History audiobooks

The Hollow Parties

By: Daniel Schlozman & Sam Rosenfeld

Narrated by: Tom Beyer

Length: 14 hours 33 minutes

Abridged: No

America's political parties are hollow shells of what they could be, locked in a polarized struggle for power and unrooted as civic organizations. The Hollow Parties takes listeners from the rise of mass party politics in the Jacksonian era through the years of Barack Obama and Donald Trump. Today's parties, overbearing and ineffectual, have... Read more

I Will Show You How It Was

By: Illia Ponomarenko

Narrated by: Sergey Nagorny

Length: 8 hours 56 minutes

Abridged: No

Bloomsbury presents I Will Show You How It Was by Illia Ponomarenko, read by Sergey Nagorny.

"A story of searing clarity from Ukraine’s frontlines of an unfathomably resilient, freedom loving people who refuse to bend to Putin’s assault on truth and human life."—Nicole Perlroth

“Destined to become a classic of modern war reporting.”—Luke Harding

A... Read more

Why the Nineties Matter

By: Terry H. Anderson

Narrated by: David Marantz

Length: 13 hours 37 minutes

Abridged: No

In Why the Nineties Matter, Terry Anderson provides a broad-ranging history of America in that decade. Not simply a chronological account, the book focuses on key trends that either began or gained steam then and which have had lasting effects until this day. Threading together politics, economic transformations, and sociocultural trends, he... Read more

Alcatraz

By: Ken Widner & Mike Lynch

Narrated by: Christopher Grove

Length: 10 hours 18 minutes

Abridged: No

When Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin boldly escaped from Alcatraz prison on June 11, 1962, it is widely believed that they succumbed to the waters of San Francisco Bay, though no trace of the men has ever been found, only their makeshift raft. In this reexamination of the escape and its aftermath, the Anglin brothers' nephew... Read more

The Birds That Audubon Missed

By: Kenn Kaufman

Narrated by: Mack Sanderson

Length: 12 hours 6 minutes

Abridged: No

Renowned naturalist Kenn Kaufman examines the scientific discoveries of John James Audubon and his artistic and ornithologist peers in this fascinating “blend of history, science, art, biography, and memoir” (Booklist, starred review) that is “a bird lovers’ delight” (Kirkus Reviews).

Raging ambition. Towering egos. Competition under a veneer of... Read more

Vows

By: Cheryl Mendelson

Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell

Length: 6 hours

Abridged: No

From the bestselling author of Home Comforts comes the “timely” (The New Yorker), “fascinating, and morally serious,” (The Wall Street Journal) story of our wedding vows—what they mean and why they still matter.

In the West, marrying is so thoroughly identified with ceremonial promises that “taking vows” is a synonym for getting married. So, it’s... Read more

Fighting the Night

By: Paul Hendrickson

Narrated by: Fred Sanders & Paul Hendrickson

Length: 9 hours 59 minutes

Abridged: No

From the acclaimed and best-selling author of Hemingway’s Boat, the profoundly moving story of his father’s wartime service as a night fighter pilot, and the prices he and his fellow soldiers paid for their acts of selfless, patriotic sacrifice

In the fall of 1944, Joe Paul Hendrickson, the author’s father, kissed his twenty-one-year-old wife and... Read more

The End of Everything

By: Victor Davis Hanson

Narrated by: Bob Souer

Length: 10 hours 19 minutes

Abridged: No

A New York Times–bestselling historian charts how and why societies from ancient Greece to the modern era chose to utterly destroy their foes, and warns that similar wars of obliteration are possible in our time

War can settle disputes, topple tyrants, and bend the trajectory of civilization—sometimes to the breaking point. From Troy to... Read more

Look Away

By: Jacob Kushner

Narrated by: Samantha Desz

Length: 11 hours 13 minutes

Abridged: No

From a journalist and foreign correspondent, the harrowing history of how an economic crisis and far-right extremists catalyzed a shocking resurgence of violence in 21st-century Germany.

Not long after the Berlin Wall fell, three teenagers became friends in the East German town of Jena. It was a time of excitement, but also of economic crisis:... Read more

The Last of His Kind

By: Andy McCullough

Narrated by: LJ Ganser

Length: 13 hours 19 minutes

Abridged: No

The definitive biography of Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, examining the genesis of his brilliance, his epic quest to win the World Series, and his singular place within the evolving baseball landscape—based on exclusive interviews with Kershaw and more than 200 others.​ More than any baseball player of his generation, Clayton Kershaw has embodied... Read more

Throne of Grace

By: Tom Clavin & Bob Drury

Narrated by: Johnny Heller

Length: 9 hours 59 minutes

Abridged: No

"As soon as listeners hear Johnny Heller's easy Western drawl, they'll know they're in for a story about the Old West."—AudioFile

The explosive true saga of the legendary adventurer Jedediah Smith and the Mountain Men who explored the American frontier, written by New York Times bestselling authors of Blood and Treasure Bob Drury and Tom... Read more

Massacre in the Clouds

By: Kim A. Wagner

Narrated by: Robert Petkoff

Length: 10 hours 27 minutes

Abridged: No

In this “forensic, unflinching, devastating work of historical recovery” (Sathnam Sanghera), Bud Dajo—an American atrocity bigger than Wounded Knee or My Lai, yet today largely forgotten—is revealed, thanks to the rediscovery of a single photograph.
 
In March 1906, American soldiers on the island of Jolo in the southern Philippines surrounded... Read more

Empireworld

By: Sathnam Sanghera

Narrated by: Homer Todiwala

Length: 11 hours 30 minutes

Abridged: No

Bestselling author and journalist Sathnam Sanghera explores the global legacy of the British Empire, and the ways it continues to influence economics, politics, and culture around the world.

2.6 billion people are inhabitants of former British colonies. The empire's influence upon the quarter of the planet it occupied, and its gravitational... Read more

The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt

By: Edward F. O'Keefe

Narrated by: Edward F. O'Keefe

Length: 14 hours 36 minutes

Abridged: No

Includes an exclusive audio postscript featuring archival recordings of the voices of the Roosevelts, including Theodore (one of the first US presidents to have his voice captured on audio), Eleanor, Edith, Corinne, and Alice.

An “elegant and illuminating” (Jon Meacham) family love story, revealing how an icon of rugged American masculinity was... Read more

LE POUVOIR DE L'ESPRIT

By: Émile T. Dumont

Narrated by: Émile T. Dumont

Length: 4 hours 42 minutes

Abridged: No

Laissez-vous inspirer par les récits extraordinaires de personnes qui ont vaincu l'adversité !Plongez dans un voyage captivant, où ces histoires courtes mais puissantes, pleines d'enseignements et de motivation, vous guideront vers la découverte des compétences qui vous rendent incassable, et vous aideront à découvrir la capacité à surmonter les... Read more

Kaiser Wilhelm II.: Kurzbiografie kompakt

By: 5 Minuten, 5 Minuten Biografien & Jürgen Fritsche

Narrated by: Jürgen Fritsche

Length: 5 minutes

Abridged: No

Kaiser Wilhelm II., dritter und letzter Kaiser des Deutschen Reichs von 1871: Leben und Werk in einer Kurzbiografie! Alles, was man wissen muss, kurz und knapp. Infotainment, Bildung und Unterhaltung vom Feinsten! Read more

Plagues and Peoples

By: William H. McNeill

Narrated by: Douglas James

Length: 10 hours 47 minutes

Abridged: No

The history of disease is the history of humankind: an interpretation of the world as seen through the extraordinary impact—political, demographic, ecological, and psychological—of disease on cultures.

“A book of the first importance, a truly revolutionary work.” —The New Yorker

From the conquest of Mexico by smallpox as much as by the... Read more

The History of the Prominent Algonquian Tribes

By: Charles River Editors

Narrated by: Jim Walsh

Length: 6 hours 1 minute

Abridged: No

Throughout the 19th century, American settlers pushing across the Western frontier came into contact with diverse American tribes, producing a series of conflicts ranging from the Great Plains to the Southwest, from the Trail of Tears to the Pacific Northwest. Indian leaders like Geronimo became feared and dreaded men in America, and Sitting... Read more

Lydia Maria Child

By: Lydia Moland

Narrated by: Lydia Moland

Length: 17 hours 38 minutes

Abridged: No

A compelling biography of Lydia Maria Child, one of nineteenth-century America’s most courageous abolitionists.By 1830, Lydia Maria Child had established herself as something almost unheard of in the American nineteenth century: a beloved and self-sufficient female author. Best known today for the immortal poem “Over the River and through the... Read more

Mysterious North America: Mysteries, Legends, and Unexplained Phenomena across the United States, Mexico, and Canada

By: Charles River Editors

Narrated by: Michelle Humphries

Length: 10 hours 43 minutes

Abridged: No

At a time in antiquity when most of Europe was covered with forests and wandering tribes, Mexico had already developed complex civilizations, beginning with the Olmecs and followed by the Maya, a civilization with advanced knowledge of medicine, engineering and astronomy. The Maya calculated the precession of the equinoxes and cycles of the... Read more

The Persian Wars and the Punic Wars: The History of the Ancient Greek and Roman Victories that Preserved Western Civilization

By: Charles River Editors

Narrated by: Victoria Woodson

Length: 5 hours 4 minutes

Abridged: No

The Ancient Greeks have long been considered the forefathers of modern Western civilization, but the Golden Age of Athens and the spread of Greek influence across much of the known world only occurred due to one of the most crucial battles of antiquity: the Battle of Marathon. In 491 B.C., following a successful invasion of Thrace over the... Read more

World War II in 1942: The History of the Year the Allies Turned the Tide Against the Axis

By: Charles River Editors

Narrated by: Bill Caufield

Length: 8 hours 44 minutes

Abridged: No

The United States began 1942 determined to avenge Pearl Harbor, but the Allies, now including the Soviet Union by necessity, did not agree on the war strategy. In 1941, both the Germans and British moved armies into North Africa, where Italy had already tried and failed to reach the Suez Canal. The British sought American help in North Africa,... Read more

The Five Civilized Tribes

By: Charles River Editors

Narrated by: Michelle Humphries

Length: 5 hours 50 minutes

Abridged: No

The Five Civilized Tribes are among the best known Native American groups in American history, and they were even celebrated by contemporary Americans for their abilities to adapt to white culture. But tragically, they are also well known tribes due to the trials and tribulations they suffered by being forcibly moved west along the Trail of... Read more

Fort Pillow and the Crater: The History of the Most Notorious Battles Where the Confederates Massacred Black Soldiers

By: Charles River Editors

Narrated by: Jim Walsh

Length: 2 hours 24 minutes

Abridged: No

As far as skirmishes go, Fort Pillow was a completely unremarkable fight. Before attacking, Forrest demanded the unconditional surrender of the Union garrison, a normal custom of his, and he warned the Union commanding officer that he would not be responsible for his soldiers’ actions if the warning went unheeded. What made Fort Pillow markedly... Read more