Social Science bestsellers

The Message

By: Ta-Nehisi Coates
Narrated by: Ta-Nehisi Coates
Length: 5 hours 20 minutes

“An unflinching and deeply personal musing on what nonfiction writing (particularly long-form journalism) can accomplish. What frames do we take with us as we travel in search of truth? How is the past reframed in the service of myth-making? How can it be understood in a fuller way? This book is worth reading for the Israel/Palestine chapter... Read more

Revenge of the Tipping Point

Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering

By: Malcolm Gladwell
Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
Length: 8 hours 25 minutes

A lot has changed in 25 years. A quarter-century after the publication of his groundbreaking first book, Malcolm Gladwell returns with a brand-new volume that reframes the lessons of The Tipping Point in a startling and revealing light — this time in an immersive audio format that transports you, the listener, directly inside of each riveting... Read more

The Anthropocene Reviewed

Essays on a Human-Centered Planet

By: John Green
Narrated by: John Green
Length: 10 hours 42 minutes

“A continuation of John Green's podcast of the same name, this audiobook is engaging, intriguing and hard to put down. Read by the author, this book resonated with me on so many levels and left me with food for thought. 5 stars. Read more

Caste (Oprah's Book Club)

The Origins of Our Discontents

By: Isabel Wilkerson
Narrated by: Robin Miles
Length: 15 hours 10 minutes

“This is an important and beautifully written book examining the links and common elements between the caste systems of America, India, and Nazi Germany. Highly recommended. Read more

How to Be an Antiracist

By: Ibram X. Kendi
Narrated by: Ibram X. Kendi
Length: 10 hours 29 minutes

“Among the multi-faceted array of antiracist literature newly published in the last two years, Ibram X. Kendi’s How To Be an Antiracist stands alone as a definitive source of history and socio-political critique, while offering a new paradigm of thought aimed at paving the way for correcting centuries of social injustice. Hearing this visionary... Read more

Nexus

A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI

By: Yuval Noah Harari
Narrated by: Vidish Athavale
Length: 17 hours 27 minutes

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of Sapiens comes the groundbreaking story of how information networks have made, and unmade, our world.

“Striking original . . . A historian whose arguments operate on the scale of millennia has managed to capture the zeitgeist perfectly.”—The Economist

“This deeply important... Read more

Talking to Strangers

What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know

By: Malcolm Gladwell
Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
Length: 8 hours 57 minutes

“Talking To Strangers is perfect on audio. It reads (listens) like a podcast including audio clips from interviews, etc. Read more

The Warmth of Other Suns

The Epic Story of America's Great Migration

By: Isabel Wilkerson
Narrated by: Robin Miles
Length: 22 hours 40 minutes

“I'm sorry I hadn't gotten to this sooner. Wilkerson pulls together so much of what I already knew about the US but not necessarily why... a great audiobook, too. Read more

The Dawn of Everything

A New History of Humanity

By: David Graeber & David Wengrow
Narrated by: Mark Williams
Length: 24 hours 13 minutes

“This book packs the foundations of modern political philosophy with dynamite and lights the fuse! Through recent advances in archaeology and anthropology, Davids Graeber and Wengrow show us a dizzying range of sophisticated models of human social organization among indigenous peoples, around the world, over tens of thousands of years,... Read more

Doppelganger

A Trip into the Mirror World

By: Naomi Klein
Narrated by: Naomi Klein
Length: 14 hours 47 minutes

“What an evocative book, especially as read by the author! Come for the critical cultural analysis and stay for Klein's thoughtful, generous, hopeful conclusions. Read more

The Age of Magical Overthinking

Notes on Modern Irrationality

By: Amanda Montell
Narrated by: Amanda Montell
Length: 6 hours 5 minutes

“Exploring our current culture of overthinking and the language surrounding it, these essays are fascinating and enlightening. Peppered with anecdotes and self-evaluation, this is the book Montell was meant to write. Read more

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You

A Remix of the National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning

By: Jason Reynolds & Ibram X. Kendi
Narrated by: Jason Reynolds
Length: 4 hours 11 minutes

“Just when you think you know everything about the history of black people in America, along comes this book. It completely shook up what I thought I knew about the struggle for freedom and equality. I discovered some of my "heroes" didn't always fight the good fight and learned a few new names of those who did what they could for the cause. I... Read more

Burnout

The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle

By: Emily Nagoski, PhD & Amelia Nagoski, DMA
Narrated by: Emily Nagoski, PhD & Amelia Nagoski, DMA
Length: 7 hours 1 minute

“Working in an industry I’m super passionate about makes it REALLY hard to set healthy boundaries. When I’m not promoting books, I’m reading them. When I’m not on a Zoom call with an author, I’m stalking their #bookstagram profiles online. Books all day every day! The Nagoski siblings are two of my favorite nonfiction authors. They know how to... Read more

How the Word Is Passed

A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America

By: Clint Smith
Narrated by: Clint Smith
Length: 10 hours 6 minutes

“Smith has crafted a resource, narrative and detailed explanation into how we teach the legacy of slavery. He recounts visits from everywhere from NYC to the Whitney Plantation, integrating stories of people and visitors today. This book is lays a beautiful written foundation for interrogating the history we've been taught. Particularly... Read more

Cultish

The Language of Fanaticism

By: Amanda Montell
Narrated by: Ann Marie Gideon
Length: 8 hours 21 minutes

“The linguistics of cults and 'culty' groups. Such a fascinating listen; the weaponization of language is an intriguing and timely discussion. Read more

What If We Get It Right?

Visions of Climate Futures

By: Ayana Elizabeth Johnson
Narrated by: Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, Ayisha Siddiqa, Jacqueline Woodson & Steve Connell
Length: 21 hours 54 minutes

Our climate future is not yet written. What if we act as if we love the future?

Sometimes the bravest thing we can do while facing an existential crisis is imagine life on the other side. This provocative and joyous book maps an inspiring landscape of possible climate futures.

Through clear-eyed essays and vibrant conversations, infused with data... Read more

Come As You Are: Revised and Updated

The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life

By: Emily Nagoski
Narrated by: Emily Nagoski
Length: 11 hours 29 minutes

A revised and updated edition of Emily Nagoski’s game-changing New York Times bestseller Come As You Are, featuring new information and research on mindfulness, desire, and pleasure that will radically transform your sex life.

For much of the 20th and 21st centuries, women’s sexuality was an uncharted territory in science, studied far less... Read more

White Fragility

Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism

By: Dr. Robin DiAngelo
Narrated by: Amy Landon
Length: 6 hours 20 minutes

The New York Times best-selling book exploring the counterproductive reactions white people have when their assumptions about race are challenged, and how these reactions maintain racial inequality.

In this “vital, necessary, and beautiful book” (Michael Eric Dyson), antiracist educator Robin DiAngelo deftly illuminates the phenomenon of white... Read more

Between the World and Me

By: Ta-Nehisi Coates
Narrated by: Ta-Nehisi Coates
Length: 3 hours 35 minutes

“In this short and powerful book, Coates writes to his 15-year old son about his experience of being a black man in America. Cannot recommend enough! Read more

Sitting Pretty

The View from My Ordinary, Resilient, Disabled Body

By: Rebekah Taussig
Narrated by: Rebekah Taussig
Length: 7 hours 33 minutes

A memoir-in-essays from disability advocate and creator of the Instagram account @sitting_pretty Rebekah Taussig, processing a lifetime of memories to paint a beautiful, nuanced portrait of a body that looks and moves differently than most.Growing up as a paralyzed girl during the 90s and early 2000s, Rebekah Taussig only saw disability depicted... Read more

There's Always This Year

On Basketball and Ascension

By: Hanif Abdurraqib
Narrated by: Hanif Abdurraqib
Length: 8 hours 40 minutes

“You need not be a basketball aficionado to have your heart profoundly captured by this incredible work of nonfiction. Part cultural commentary and part memoir, Abdurraqib's writing is poetic and distinct, making you feel like you are watching a cherished friend perform spoken word. Structured like the four quarters of a basketball game,... Read more

Poverty, by America

By: Matthew Desmond
Narrated by: Dion Graham
Length: 5 hours 40 minutes

“Yeah, yeah we all know how income inequality has skyrocketed in recent decades, but do you want to get fired up about it? Matthew Desmond targets the usual suspects in this damning manifesto, but he also asks complicated, nuanced questions about how all of us are complicit in the status quo. An important read for everyone interested in creating... Read more

Kindred

By: Octavia E. Butler
Narrated by: Kim Staunton
Length: 10 hours 54 minutes

“A beautiful story of the complex heritage of Dana, a Black woman who mysteriously gets transported from the 1970s to the early 1800 antebellum south where she is faced with saving the white son of a plantation owner from drowning. Throughout, Dana journeys back and forth from present to past, and each of her stays in the past grows longer and... Read more

Solito

A Memoir

By: Javier Zamora
Narrated by: Javier Zamora
Length: 17 hours 8 minutes

“Solito follows the journey of nine-year-old Javier Zamora, a boy from El Salvador, as he attempts to cross into the United States on his own. Though Zamora is supported and loved by his family in El Salvador, they are unable to make the voyage with him, meaning that he must face the challenges and unfamiliar terrain with a group of strangers... Read more

The Gifts of Imperfection: 10th Anniversary Edition

Features a new foreword

By: Brené Brown
Narrated by: Brené Brown
Length: 4 hours 31 minutes

“Brown's book concentrates on self-compassion and cultivating: resilient spirit, creativity, calm, & stillness, just to name a few. Read more

Defectors

The Rise of the Latino Far Right and What It Means for America

By: Paola Ramos
Narrated by: Victoria Villarreal
Length: 9 hours 12 minutes

An award-winning journalist's exploration of how race, identity and political trauma have influenced the rise in far-right sentiment among Latinos, and how this group can shape American politics

“A deeply reported, surprisingly personal exploration of a phenomenon that is little understood in our politics: the affiliation of Latino voters with... Read more

Survival Is a Promise

The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde

By: Alexis Pauline Gumbs
Narrated by: Alexis Pauline Gumbs
Length: 17 hours 41 minutes

“Learning more about Audrey Lorde by way of Alexis Pauline Gumbs is possibly the best combo of both. Read more

Cobalt Red

How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives

By: Siddharth Kara
Narrated by: Peter Ganim
Length: 11 hours 20 minutes

“We cannot close our eyes to what is happening in our world even in 2023. Exposés like this force us to see and understand how our choices can affect people on the other side of the earth from us. Changes need to be made starting at the major corporations and then trickle down to the individual. Once we know what is happening we cannot un-know it. Read more

Unmasking Autism

Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity

By: Devon Price, PhD
Narrated by: Devon Price, PhD
Length: 9 hours 51 minutes

A deep dive into the spectrum of Autistic experience and the phenomenon of masked Autism, giving individuals the tools to safely uncover their true selves while broadening society’s narrow understanding of neurodiversity

“A remarkable work that will stand at the forefront of the neurodiversity movement.”—Barry M. Prizant, PhD, CCC-SLP, author of... Read more

The 1619 Project

A New Origin Story

By: Caitlin Roper, Ilena Silverman & Jake Silverstein
Narrated by: Nikole Hannah-Jones & Full Cast
Length: 18 hours 56 minutes

“This new landmark work of U.S. history, criticism, and art is forged of 18 essays that consider the relevance of slavery to contemporary America through the prism of such subjects as capitalism, music, and healthcare and poems and fiction that focus on key moments in the oppression, resistance, and liberation of Black people in America. Riveting... Read more

The Devil in the White City

Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America

By: Erik Larson
Narrated by: Scott Brick
Length: 14 hours 58 minutes

“The Devil in the White City is one of the most fascinating books I've ever read. Set amidst the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, Erik Larson's historical narrative interweaves the stories of two men who would come to define it, for better and for worse. One is Daniel Burnham, chief architect of the Fair, who threw his entire being into creating a... Read more

Hood Feminism

Notes from the Women that a Movement Forgot

By: Mikki Kendall
Narrated by: Mikki Kendall
Length: 6 hours 57 minutes

“Hood Feminism touches on many subjects that mainstream feminists may not think of as feminist issues. Issues like food and housing insecurity, parenting, and disability rights, among others. Mikki Kendall calls out mainstream feminism as existing only for the advancement of white women, to the detriment of women of color. Some of my biggest... Read more

Cue the Sun!

The Invention of Reality TV

By: Emily Nussbaum
Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
Length: 15 hours 11 minutes

“Are you low-key fascinated by reality tv? This is the book for you! It follows unscripted television from its game-show-type origins all the way up to today. It's a big part of our culture so I think it's great someone is studying it with such detail. Read more

How to Know a Person

The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen

By: David Brooks
Narrated by: David Brooks
Length: 7 hours 27 minutes

“Brooks went from zero to hero in my mind. His deep research and obvious self-reflection glows in this book. I not only have new terminology to grapple with people who don't listen, but also used his story telling inquiry for richer conversations with my family. Read more

Know My Name

A Memoir

By: Chanel Miller
Narrated by: Chanel Miller
Length: 15 hours 24 minutes

“Wow! Everybody should read this book. A stunning memoir about a devastating subject. It was eye opening, gut wrenching, powerful and brave. Chanel Miller writes with such honesty and vulnerability–I immediately felt that I knew her and she had me walking in her shoes throughout the entire book. I’m still reeling from the roller coaster of... Read more

Emergent Strategy

Emergent Strategy: Book #0

By: adrienne maree brown
Narrated by: adrienne maree brown
Length: 8 hours 24 minutes

In the tradition of Octavia Butler, here is radical self-help, society-help, and planet-help to shape the futures we want. Change is constant. The world, our bodies, and our minds are in a constant state of flux. They are a stream of ever-mutating, emergent patterns. Rather than steel ourselves against such change, Emergent Strategy teaches us... Read more

In Defense of Witches

The Legacy of the Witch Hunts and Why Women Are Still on Trial

By: Mona Chollet
Narrated by: Alix Dunmore
Length: 7 hours 47 minutes

Mona Chollet's In Defense of Witches is a “brilliant, well-documented” celebration (Le Monde) by an acclaimed French feminist of the witch as a symbol of female rebellion and independence in the face of misogyny and persecution.

Centuries after the infamous witch hunts that swept through Europe and America, witches continue to hold a unique... Read more

How to Say Babylon

A Memoir

By: Safiya Sinclair
Narrated by: Safiya Sinclair
Length: 16 hours 46 minutes

“One of the most resonant memoirs I’ve ever heard. Sinclair shares her journey of generational trauma, Rastafari tenets, poverty, Jamaica, the U.S., and the saving power of poetry (which anyone who loves poetry will completely understand). So emotionally gripping, I couldn’t help but root for her. Read more

Off with Her Head

Three Thousand Years of Demonizing Women in Power

By: Eleanor Herman
Narrated by: Erin Bennett
Length: 10 hours 57 minutes

New York Times bestseller Eleanor Herman, author of Sex with Kings and Sex with Presidents, returns with another work of popular history, exploring the history of misogyny against women with power from Cleopatra to Kamala Harris.
Imagine Donald Trump as a woman, called Donna. Would Donna Trump have been viewed as blunt, honest, and refreshing?... Read more

Stolen Focus

Why You Can't Pay Attention--and How to Think Deeply Again

By: Johann Hari
Narrated by: Johann Hari
Length: 10 hours 21 minutes

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

Loving Corrections

Emergent Strategy Series: Book #12

By: adrienne maree brown
Narrated by: adrienne maree brown
Length: 6 hours 41 minutes

New York Times–bestselling author adrienne maree brown knows we need each other more than ever and offers a practice for holding collective power, righting wrongs, and generating true belonging. Ethical, pondering, and wondrous, adrienne maree brown’s Loving Corrections is a collection of love-based adjustments and reframes to grow our movements... Read more

As You Wish

Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride

By: Cary Elwes & Joe Layden
Narrated by: Cary Elwes, Carol Kane, Norman Lear, Rob Reiner, Chris Sarandon, Andy Scheinman, Wallace Shawn & Robin Wright
Length: 7 hours 1 minute

“An affectionate and engaging love letter to the movie-adaptation of The Princess Bride, and everyone who worked on the project. If you are a huge fan of the fairytale cult classic, this memoir is a must-read that will leave you feeling nostalgic, and ready to watch the film again with new eyes. With guest commentary from the cast and crew, this... Read more

Be a Revolution

How Everyday People Are Fighting Oppression and Changing the World—and How You Can, Too

By: Ijeoma Oluo
Narrated by: Ijeoma Oluo
Length: 14 hours 35 minutes

NATIONAL BESTSELLERFrom the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of So You Want to Talk About Race and Mediocre, an eye-opening and galvanizing look at the current state of anti-racist activism across America.In the #1 New York Times bestseller So You Want To Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo offered a vital guide for how to talk about important... Read more

Ace

What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex

By: Angela Chen
Narrated by: Natalie Naudus
Length: 7 hours 43 minutes

“This book is an eye-opening collection of personal testimonies, research, and history about asexuality, and to a lesser extent, aromanticism. Whether you are new to learning about asexuality or are asexual yourself, by the end of the book you will have a richer and multifaceted understanding of ace identity and experience. Read more

Loud

Accept Nothing Less Than the Life You Deserve

By: Drew Afualo
Narrated by: Drew Afualo
Length: 6 hours 33 minutes

This program is read by the author.

The empowering, inspiring, patriarchy-smashing first book by podcast star Drew Afualo.

Drew Afualo is best known as the internet’s “Crusader for Women” and is at the head of a new generation of entertainment’s rising stars. Loud is part manual, part manifesto, and part memoir. It makes it clear that behind her... Read more

Me and White Supremacy

Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor

By: Layla F. Saad
Narrated by: Layla F. Saad
Length: 5 hours 19 minutes

“Want to learn how to be a good ancestor? Need to address your privilege and feel uncomfortable about talking about racism? You need to read and work through Me and White Supremacy. Read more

It Came from the Closet

Queer Reflections on Horror

By: Joe Vallese & various authors
Narrated by: various narrators, Graham Halstead, Aven Shore, Aida Reluzco, Mark Sanderlin, Tori Barron, Krystal Hammond, Daniel Henning, Ron Butler, Hope Newhouse, Lindsey Dorcus, André Santana, Joel Froomkin, Mike Cooper, Em Grosland & Vikas Adam
Length: 10 hours 58 minutes

Through the lens of horror—from Halloween to Hereditary—queer and trans writers consider the films that deepened, amplified, and illuminated their own experiences.Horror movies hold a complicated space in the hearts of the queer community: historically misogynist, and often homo- and transphobic, the genre has also been inadvertently feminist... Read more

From the Ashes

Grief and Revolution in a World on Fire

By: Sarah Jaffe
Narrated by: Sarah Jaffe
Length: 11 hours 4 minutes

From a social critic and journalist, a poignant book that encourages publicly grieving what we've lost in order to move towards a hopeful future.

Our era is one of significant and substantial loss, of unraveling hopes and expectations, of dreams curtailed, of aspirations desiccated. At the same time, we are denied the means of mourning the... Read more

Abortion

Our Bodies, Their Lies, and the Truths We Use to Win

By: Jessica Valenti
Narrated by: Jessica Valenti
Length: 5 hours 12 minutes

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.
 
In her most urgent book yet, New York Times bestselling author Jessica Valenti shines a light on the conservative assault on women’s... Read more

By the Fire We Carry

The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land

By: Rebecca Nagle
Narrated by: Rebecca Nagle
Length: 8 hours 14 minutes

""Impeccably researched. . . . A fascinating book and an important one.” — Washington Post“[A] brilliant, kaleidoscopic debut. . . . Nagle’s narrative is lucid and moving. . . . A showstopper.” — Publishers Weekly, starred reviewMost Anticipated Book of the Fall: Washington Post, People, Los Angeles Times, Parade, Bustle, Book RiotA powerful... Read more