Politics & Economy audiobooks

Colin Powell - Abridged

By: Colin Powell

Length: 1 hour 14 minutes

Abridged: Yes

The son of Jamaican immigrants, Colin Powell became one of the most influential Americans of the last century. In this dramatic series of interviews, General Powell describes his ascent from the ROTC to four-star general and eventually to chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and mastermind of Desert Storm. He discusses his assignments in... Read more

Remembering Dr. Hamilton Holmes

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 5 minutes

Abridged: No

Produced by MacNeil-Lehrer Productions, this is an interview with Charlayne Hunter-Gault about her friend, Dr. Hamilton Holmes, who accompanied Charlayne as they became the first two African-Americans to attend the University of Georgia. Read more

A Good Life - Abridged

By: Ben Bradlee

Narrated by: Ben Bradlee

Length: 4 hours 22 minutes

Abridged: Yes

The classic New York Times bestselling memoir by legendary Executive Editor of The Washington Post Ben Bradlee—with a new foreword by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein and an afterword by Sally Quinn.

The most important, glamorous, and famous newspaperman of modern times traces his path from Harvard to the battles of the South Pacific to the... Read more

Appreciating Emotional Intelligence

By: Daniel Goleman, Ph.D.

Narrated by: Michael Toms

Length: 55 minutes

Abridged: No

Intelligence is more than IQ. Goleman demonstrates how our view of human intelligence is far too narrow and does not take into consideration what he calls “emotional intelligence.” This dialogue provides solid advice about handling the pitfalls of emotionality and expands our understanding of how we learn. Read more

Iron Rose - Abridged

By: Cindy Adams & Susan Crimp

Narrated by: Cindy Adams

Length: 3 hours 25 minutes

Abridged: Yes

Iron Rose takes an intimate look at the incredible life of Rose Kennedy—head of the Kennedy dynasty and one of the 20th century's most influential women—and her nine famous children. A riveting account of the power behind America's political throne for several decades, Iron Rose reveals the secrets behind the triumphs and tragedies of the... Read more

No Ordinary Time - Abridged

By: Doris Kearns Goodwin

Narrated by: Edward Herrmann

Length: 6 hours 13 minutes

Abridged: Yes

Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Pulitzer Prize–winning classic about the relationship between Franklin D. Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt, and how it shaped the nation while steering it through the Great Depression and the outset of World War II.

With an extraordinary collection of details, Goodwin masterfully weaves together a striking number of story... Read more

In Retrospect - Abridged

By: Robert S. McNamara, Brian VanDeMark & Robert Mc...

Narrated by: Joseph Campanella

Length: 6 hours 2 minutes

Abridged: Yes

In the years since he resigned his office, former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara refused any public comment on the unpopular Vietnam War. As the chief architect of the strategy that propelled the U.S. into the war, though, McNamara has much to say. In this chronicle, McNamara explores and explains why the American "government and its... Read more

Inside the White House

By: Ronald Kessler

Narrated by: Jeff Riggenbach

Length: 9 hours 36 minutes

Abridged: No

“If the general public knew what was going on inside the White House, they would scream.” So states one Secret Service agent, just a small link in the chain of security that has guarded the public image of the presidency and the men who define it—until now.With unprecedented access to Secret Service agents, domestic servants, Air Force One... Read more

Once Upon A More Enlightened Time - Abridged

By: James Finn Garner

Narrated by: James Finn Garner

Length: 1 hour 3 minutes

Abridged: Yes

The hilarious sequel to the #1 phenomenon Politically Correct Bedtime Stories.
"If we can cleanse these stories and put an end to the lies our children are spoon-fed while being spoon-fed...the world may finally become a decent place for persunkind and other, equally important species." -- James Finn Garner
Spurred by the overwhelming success of... Read more

Nelson Mandela - 1994 interview

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 14 minutes

Abridged: No

Nelson Mandela discusses his first visit to Washington as President of South Africa. Originally broadcast on the MacNeil/Lehrer News hour on October 6, 1994. Read more

Barbara Bush - Abridged

By: Barbara Bush

Narrated by: Barbara Bush

Length: 4 hours 31 minutes

Abridged: Yes

The classic #1 New York Times bestselling memoir, celebrating the life and legacy of First Lady Barbara Bush—updated with new forewords from her five children, including reflections from George W. and Jeb, as featured on A&E’s Biography.

Barbara Bush endures as one of America’s most popular First Ladies. She has won worldwide acclaim for her... Read more

See I Told You So - Abridged

By: Rush Limbaugh

Narrated by: Rush Limbaugh

Length: 3 hours 16 minutes

Abridged: Yes

Rush Limbaugh, America's #1 radio talk-show host, bounded to the top of the bestseller lists with The Way Things Ought to Be, the #1 New York Times bestseller and the fastest-selling audio in history. Now, this consummate entertainer and provocative political commentator, whom conservatives love and liberals love to hate—this “harmless little... Read more

Truman - Abridged

By: David McCullough

Narrated by: David McCullough

Length: 5 hours 34 minutes

Abridged: Yes

The Pulitzer Prize–winning biography of Harry S. Truman, whose presidency included momentous events from the atomic bombing of Japan to the outbreak of the Cold War and the Korean War, told by America’s beloved and distinguished historian.

The life of Harry S. Truman is one of the greatest of American stories, filled with vivid... Read more

The Way Things Ought to Be - Abridged

By: Rush Limbaugh

Narrated by: Rush Limbaugh

Length: 2 hours 24 minutes

Abridged: Yes

Rush Limbaugh is a way of life for over twelve million avid and devoted listeners. For three hours every day this comic conservative of the airwaves with “talent on loan from God”​​ entertains, provokes and persuades friend sand enemies alike in a no-holds-barred show that is one of the biggest draws in radio history.

Using personal anecdotes,... Read more

Nelson Mandela - 1992 interview

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 8 minutes

Abridged: No

Nelson Mandela discusses his visit to the United Nations Security Council seeking peacekeepers to quell violence in South Africa. Originally broadcast on the MacNeil/Lehrer News hour on July 15, 1992. Read more

Saving America-Saving the World

By: Helen Caldicott, M.D.

Narrated by: Michael Toms

Length: 57 minutes

Abridged: No

An articulate firebrand and one of the world's leading advocates of nuclear disarmament, environmentalism and citizen action delivers a scathing wake-up call about abuses of power in American government, media and industry, and the urgent need to truly care for the planet and each other. Read more

Looking Deeply

By: Alice Walker

Narrated by: Justine Willis Toms & Michael Toms

Length: 1 hour

Abridged: No

This is a thought-provoking interview with a frank and powerful thinker and writer. Alice Walker reminds us of the importance of invisible forces and connections between worlds that science has not yet acknowledged. She tells how her own life is informed by a host of “ancestors” and characters from her own writing, and how this provides her with... Read more

The Duel

By: John Lukacs

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: TBA

Abridged: No

One is poised on the edge of victory, the other threatened by invasion and defeat yet holding on, his own life in the balance and also that of the free world. 
 
In his reconstruction of the 80 days from May 10 to July 31, 1940, the author shows just how close England came to losing the war. He paints Churchill as resolute, threatened from... Read more

Mikhail Gorbachev's Resignation

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 13 minutes

Abridged: No

Reaction from Moscow, and a conversation with former United States National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski. Read more

Peter the Great

By: Robert K. Massie & John E. Dowling

Narrated by: Frederick Davidson

Length: 43 hours 35 minutes

Abridged: No

This superbly told story brings to life one of the most remarkable rulers––and men––in all of history and conveys the drama of his life and world. The Russia of Peter’s birth was very different from the Russia his energy, genius, and ruthlessness shaped. Crowned co-Tsar as a child of ten, after witnessing bloody uprisings in the streets of... Read more

Warrior for Peace

By: Danaan Parry

Narrated by: Michael Toms

Length: 57 minutes

Abridged: No

This is an extraordinary interview on conflict and peace. Parry tells deeply moving stories from his own life - from the streets of Belfast, Northern Ireland to his own neighborhood laundromat. They are stories of anger, truth and healing. Read more

Interview with diplomat George Kennan

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 16 minutes

Abridged: No

Robert MacNeil interviews American diplomat George Kennan about the failed coup in the Soviet Union to overthrow Gorbachev. Read more

Retrospective on the Gulf

By: Neal Conan

Narrated by: Neal Conan

Length: 58 minutes

Abridged: No

It was phenomenally successful in the air, strikingly decisive on the ground—and suddenly the war in the Persian Gulf was over, with an overwhelming victory for the allied forces. But what really happened? Why did the air war work so well? Why did the massive, allied casualties many predicted for the ground phase never materialize? Why was it... Read more

The Prize - Abridged

By: Daniel Yergin

Narrated by: Bob Jamieson

Length: 2 hours 52 minutes

Abridged: Yes

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and hailed as “the best history of oil ever written” by Business Week, Daniel Yergin’s “spellbinding…irresistible” (The New York Times) account of the global pursuit of oil, money, and power addresses the ongoing energy crisis.

Now with an epilogue that speaks directly to the current energy crisis, The Prize recounts... Read more