Social Science audiobooks

The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man

By: James Weldon Johnson

Narrated by: Bill Andrew Quinn

Length: 5 hours 2 minutes

Abridged: No

James Weldon Johnson’s The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man takes place in post Reconstruction era America and follows the story of a young biracial male. Johnson poses a complex dilemma: because the “Ex-Colored Man,” which is the only name by which the protagonist is referred, represents what, at the time was, a social contradiction of race... Read more

Harlem Is Nowhere

By: Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts

Narrated by: Karen Chilton

Length: 8 hours 46 minutes

Abridged: No

As gentrification encroaches on historic Harlem, Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer's Award recipient Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts untangles the myth and meaning of its storied legacy. Drawing on Harlem's history and her own observations, Rhodes-Pitts introduces a variety of observers who shared a common hope that Harlem would become the ground from which... Read more

The Spirit Level

By: Kate Pickett & Richard Wilkinson

Narrated by: Clive Chafer

Length: 8 hours 26 minutes

Abridged: No

It is a well-established fact that in rich societies the poor
have shorter lives and suffer more from almost every social problem. The Spirit Level,
based on thirty years of research, takes this truth a step further. One
common factor links the healthiest and happiest societies: the degree
of equality among their members. Further, more unequal... Read more

The Prisoner's Wife

By: Asha Bandele

Narrated by: Myra Lucretia Taylor

Length: 7 hours 16 minutes

Abridged: No

In her senior year of college, asha bandele and a group of other writers went to a prison to read their works for a Black History Month program. There, she met Rashid, a man who was serving 20 to life for murder, a man who spoke softly and wisely, a man who would become asha's soul mate. This is her account of a relationship that has thrived... Read more

Waiting for the Weekend

By: Witold Rybczynski

Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon

Length: 5 hours 26 minutes

Abridged: No

“We work,” Aristotle wrote, “in order to have leisure.” Today, this is still true. But is the leisure that Aristotle spoke of—the freedom to do nothing—the same as the leisure we look forward to each weekend? There have always been breaks from the routine of work—taboo days, market days, public festivals, holy days—we couldn’t survive without... Read more

Giving 2.0

By: Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen & Lisa Cordileone

Narrated by: Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen & Lisa Cordileone

Length: 10 hours 31 minutes

Abridged: No

A philanthropist is anyone who gives anything—time, money, experience, skills, and networks—in any amount to create a betterworld. Every day millions of ordinary people exhibit extraordinary generosity. Regardless of age, income, religion, and beliefs, we want to touch the lives of others. Yet philanthropy is often reactive—we write checks when... Read more

Unequal Childhoods

By: Annette Lareau

Narrated by: Xe Sands

Length: 14 hours 28 minutes

Abridged: No

Class does make a difference in the lives and futures of American children. Drawing on in-depth observations of black and white middle-class, working-class, and poor families, Unequal Childhoods explores this fact, offering a picture of childhood today. Here are the frenetic families managing their children's hectic schedules of "leisure"... Read more

Stuffed

By: Hank Cardello & Doug Garr

Narrated by: Walter Dixon

Length: TBA

Abridged: No

Read more

Census: Extreme Poverty

By: PBS NewsHour

Narrated by: PBS NewsHour

Length: 7 minutes

Abridged: No

New Census data out Thursday show that one in 15 Americans now lives in extreme poverty and earns less than half of the official poverty line. Jeffrey Brown discusses the spread of poverty and the implications for families and communities with Elizabeth Kneebone of the Brookings Institution. Read more

Black like Me

By: John Howard Griffin

Narrated by: Ray Childs

Length: 7 hours 10 minutes

Abridged: No

Writer John Howard Griffin decided to perform an experiment fifty years ago. In order to learn firsthand how one race could withstand the second class citizenship imposed on it by another, he dyed his white skin dark, left his family, and traveled to the South to live as a black man. What began as scientific research ended up changing his life... Read more

No Higher Honor

By: Condoleezza Rice

Narrated by: Condoleezza Rice

Length: 28 hours 25 minutes

Abridged: No

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the former national security advisor and secretary of state comes a “sharp and penetrating . . . reminder that foreign-policy choices facing the United States are complex and difficult, with no easy solutions” (The Washington Post).
 
A native of Birmingham, Alabama, who overcame the racism of the civil rights era... Read more

The Time of Our Lives

By: Tom Brokaw

Narrated by: Tom Brokaw

Length: 7 hours 3 minutes

Abridged: No

Tom Brokaw, known and beloved for his landmark work in American journalism and for the New York Times bestsellers The Greatest Generation and Boom!, now turns his attention to the challenges that face America in the new millennium, to offer reflections on how we can restore America’s greatness.
 
“What happened to the America I thought I knew?”... Read more

Creating The New Dream and The New Future Of The Earth

By: Elisabeth Sahtouris, Ph.D.

Narrated by: Justine Willis Toms

Length: 57 minutes

Abridged: No

Biologist Sahtouris is optimistic about the future and points to biology saying, “Life gets creative in a time of crisis.” She explains how the survival of bacteria, which have been on the planet for over four billion years, has given us a model of how we may evolve into a mature species. She’s co-author, with the late Willis Harman, of Biology... Read more

The Table Comes First

By: Adam Gopnik

Narrated by: Adam Gopnik

Length: 11 hours 1 minute

Abridged: No

Multiple award-winning author Adam Gopnik has written for the New Yorker since 1986. In this work, Gopnik charts America's transformation from being simply aware of what they eat to being obsessive about it. This fascinating culinary journey will transport listeners from 18th-century France and the origin of America's popular modern tastes to... Read more

Fear and Loathing at Rolling Stone

By: Hunter S. Thompson

Narrated by: Phil Gigante

Length: 17 hours 59 minutes

Abridged: No

“Buy the ticket, take the ride,” was a favorite slogan of Hunter S. Thompson, and it pretty much defined both his work and his life. Fear and Loathing at Rolling Stone showcases the roller-coaster of a career at the magazine that was his literary home.Jann S. Wenner, the outlaw journalist’s friend and editor for nearly thirty-five years, has... Read more

Free Ride

By: Robert Levine

Narrated by: Byron Wagner

Length: 9 hours 35 minutes

Abridged: No

How did the newspaper, music, and film industries go from raking in big bucks to scooping up digital dimes? Their customers were lured away by the free ride of technology. Now, business journalist Robert Levine shows how they can get back on track.

On the Internet, “information wants to be free.” This memorable phrase shaped the online business... Read more

American Nations

By: Colin Woodard

Narrated by: Walter Dixon

Length: 12 hours 51 minutes

Abridged: No

An illuminating history of North America's eleven rival cultural regions that explodes the red state-blue state myth. North America was settled by people with distinct religious, political, and ethnographic characteristics, creating regional cultures that have been at odds with one another ever since. Subsequent immigrants didn't confront or... Read more

Precious Objects

By: Alicia Oltuski

Narrated by: Alicia Oltuski

Length: TBA

Abridged: No

In the middle of New York City lies a neighborhood where all secrets are valuable, all assets are liquid, and all deals are sealed with a blessing rather than a contract. Welcome to the diamond district. Ninety percent of all diamonds that enter America pass through these few blocks, but the inner workings of this mysterious world are known only... Read more

Folks, This Ain't Normal

By: Joel Salatin

Narrated by: Joel Salatin

Length: 15 hours 14 minutes

Abridged: No

From farmer Joel Salatin's point of view, life in the 21st century just ain't normal. In FOLKS, THIS AIN'T NORMAL, he discusses how far removed we are from the simple, sustainable joy that comes from living close to the land and the people we love. Salatin has many thoughts on what normal is and shares practical and philosophical ideas for... Read more

The Price of Civilization

By: Jeffrey D. Sachs

Narrated by: Richard McGonagle

Length: 9 hours 43 minutes

Abridged: No

For more than three decades, Jeffrey D. Sachs has been at the forefront of international economic problem solving.  But Sachs turns his attention back home in The Price of Civilization, a book that is essential reading for every American. In a forceful, impassioned, and personal voice, he offers not only a searing and incisive diagnosis of our... Read more

The Magic of Reality

By: Richard Dawkins

Narrated by: Richard Dawkins & Lalla Ward

Length: 6 hours 41 minutes

Abridged: No

An elegant, text-only edition of the New York Times bestseller that’s been hailed as the definitive authority on…everything.

Richard Dawkins, bestselling author and the world’s most celebrated evolutionary biologist, has spent his career elucidating the many wonders of science. Here, he takes a broader approach and uses his unrivaled explanatory... Read more

The Thomas Sowell Reader

By: Thomas Sowell

Narrated by: Robertson Dean

Length: 14 hours 49 minutes

Abridged: No

These selections from the many writings of Thomas Sowell over a period of half a century cover social, economic, cultural, legal, educational, and political issues. The sources range from Dr. Sowell’s letters, books, newspaper columns, and articles in both scholarly journals and popular magazines. The topics range from late-talking children to... Read more

The Better Angels of Our Nature

By: Steven Pinker

Narrated by: Arthur Morey

Length: 36 hours 55 minutes

Abridged: No

“If I could give each of you a graduation present, it would be this—the most inspiring book I've ever read."
—Bill Gates (May, 2017)Selected by The New York Times Book Review as a Notable Book of the YearThe author of Enlightenment Now and The New York Times bestseller The Stuff of Thought offers a controversial history of violence.Faced with the... Read more

Injustice

By: J. Christian Adams

Narrated by: Johnny Heller

Length: 8 hours 27 minutes

Abridged: No

Justice is supposed to be blind, especially to race and politics. Yet as Department of Justice (DOJ) whistle-blower J. Christian Adams divulges in his shocking exposé, Injustice, justice under the Obama administration is anything but blind. Here, Adams reveals the never-before-published truth about the corrupt, racist, and politicized inner... Read more