History audiobooks

Henry V

By: Dan Jones

Narrated by: Dan Jones

Length: 14 hours 41 minutes

Abridged: No

"Ambitious... With meticulous research and in lively style, Jones presents us with the man beyond the Shakespeare character."—The New York Times

“The best biography yet of England’s greatest king."—Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of The Romanovs and Jerusalem

The New York Times bestselling author returns with a biography examining the dramatic life... Read more

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa

By: Walter Rodney

Narrated by: Mirron Willis

Length: 13 hours 21 minutes

Abridged: No

The classic work of political, economic, and historical analysis, powerfully introduced by Angela Davis.



In his short life, the Guyanese intellectual Walter Rodney emerged as one of the leading thinkers and activists of the anticolonial revolution, leading movements in North America, South America, the African continent, and the Caribbean. In... Read more

Fight Like Hell

By: Kim Kelly

Narrated by: Em Grosland

Length: 12 hours 11 minutes

Abridged: No

This revelatory and inclusive book “unearths the stories of the people—farm laborers, domestic workers, factory employees—behind some of the labor movement’s biggest successes” (The New York Times) from independent journalist and Teen Vogue labor columnist Kim Kelly.

Freed Black women organizing for protection in the Reconstruction-era South.... Read more

In the Garden of Beasts

By: Erik Larson

Narrated by: Stephen Hoye

Length: 12 hours 51 minutes

Abridged: No

“Larson is a marvelous writer...superb at creating characters with a few short strokes.”—New York Times Book Review
  
Erik Larson has been widely acclaimed as a master of narrative non-fiction, and in his new book, the bestselling author of Devil in the White City turns his hand to a remarkable story set during Hitler’s rise to power.
 
The time is... Read more

If We Burn

By: Vincent Bevins

Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon

Length: 12 hours 54 minutes

Abridged: No

The story of the recent uprisings that sought to change the world - and what comes next
 
From 2010 to 2020, more people participated in protests than at any other point in human history. Yet we are not living in more just and democratic societies as a result. IF WE BURN is a stirring work of history built around a single, vital question: How... Read more

South to America

By: Imani Perry

Narrated by: Imani Perry

Length: 16 hours 32 minutes

Abridged: No

“An elegant meditation on the complexities of the American South—and thus of America—by an esteemed daughter of the South and one of the great intellectuals of our time. An inspiration.” —Isabel Wilkerson, New York Times bestselling author of The Warmth of Other Suns and Caste: The Origins of Our DiscontentsAn essential, surprising journey... Read more

The Spy and the Traitor

By: Ben Macintyre

Narrated by: John Lee

Length: 13 hours 19 minutes

Abridged: No

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The celebrated author of Double Cross and Rogue Heroes returns with a thrilling Americans-era tale of Oleg Gordievsky, the Russian whose secret work helped hasten the end of the Cold War.

“The best true spy story I have ever read.”—JOHN LE CARRÉ

Named a Best Book of the Year by The Economist • Shortlisted for the Bailie... Read more

The Story of the World, Vol. 1 Audiobook

By: Susan Wise Bauer

Narrated by: Jim Weiss

Length: 8 hours 4 minutes

Abridged: No

History will never be the same again! This spirited reading of the first in Susan Wise Bauer's Story of the World history series brings to life the stories and records of the peoples of ancient times. Now more than ever, other countries and customs affect our everyday lives-and our children need to learn about the people who live all around the... Read more

You Are What You Watch

By: Walt Hickey

Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross

Length: 9 hours 19 minutes

Abridged: No

Pulitzer Prize-winning author and data expert Walt Hickey explains the power of entertainment to change our biology, our beliefs, how we see ourselves, and how nations gain power. Virtually anyone who has ever watched a profound movie, a powerful TV show, or read a moving novel understands that entertainment can and does affect us in surprising... Read more

The Other Olympians

By: Michael Waters

Narrated by: Jennifer Pickens

Length: 9 hours 31 minutes

Abridged: No

"Michael Waters performs an Olympian act of storytelling, using the stories of these extraordinary athletes to explore in brilliant detail the struggle for understanding and equality." —Jonathan Eig, author of King: A Life

“This riveting audiobook brings all the facts and showcases why we need to acknowledge true history in today’s social... Read more

Character Limit

By: Kate Conger & Ryan Mac

Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini

Length: 15 hours 19 minutes

Abridged: No

Named a Best Book of the Year by Kirkus Reviews

“Riveting . . . Character Limit offers a telling lesson in the cost of getting everything you want.” —The Washington Post

“You couldn’t hope for a better ringside seat on the unfolding drama . . . [Character Limit] is a triumph.” —The Guardian
 
“Masterful in how it paints a picture and puts you in the... Read more

Troy

By: Stephen Fry

Narrated by: Stephen Fry

Length: 11 hours

Abridged: No

In this brilliant conclusion to his bestselling Mythos trilogy, legendary author and actor Stephen Fry retells the tale of the Trojan War.

Full of tragic heroes, intoxicating love stories, and the unstoppable force of fate, there is no conflict more iconic than the Trojan War. Troy is the story of the epic battle retold by Fry with drama, humor,... Read more

Cobalt Red

By: Siddharth Kara

Narrated by: Peter Ganim

Length: 11 hours 20 minutes

Abridged: No

This program includes an author's note read by the author.

An unflinching investigation reveals the human rights abuses behind the Congo’s cobalt mining operation—and the moral implications that affect us all.

Cobalt Red is the searing, first-ever exposé of the immense toll taken on the people and environment of the Democratic Republic of the... Read more

Lincoln vs. Davis

By: Nigel Hamilton

Narrated by: Rick Adamson

Length: 32 hours 2 minutes

Abridged: No

From a renowned biographer comes the greatest untold story of the Civil War: how two American presidents faced off as the fate of the nation hung in the balance—and how Abraham Lincoln came to embrace emancipation as the last, best chance to save the Union. 

Of all the books written on Abraham Lincoln, there has been one surprising gap: the... Read more

1177 B.C.

By: Eric H. Cline

Narrated by: Eric H. Cline

Length: 10 hours 47 minutes

Abridged: No

This audiobook narrated by acclaimed archaeologist and bestselling author Eric Cline offers a breathtaking account of how the collapse of an ancient civilized world ushered in the first Dark AgesIn 1177 B.C., marauding groups known only as the "Sea Peoples" invaded Egypt. The pharaoh's army and navy defeated them, but the victory so weakened... Read more

Every Valley

By: Charles King

Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson

Length: 10 hours 46 minutes

Abridged: No

THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE • From the bestselling historian and National Book Critics Circle Award finalist Charles King, the moving untold story of the eighteenth-century men and women behind the making of Handel’s Messiah

"A delicious history of music, power, love, genius, royalty and adventure."—Simon Sebag Montefiore,... Read more

Indigenous Continent

By: Pekka Hamalainen

Narrated by: Kaipo Schwab

Length: 18 hours 44 minutes

Abridged: No

There is an old, deeply rooted story about America that goes like this: Columbus "discovers" a strange continent and brings back tales of untold riches. The European empires rush over, eager to stake out as much of this astonishing "New World" as possible. Though Indigenous peoples fight back, they cannot stop the onslaught. White imperialists... 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

Making of the Atomic Bomb

By: Richard Rhodes

Narrated by: Holter Graham

Length: 37 hours 15 minutes

Abridged: No

**Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award**

The definitive history of nuclear weapons—from the turn-of-the-century discovery of nuclear energy to J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project—this epic work details the science, the people, and the sociopolitical realities that led to... Read more

Stories I Only Tell My Friends

By: Rob Lowe

Narrated by: Rob Lowe

Length: 9 hours 10 minutes

Abridged: No

Actor Rob Lowe's memoir presents a wryly funny and surprisingly moving account of an extraordinary life lived almost entirely in the public eye.

A teen idol at fifteen, an international icon and founder of the Brat Pack at twenty, and one of Hollywood's top stars to this day, Rob Lowe chronicles his experiences as a painfully misunderstood child... Read more

They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us

By: Hanif Abdurraqib

Narrated by: Hanif Abdurraqib

Length: 8 hours 37 minutes

Abridged: No

*2018 "12 best books to give this holiday season" TODAY Show*Best Books of 2018* Rolling Stone"A Best Book of 2017" NPR, Buzzfeed, Paste Magazine, Esquire, Chicago Tribune, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, CBC, Stereogum, National Post, Entropy, Heavy, Book Riot, Chicago Review of Books, The Los Angeles Review, Michigan Daily*American Booksellers Association... Read more

My Promised Land

By: Ari Shavit

Narrated by: Paul Boehmer

Length: 20 hours 44 minutes

Abridged: No

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW AND ECONOMIST BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

“A deeply reported, deeply personal history of Zionism and Israel that does something few books even attempt: It balances the strength and weakness, the idealism and the brutality, the hope and the horror, that has always been at Zionism’s heart.”—Ezra... Read more

Miss May Does Not Exist

By: Carrie Courogen

Narrated by: Erin Bennett

Length: 13 hours 55 minutes

Abridged: No

As part of the legendary comedy team known as Nichols and May, May revolutionized sketch comedy before striking out on her own to make history as the third woman to be admitted into the Directors Guild of America when she wrote, directed, and starred in 1971’s A New Leaf. Throughout the 1970s and ‘80s, May was one of Hollywood’s top... Read more

Vulture Capitalism

By: Grace Blakeley

Narrated by: Grace Blakeley

Length: 11 hours 45 minutes

Abridged: No

In the vein of The Shock Doctrine and Evil Geniuses, this timely and “galvanizing” (Naomi Klein, New York Times bestselling author) manifesto illustrates how corporate and political power brokers have used capitalism to advance their own interests at the expense of the rest of us—and how we can take back our economy.

It’s easy to look at the... Read more