in Chief of the United States Central Command from July 2000 through July 2003, General Tommy Franks made history by leading American and Coalition forces to victory in Afghanistan and Iraq -- the decisive battles that launched the war on terrorism.In this... Read more

Eleventh Month, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Hour

By: Joseph E. Persico

Narrated by: Jonathan Marosz

Length: 17 hours 2 minutes

Abridged: No

November 11, 1918. The final hours pulsate with tension as every man in the trenches hopes to escape the melancholy distinction of being the last to die in World War I. The Allied generals knew the fighting would end precisely at 11:00 A.M, yet in the final hours they flung men against an already beaten Germany. The result? Eleven thousand... Read more

Founding Fathers

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 13 minutes

Abridged: No

Ray Suarez speaks with three historians--Richard Brookhiser, Ron Chernow and Jan Lewis--about what the Founding Fathers might have thought of America today. Read more