Social Science audiobooks

The Snakehead - Abridged

By: Patrick Radden Keefe

Narrated by: Patrick Radden Keefe

Length: 4 hours 53 minutes

Abridged: Yes

In this thrilling panorama of real-life events, the bestselling author of Empire of Pain investigates a secret world run by a surprising criminal: a charismatic middle-aged grandmother, who from a tiny noodle shop in New York’s Chinatown managed a multi-million dollar business smuggling people.

“Reads like a mashup of The Godfather and Chinatown,... Read more

$20 Per Gallon

By: Christopher Steiner

Narrated by: John Wolfe

Length: 9 hours 38 minutes

Abridged: No

An extraordinarily insightful and thought-provoking look at how our society and culture are going to change, and change rapidly, as the price of gasoline, heating oil, and all other everyday consumer products that are derived from oil continue to escalate.

Imagine an everyday world in which the price of gasoline (and oil) continues to go up,... Read more

Say Everything

By: Scott Rosenberg

Narrated by: Lincoln Hoppe

Length: 16 hours 3 minutes

Abridged: No

Blogs are everywhere. They have exposed truths and spread rumors. Made and lost fortunes. Brought couples together and torn them apart. Toppled cabinet members and sparked grassroots movements. Immediate, intimate, and influential, they have put the power of personal publishing into everyone’s hands. Regularly dismissed as trivial and ephemeral,... Read more

How Christianity Changed the World

By: Alvin J. Schmidt

Narrated by: James Adams

Length: 15 hours 38 minutes

Abridged: No

Western civilization is becoming increasingly pluralistic,secularized, and biblically illiterate. Many people todayhave little sense of how their lives have benefited fromChristianity’s influence, often viewing the church withhostility or resentment.How Christianity Changed the World is a topicallyarranged Christian history for Christians and... Read more

On Killing

By: Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman

Narrated by: Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman

Length: 10 hours 22 minutes

Abridged: No

The revised and updated edition of Lt. Col. Dave Grossman's modern classic about the psychology of combat, hailed by the Washington Post as "an illuminating account of how soldiers learn to kill and how they live with the experiences of having killed." In World War II, only 15 to 20 percent of combat infantry were willing to fire their rifles.... Read more

The Challenge For Africa

By: Wangari Maathai

Narrated by: Chinasa Ogbuagu

Length: 10 hours 51 minutes

Abridged: No

Nobel Laureate and founder of the Green Belt Movement, Wangari Maathai has campaigned for environmental activism in Africa for more than three decades. In The Challenge for Africa, Maathai delivers an insightful call to action, presenting a realistic look at the diverse problems facing Africans. Maathai's ability to dissect cultural problems and... Read more

And Then There's This

By: Bill Wasik

Narrated by: Bill Wasik

Length: 11 hours 2 minutes

Abridged: No

Unabridged • 6 hours

An entertaining and eye-opening look into the new frontier of idea making. Read more

The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work

By: Alain de Botton

Narrated by: David Colacci

Length: 6 hours 32 minutes

Abridged: No

We spend most of our waking lives at work—in occupations most often chosen by our inexperienced younger selves. And yet we rarely ask ourselves how we got there or what our jobs mean to us. The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work is an exploration of the joys and perils of the modern workplace, beautifully exploring what other people wake up to do... Read more

Life Inc.

By: Douglas Rushkoff

Narrated by: Douglas Rushkoff

Length: 11 hours 27 minutes

Abridged: No

This didn’t just happen.

In Life Inc., award-winning writer, documentary filmmaker, and scholar Douglas Rushkoff traces how corporations went from being convenient legal fictions to being the dominant fact of contemporary life. Indeed, as Rushkoff shows, most Americans have so willingly adopted the values of corporations that they’re no longer... Read more

Servolution

By: Dino Rizzo

Narrated by: Marc Cashman

Length: 5 hours 48 minutes

Abridged: No

“Servolution is a must-read. It is inspirational. It is practical. And it has the potential to revolutionize your life.” Mark Batterson—Lead Pastor, National Community ChurchA movement is rumbling through the body of Christ—a revolutionary army of people giving hope to a hurting world through practical, personal acts of service.In Servolution,... Read more

Hella Nation

By: Evan Wright

Narrated by: Paul Boehmer

Length: 14 hours 11 minutes

Abridged: No

From his work as a reporter at Hustler magazine to his National Magazine Award—winning writing for Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair, Evan Wright has always had an affinity for outsiders—what he calls "the lost tribes of America." The previously published pieces in this collection chart a deeply personal journey, beginning with his stark but... Read more

Lost Boy

By: Brent W. Jeffs & Maia Szalavitz

Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain

Length: 8 hours 30 minutes

Abridged: No

In the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS), girls can become valuable property as plural wives, but boys are expendable, even a liability. In this powerful and heartbreaking account, former FLDS member Brent Jeffs reveals both the terror and the love he experienced growing up on his prophet’s compound—and... Read more

The Inside Story of Afghanistan

By: Elizabeth Gould & Paul Fitzgerald

Narrated by: Michael Toms

Length: 57 minutes

Abridged: No

For millennia the forbidding territory of Afghanistan has served as a vital crossroads for armies, and has witnessed history-shaping clashes between civilizations: Greek, Arab, Mongol, Tartar, and in more recent times, British, Russian, and American. Many people in the U.S. have no idea of the hidden dimensions that lay beneath the current... Read more

Investing in the Bank of You and Me

By: Thomas H. Greco, Jr.

Narrated by: Michael Toms

Length: 57 minutes

Abridged: No

Thomas Greco has a solution for our economy. With his fresh perspective on money, credit, and…well…civilization, he believes we can save our economy and our planet by reconstructing our financial system-and find ourselves happier and healthier in the bargain. Read more

When the Silver Screen Shines With Truth

By: Dorothy Fadiman

Narrated by: Michael Toms

Length: 57 minutes

Abridged: No

From her first documentary about the light of spirit in every faith, Ms. Fadiman has dedicated her work to shedding light on provocative and touching stories of social justice, human rights, personal tragedy, and triumph. Read more

Trauma Stewardship

By: Laura van Dernoot Lipsky & Connie Burk

Narrated by: Laura van Dernoot Lipsky & Jon Conte

Length: 8 hours 37 minutes

Abridged: No

This beloved bestseller-over 180,000 copies sold-has helped caregivers worldwide keep themselves emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, and physically healthy in the face of the sometimes overwhelming traumas they confront every day.

A longtime trauma worker, Laura van Dernoot Lipsky offers a deep and empathetic survey of the... Read more

Trauma Stewardship

By: Laura van Dernoot Lipsky & Connie Burk

Narrated by: Laura van Dernoot Lipsky

Length: 8 hours 37 minutes

Abridged: No

A longtime trauma worker, Laura van Dernoot Lipsky offers a deep and empathetic survey of the often-unrecognized toll taken on those working to make the world a better place. We may feel tired, cynical, or numb or like we can never do enough. These, and other symptoms, affect us individually and collectively, sapping the energy and effectiveness... Read more

Creating Equal

By: Ward Connerly

Narrated by: Ward Connerly

Length: 9 hours 2 minutes

Abridged: No

This is the story of a man who searched his conscience, decided that the American Dream should be colorblind, and then set out to change the rules. Part memoir, part history lesson, and part road map, Creating Equal tells how a black man fought against affirmative action in California and Washington state.It begins in segregated Louisiana with a... Read more

Showing Up for Life

By: Bill Gates, Sr. & Mary Ann Mackin

Narrated by: Patrick Egan & Bill Gates, Sr.

Length: 3 hours 35 minutes

Abridged: No

A heartfelt, deeply personal book, Showing Up for Life shines a bright light on the values and principles that Bill Gates Sr. has learned over a lifetime of “showing up” — lessons that he learned growing up in the Great Depression, and which he instilled in his children and continues to practice on the world stage as the co-chair of the Bill... Read more

Destiny Disrupted

By: Tamim Ansary

Narrated by: Tamim Ansary

Length: 17 hours 28 minutes

Abridged: No

With storytelling brio and evenhanded sympathy to all sides of the story, Ansary clarifies how the Muslim world views the history of the world and what they therefore make of our own version of events.Until about 1800, the West and the Islamic realm were like two adjacent, parallel universes, each assuming itself to be the center of the world... Read more

Guerrilla P.R.

By: Michael Levine

Narrated by: Christopher Hurt

Length: 8 hours 43 minutes

Abridged: No

Every Fortune 500 corporation, movie star, and scandal queen can attest to the fact that a good publicist is essential to building success and maintaining public support. If you are a small business owner, an entrepreneur, or an undercapitalized beginner seeking an edge in a highly competitive arena, here are the resources necessary to mount... Read more

Ishi in Two Worlds

By: Theodora Kroeber

Narrated by: Lorna Raver

Length: 10 hours 47 minutes

Abridged: No

The life story of Ishi, the last Yahi Indian, lone survivor of an exterminated tribe, is unique in the annals of North American anthropology. Ishi stumbled into the twentieth century on the morning of August 29, 1911, when, desperate with hunger and terrified of the white murderers of his family, he was found in the corral of a slaughterhouse... Read more

The Disuniting of America

By: Arthur M. Schlesinger

Narrated by: Jeff Riggenbach

Length: 3 hours 15 minutes

Abridged: No

The promise of America has always been that of a fresh economic start on equal footing. This is linked to the classic image of the republic as a melting pot, where differences of class, race, and religion are submerged in the pursuit of democracy. But today, the idea of assimilation into the mainstream is giving ground to the cult of ethnicity.... Read more

All God’s Children and Blue Suede Shoes

By: Kenneth A. Myers

Narrated by: Jeff Riggenbach

Length: 6 hours 58 minutes

Abridged: No

Where did popular culture come from? Why is it the way it is? How does it influence Americans in general and Christians in particular? Ken Myers offers fascinating answers. He sees pop culture as a culture of diversion, preventing people from asking questions about their origin and destiny and about the meaning of life. Two aspects stand out: a... Read more