Social Science audiobooks

A Mind Spread out on the Ground

By: Alicia Elliott

Narrated by: Kyla Garcia

Length: 7 hours 16 minutes

Abridged: No

The Mohawk phrase for depression can be roughly translated as ""a mind spread out on the ground."" In this urgent and visceral work, Alicia Elliott explores how apt a description that is for the ongoing effects of the personal, intergenerational, and colonial traumas she and so many Native people have experienced. Elliott's deeply personal... Read more

The Mushroom at the End of the World

By: Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing

Narrated by: Susan Ericksen

Length: 11 hours 6 minutes

Abridged: No

Matsutake is the most valuable mushroom in the world—and a weed that grows in human-disturbed forests across the northern hemisphere. Through its ability to nurture trees, matsutake helps forests to grow in daunting places. It is also an edible delicacy in Japan, where it sometimes commands astronomical prices. In all its contradictions,... Read more

Stolen Focus

By: Johann Hari

Narrated by: Johann Hari

Length: 10 hours 21 minutes

Abridged: No

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Our ability to pay attention is collapsing. From the author of Chasing the Scream and Lost Connections comes a groundbreaking examination of why this is happening—and how to get our attention back.

“The book the world needs in order to win the war on distraction.”—Adam Grant, author of Think Again

“Read this book to... Read more

Abortion

By: Jessica Valenti

Narrated by: Jessica Valenti

Length: 5 hours 12 minutes

Abridged: No

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In a stirring and succinct examination of post-Roe America, “one of the most successful and visible feminists of her generation” (Washington Post) takes on what’s become the country’s most resonant political issue.

A KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

In her most urgent book yet, New York Times bestselling author... Read more

Unlearning Shame

By: Devon Price, PhD

Narrated by: Devon Price, PhD

Length: 9 hours 28 minutes

Abridged: No

Learn to identify—and combat—Systemic Shame, the feeling of self-hatred and disempowerment that comes from living in a society that blames individuals for systemic problems, with this invaluable resource from the social psychologist and author of Unmasking Autism.

Systemic Shame is the socially engineered self-loathing that says we are solely to... Read more

The Righteous Mind

By: Jonathan Haidt

Narrated by: Jonathan Haidt

Length: 11 hours

Abridged: No

Why can’t our political leaders work together as threats loom and problems mount? Why do people so readily assume the worst about the motives of their fellow citizens? In The Righteous Mind, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt explores the origins of our divisions and points the way forward to mutual understanding.

His starting point is moral... Read more

The T in LGBT

By: Jamie Raines

Narrated by: Jamie Raines & Shaaba Lotun

Length: 5 hours 14 minutes

Abridged: No

Brought to you by Penguin.

Hey, I'm Jamie, a 29-year-old trans guy from the UK. I've been transitioning for 12 years now after realising I was trans (by accident!) at sixteen years old. I knew I was a boy since the age of four, but realised whilst growing up that I was different. It was only in my teens that I found the words to express who I was... Read more

Mating in Captivity

By: Esther Perel

Narrated by: Esther Perel

Length: 8 hours 11 minutes

Abridged: No

A New York City therapist examines the paradoxical relationship between domesticity and sexual desire and explains what it takes to bring lust home.One of the world’s most respected voices on erotic intelligence, Esther Perel offers a bold, provocative new take on intimacy and sex. Mating in Captivity invites us to explore the paradoxical union... Read more

The Chaos Machine

By: Max Fisher

Narrated by: Peter Ganim

Length: 15 hours 55 minutes

Abridged: No

From a New York Times investigative reporter, this “authoritative and devastating account of the impacts of social media” (New York Times Book Review)  tracks the high-stakes inside story of how Big Tech’s breakneck race to drive engagement—and profits—at all costs fractured the world, and is “an essential book for our times” (Ezra Klein). We... Read more

The Trial of Lizzie Borden

By: Cara Robertson

Narrated by: Amanda Carlin

Length: 11 hours 46 minutes

Abridged: No

WINNER OF THE NEW ENGLAND SOCIETY BOOK AWARD

In Cara Robertson’s “enthralling new book,” The Trial of Lizzie Borden, “the reader is to serve as judge and jury” (The New York Times). Based on twenty years of research and recently unearthed evidence, this true crime and legal history is the “definitive account to date of one of America’s most... Read more

All We Can Save

By: Ayana Elizabeth Johnson & Katharine K. Wilkinson

Narrated by: Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, Katharine K. Wilkinson...

Length: 15 hours 5 minutes

Abridged: No

Provocative and illuminating essays from women at the forefront of the climate movement who are harnessing truth, courage, and solutions to lead humanity forward.
 
There is a renaissance blooming in the climate movement: leadership that is more characteristically feminine and more faithfully feminist, rooted in compassion, connection,... Read more

Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century

By: Alice Wong

Narrated by: Alejandra Ospina & Alice Wong

Length: 8 hours 1 minute

Abridged: No

One in five people in the United States lives with a disability. Some disabilities are visible, others less apparent—but all are underrepresented in media and popular culture. Now, just in time for the thirtieth anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, activist Alice Wong brings together this urgent, galvanizing collection of... Read more

The Country of the Blind

By: Andrew Leland

Narrated by: Andrew Leland

Length: 7 hours 47 minutes

Abridged: No

FINALIST FOR THE PULITZER PRIZE 

Named one of the best books of the year by: THE NEW YORKER • THE WASHINGTON POST • THE ATLANTIC • NPR • PUBLISHERS WEEKLY • LITHUB

"Fascinating...The great strength of this memoir is its voracious, humble curiosity." - The Atlantic, The 10 Best Books of the Year

A witty, winning, and revelatory personal narrative of... Read more

Feel It All

By: Casey Tanner

Narrated by: Casey Tanner

Length: 6 hours 19 minutes

Abridged: No

A groundbreaking guide to sexuality that dispels the stale cultural attitudes about sex that leave too many feeling inadequate, and offers an expansive, attachment-based framework to free us and develop bolder, more satisfying relationships with our sexual selves.When it comes to sex, most people feel insecure. But it’s not because we’re... Read more

This Will Be My Undoing

By: Morgan Jerkins

Narrated by: Morgan Jerkins

Length: 7 hours 5 minutes

Abridged: No

From one of the fiercest critics writing today, Morgan Jerkins’ highly-anticipated collection of linked essays interweaves her incisive commentary on pop culture, feminism, black history, misogyny, and racism with her own experiences to confront the very real challenges of being a black woman today—perfect for fans of Roxane Gay’s Bad Feminist,... Read more

My Grandmother's Hands

By: Resmaa Menakem, MSW, LICSW & SEP

Narrated by: Cary Hite

Length: 10 hours 18 minutes

Abridged: No

A NATIONAL BESTSELLER

"My Grandmother's Hands will change the direction of the movement for racial justice."— Robin DiAngelo, New York Times bestselling author of White Fragility

In this groundbreaking book, therapist Resmaa Menakem examines the damage caused by racism in America from the perspective of trauma and body-centered psychology.

The body... Read more

Briefly Perfectly Human

By: Alua Arthur

Narrated by: Alua Arthur

Length: 9 hours 51 minutes

Abridged: No

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERA deeply transformative memoir that reframes how we think about death and how it can help us lead better, more fulfilling and authentic lives, from America’s most visible death doula.""A truly unique, inspiring perspective on the time we have, what we do with it, and how we let go of this world.... There is no one I'd... Read more

All the Single Ladies

By: Rebecca Traister

Narrated by: Candace Thaxton

Length: 11 hours 39 minutes

Abridged: No

* NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOKS OF 2016 SELECTION * BEST BOOKS OF 2016 SELECTION BY THE BOSTON GLOBE * ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY * NPR * CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY *

The New York Times bestselling investigation into the sexual, economic, and emotional lives of women is “an informative and thought-provoking book for anyone—not just the single ladies—who... Read more

The Ultimate Hidden Truth of the World . . .

By: David Graeber

Narrated by: Jacques Servin & Savitri D

Length: 13 hours 54 minutes

Abridged: No

Drawn from more than two decades of pathbreaking writing, the iconic and bestselling David Graeber's most important essays and interviews.

"The ultimate hidden truth of the world is that it is something that we make, and could just as easily make differently," wrote David Graeber. A renowned anthropologist, activist, and author of such classic... Read more

What's Next

By: Melissa Fitzgerald & Mary McCormack

Narrated by: Melissa Fitzgerald & Mary McCormack

Length: 16 hours 11 minutes

Abridged: No

A behind-the-scenes look into the creation and legacy of The West Wing as told by cast members Melissa Fitzgerald and Mary McCormack, with compelling insights from cast and crew exploring what made the show what it was and how its impassioned commitment to service has made the series and relationships behind it endure.

Step back inside the... Read more

Becoming Kin

By: Patty Krawec

Narrated by: Patty Krawec

Length: 5 hours 24 minutes

Abridged: No

The invented history of the Western world is crumbling fast, Anishinaabe writer Patty Krawec says, but we can still honor the bonds between us. Settlers dominated and divided, but Indigenous peoples won't just send them all "home."



Weaving her own story with the story of her ancestors and with the broader themes of creation, replacement, and... Read more

We Have Never Been Woke

By: Musa al-Gharbi

Narrated by: Musa al-Gharbi

Length: 14 hours 34 minutes

Abridged: No

How a new “woke” elite uses the language of social justice to gain more power and status—without helping the marginalized and disadvantagedSociety has never been more egalitarian—in theory. Prejudice is taboo, and diversity is strongly valued. At the same time, social and economic inequality have exploded. In We Have Never Been Woke, Musa... Read more

Manufacturing Consent

By: Noam Chomsky & Edward S. Herman

Narrated by: John Pruden

Length: 15 hours 24 minutes

Abridged: No

In this pathbreaking work, now with a new introduction, Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky show that, contrary to the usual image of the news media as cantankerous, obstinate, and ubiquitous in their search for truth and defense of justice, in their actual practice they defend the economic, social, and political agendas of the privileged groups... Read more

Hillbilly Elegy

By: J. D. Vance

Narrated by: J. D. Vance

Length: 6 hours 49 minutes

Abridged: No

Hillbilly Elegy recounts J.D. Vance's powerful origin story...From a former marine and Yale Law School graduate now serving as a U.S. Senator from Ohio and the Republican Vice Presidential candidate for the 2024 election, an incisive account of growing up in a poor Rust Belt town that offers a broader, probing look at the struggles of America's... Read more