History audiobooks

The Once and Future Sex

By: Eleanor Janega

Narrated by: Samara Naeymi

Length: 7 hours 33 minutes

Abridged: No

A vibrant and illuminating exploration of medieval thinking on women's beauty, sexuality, and behavior.



What makes for the ideal woman? How should she look, love, and be? In this high-spirited history, medievalist Eleanor Janega turns to the Middle Ages, the era that bridged the ancient world and modern society, to unfurl its suppositions about... Read more

Waxing On

By: Ralph Macchio

Narrated by: Ralph Macchio

Length: 5 hours 13 minutes

Abridged: No

An instant New York Times Bestseller! 

Since The Karate Kid first crane-kicked its way into the pop culture stratosphere in June 1984, there hasn’t been a week Ralph Macchio hasn’t heard friendly shouts of “Wax on, wax off” or “Sweep the leg!” Now, with Macchio reprising his role as Daniel LaRusso in the #1 ranked Netflix show Cobra Kai, he is... Read more

Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws

By: Adrienne Mayor

Narrated by: Nancy Crane & Adrienne Mayor

Length: 11 hours 2 minutes

Abridged: No

Adrienne Mayor and Nancy Crane narrate this treasury of astonishing mythic marvelsAdrienne Mayor is renowned for exploring the borders of history, science, archaeology, anthropology, and popular knowledge to find historical realities and scientific insights—glimmering, long-buried nuggets of truth—embedded in myth, legends, and folklore. Combing... Read more

A Brief History of Equality

By: Thomas Piketty

Narrated by: Fred Sanders

Length: 8 hours 43 minutes

Abridged: No

The world’s leading economist of inequality presents a short but sweeping and surprisingly optimistic history of human progress toward equality despite crises, disasters, and backsliding, a perfect introduction to the ideas developed in his monumental earlier books.It is easy to be pessimistic about inequality. We know it has increased... Read more

Paradise Falls

By: Keith O'Brien

Narrated by: Eileen Stevens

Length: 13 hours 5 minutes

Abridged: No

From the New York Times best-selling journalist, the staggering, hidden story of an unlikely band of mothers who discovered the deadly secret of Love Canal, and exposed one of America’s most devastating environmental disasters.

Lois Gibbs, Luella Kenny, and other mothers loved their neighborhood on the east side of Niagara Falls. It had an... Read more

Saving Yellowstone

By: Megan Kate Nelson

Narrated by: Cynthia Farrell

Length: 8 hours 22 minutes

Abridged: No

From historian and critically acclaimed author of The Three-Cornered War comes the captivating story of how Yellowstone became the world’s first national park in the years after the Civil War, offering “a fresh, provocative study…departing from well-trodden narratives about conservation and public recreation” (Booklist, starred review).

Each year... Read more

Black Cowboys of the Old West

By: Tricia Martineau Wagner

Narrated by: Allyson Johnson

Length: 4 hours 35 minutes

Abridged: No

The word cowboy conjures up vivid images of rugged men on saddled horses—men lassoing cattle, riding bulls, or brandishing guns in a shoot-out. White men, as Hollywood remembers them. What is woefully missing from these scenes is their counterparts: the black cowboys who made up one-fourth of the wranglers and rodeo riders. This book tells their... Read more

Burning Boy

By: Paul Auster

Narrated by: Paul Auster

Length: 35 hours 48 minutes

Abridged: No

This program is read by the author.

Booker Prize-shortlisted and New York Times bestselling author Paul Auster's comprehensive, landmark biography of the great American writer Stephen Crane.

With Burning Boy, celebrated novelist Paul Auster tells the extraordinary story of Stephen Crane, best known as the author of The Red Badge of Courage, who... Read more

The 9.9 Percent

By: Matthew Stewart

Narrated by: Sean Patrick Hopkins

Length: 12 hours 6 minutes

Abridged: No

A “brilliant” (The Washington Post), “clear-eyed and incisive” (The New Republic) analysis of how the wealthiest group in American society is making life miserable for everyone—including themselves.

In 21st-century America, the top 0.1% of the wealth distribution have walked away with the big prizes even while the bottom 90% have lost ground.... Read more

Madhouse at the End of the Earth

By: Julian Sancton

Narrated by: Vikas Adam

Length: 13 hours 28 minutes

Abridged: No

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The “exquisitely researched and deeply engrossing” (The New York Times) true survival story of an early polar expedition that went terribly awry—with the ship frozen in ice and the crew trapped inside for the entire sunless, Antarctic winter

“The energy of the narrative never flags. . . . Sancton has produced a... Read more

Come Fly The World

By: Julia Cooke

Narrated by: Andi Arndt

Length: 7 hours 32 minutes

Abridged: No

Glamour, danger, liberation: in a Mad Men–era of commercial flight, Pan Am World Airways attracted the kind of young woman who wanted out, and wanted up

Required to have a college education, speak two languages, and possess the political savvy of a Foreign Service officer, a jet-age stewardess serving on iconic Pan Am between 1966 and 1975 also... Read more

Gay Bar

By: Jeremy Atherton Lin

Narrated by: Jeremy Atherton Lin

Length: 7 hours 52 minutes

Abridged: No

As gay bars continue to close at an alarming rate, a writer looks back to find out what’s being lost in this indispensable, intimate, and stylish celebration of history. In the era of Grindr and same-sex marriage, gay bars are closing down at an alarming rate. What, then, was the gay bar? Set between Los Angeles, San Francisco, and London, Gay... Read more

The Patriots

By: Winston Groom

Narrated by: George Guidall

Length: 10 hours 21 minutes

Abridged: No

In this masterful narrative, historian Winston Groom transports readers to the world of the American Revolution, where bold ideas, improbable events, and three extraordinary characters led to theremarkable birth of the country we know today. When the Revolutionary War ended in victory, there remained a stupendous problem: establishing a workable... Read more

His Truth Is Marching On

By: Jon Meacham

Narrated by: JD Jackson & Jon Meacham

Length: 10 hours

Abridged: No

An intimate and revealing portrait of civil rights icon and longtime U.S. congressman John Lewis, linking his life to the painful quest for justice in America from the 1950s to the present—from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Soul of America 
 
John Lewis, who at age twenty-five marched in Selma, Alabama, and was beaten on the Edmund... Read more

Sunny Days

By: David Kamp

Narrated by: David Sadzin

Length: 8 hours 45 minutes

Abridged: No

One of the “Best Books” of the year from The Smithsonian, The Washington Independent Review, and more!

From bestselling writer David Kamp, the “fun, fascinating, and surprisingly touching,” (People) behind-the-scenes story of the cultural heroes who created the beloved children’s TV programs Sesame Street, The Electric Company, Mister Rogers’... Read more

The Lincoln Conspiracy

By: Brad Meltzer & Josh Mensch

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 10 hours 54 minutes

Abridged: No

"Everyone knows that Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, but how many know that there was a previous, unsuccessful attempt on his life? Let narrator Scott Brick tell you all about it...Brick can make a nursery rhyme sound exciting, and he's on fire in this audiobook." -- AudioFile Magazine

The bestselling authors of The First Conspiracy, which... Read more

On the Horizon

By: Lois Lowry

Narrated by: Lois Lowry

Length: 38 minutes

Abridged: No

From two-time Newbery medalist and living legend Lois Lowry comes a moving account of the lives lost in two of WWII’s most infamous events: Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima

Lois Lowry looks back at history through a personal lens as she draws from her own memories as a child in Hawaii and Japan, as well as from historical research, in this stunning... Read more

Labyrinth of Ice

By: Buddy Levy

Narrated by: Will Damron

Length: 13 hours 13 minutes

Abridged: No

"Listen to this if you want to hear a narrator at the top of his game recount a fascinating--and at times disturbing--true story of adventure, disaster, discovery, cannibalism, and more. Will Damron makes Levy's fascinating account of the Greely (Polar) Expedition come to life...This is a harrowing adventure story and a great listen." —... Read more

The Ghosts of Eden Park

By: Karen Abbott

Narrated by: Rob Shapiro & Cassandra Campbell

Length: 11 hours 11 minutes

Abridged: No

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The epic true crime story of the most successful bootlegger in American history and the murder that shocked the nation, from the New York Times bestselling author of Sin in the Second City and Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy

“Gatsby-era noir at its best.”—Erik Larson

An ID Book Club Selection • NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST... Read more

Ghosts of Gold Mountain

By: Gordon H. Chang

Narrated by: David Shih

Length: 9 hours 51 minutes

Abridged: No

A groundbreaking, breathtaking history of the Chinese workers who built the Transcontinental Railroad, helping to forge modern America only to disappear into the shadows of history until now.



From across the sea, they came by the thousands, escaping war and poverty in southern China to seek their fortunes in America. Converging on the enormous... Read more

The Color of Compromise

By: Jemar Tisby

Narrated by: Jemar Tisby

Length: 8 hours 59 minutes

Abridged: No

An acclaimed, timely narrative of how people of faith have historically--up to the present day--worked against racial justice. And a call for urgent action by all Christians today in response. The Color of Compromise is both enlightening and compelling, telling a history we either ignore or just don't know. Equal parts painful and inspirational,... Read more

Heirs of the Founders

By: H. W. Brands

Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin

Length: 14 hours 54 minutes

Abridged: No

From New York Times bestselling historian H. W. Brands comes the riveting story of how, in nineteenth-century America, a new set of political giants battled to complete the unfinished work of the Founding Fathers and decide the future of our democracy

In the early 1800s, three young men strode onto the national stage, elected to Congress at a... Read more

The Ravenmaster

By: Christopher Skaife

Narrated by: Christopher Skaife

Length: 6 hours 38 minutes

Abridged: No

"[Christopher Skaife's] natural storyteller's charm results in a performance that is conversational, funny, and self-deprecating...Ravenmaster is a joyful listening experience." — AudioFile Magazine

This program is read by the author.

The first behind-the-scenes account of life with the legendary ravens at the world’s eeriest monument.

The ravens... Read more

How to Invent Everything

By: Ryan North

Narrated by: Ryan North

Length: 12 hours 55 minutes

Abridged: No

An NPR Best Book of 2018

"How to Invent Everything is such a cool book. It's essential reading for anyone who needs to duplicate an industrial civilization quickly." --Randall Munroe, xkcd creator and New York Times-bestselling author of What If?

The only book you need if you're going back in time

What would you do if a time machine hurled you... Read more