History

The Dissolution of the Monasteries

A New History

By: James G. Clark
Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
Length: 27 hours

The first account of the dissolution of the monasteries for fifty years—exploring its profound impact on the people of Tudor England



Shortly before Easter, 1540 saw the end of almost a millennium of monastic life in England. Until then religious houses had acted as a focus for education, literary, and artistic expression and even the creation of... Read more

And There Was Light

Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle

By: Jon Meacham
Narrated by: Jon Meacham
Length: 17 hours 49 minutes

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer Jon Meacham chronicles the life of Abraham Lincoln, charting how—and why—he confronted secession, threats to democracy, and the tragedy of slavery to expand the possibilities of America.

“Meacham has given us the Lincoln for our time.”—Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Winner of the Gilder... Read more

American Prometheus

The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer

By: Kai Bird & Martin J. Sherwin
Narrated by: Jeff Cummings
Length: 26 hours 29 minutes

“J. Robert Oppenheimer is the most important person who ever lived, in the words of Christopher Nolan, the director of the blockbuster movie. This comprehensive and highly readable Pulitzer-winning biography supports Nolan’s statement. The book expertly explores Oppenheimer’s leadership of the Manhattan Project, and the later kangaroo court that... Read more

The Anglo-Saxons

A History of the Beginnings of England: 400 – 1066

By: Marc Morris
Narrated by: Roy McMillan
Length: 13 hours 18 minutes

A sweeping and original history of the Anglo-Saxons by national bestselling author Marc Morris.Sixteen hundred years ago Britain left the Roman Empire and swiftly fell into ruin. Grand cities and luxurious villas were deserted and left to crumble, and civil society collapsed into chaos. Into this violent and unstable world came foreign invaders... Read more

The Civil War as a Theological Crisis

By: Mark A. Noll
Narrated by: Marc Cashman
Length: 7 hours 6 minutes

The Civil War was a major turning point in American religious thought, argues Mark A. Noll. Although Christian believers agreed with one another that the Bible was authoritative and that it should be interpreted through commonsense principles, there was rampant disagreement about what Scripture taught about slavery. Furthermore, most Americans... Read more

The Bright Ages

A New History of Medieval Europe

By: Matthew Gabriele & David M. Perry
Narrated by: Jim Meskimen
Length: 9 hours 30 minutes

""Traveling easily through a thousand years of history, The Bright Ages reminds us society never collapsed when the Roman Empire fell, nor did the modern world did wake civilization from a thousand year hibernation. Thoroughly enjoyable, thoughtful and accessible; a fresh look on an age full of light, color, and illumination."" —Mike Duncan,... Read more

Children of Ash and Elm

A History of the Vikings

By: Neil Price
Narrated by: Samuel Roukin
Length: 17 hours 25 minutes

“The very word 'Viking' conjures up all kinds of thrilling images: horned warriors, bloodthirsty berserkers, many-oared longships, brutal battles, and pillaged monasteries all spring to mind. However, in CHILDREN OF ASH AND ELM, archaeologist Neil Price peels back centuries of myth and misconception and propaganda to paint a fascinating,... Read more

Alexander Hamilton

By: Ron Chernow
Narrated by: Scott Brick
Length: 35 hours 56 minutes

The inspiration for the hit Broadway musical Hamilton! 

In the first full-length biography of Alexander Hamilton in decades, National Book Award winner Ron Chernow tells the riveting story of a man who overcame all odds to shape, inspire, and scandalize the newborn America. According to historian Joseph Ellis, Alexander Hamilton is “a robust... Read more

Grant

By: Ron Chernow
Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
Length: 47 hours 58 minutes

The #1 New York Times bestseller and New York Times Book Review 10 Best Books of 2017

“Eminently readable but thick with import . . . Grant hits like a Mack truck of knowledge.” —Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Atlantic

Pulitzer Prize winner Ron Chernow returns with a sweeping and dramatic portrait of one of our most compelling generals and presidents,... Read more

Washington

A Life (Pulitzer Prize Winner)

By: Ron Chernow
Narrated by: Scott Brick
Length: 41 hours 47 minutes

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a New York Times Bestseller, a landmark biography of George Washington.

In Washington: A Life celebrated biographer Ron Chernow provides a richly nuanced portrait of the father of our nation. With a breadth and depth matched by no other one-volume life of Washington, this crisply paced narrative carries the... Read more

The Romanovs

1613-1918

By: Simon Sebag Montefiore
Narrated by: Simon Russell Beale
Length: 28 hours 39 minutes

The Romanovs were the most successful dynasty of modern times, ruling a sixth of the world’s surface for three centuries. How did one family turn a war-ruined principality into the world’s greatest empire? And how did they lose it all?
 
This is the intimate story of twenty tsars and tsarinas, some touched by genius, some by madness, but all... Read more

The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams

By: Stacy Schiff
Narrated by: Jason Culp
Length: 14 hours 14 minutes

This "glorious" revelatory biography from a Pulitzer Prize winner is about the most essential Founding Father (Ron Chernow)—the one who stood behind the change in thinking that produced the American Revolution. Thomas Jefferson asserted that if there was any leader of the Revolution, “Samuel Adams was the man.” With high-minded ideals and... Read more

America's Religious History

Faith, Politics, and the Shaping of a Nation

By: Thomas S. Kidd
Narrated by: Tom Parks
Length: 10 hours 15 minutes

In the post-9/11 world, it is not difficult to see how important religion remains in America and around the globe. An older generation of scholars expected that America and the rest of the Western world was headed inexorably toward secularization and the end of religion. America is undoubtedly secular in many ways, and our constitutional order... Read more

The History of the Peloponnesian War

By: Thucydides
Narrated by: Pat Bottino
Length: 22 hours 6 minutes

Thucydides’ classic chronicle of the war between Athens and Sparta from 431 to 404 BCE persists as one of the most brilliant histories of all time. As one who actually participated in the conflict, Thucydides recognized the effect it would have on the history of Greece above all other wars. With a passion for accuracy and a contempt for myth and... Read more

A Man of Iron

The Turbulent Life and Improbable Presidency of Grover Cleveland

By: Troy Senik
Narrated by: Pete Simonelli
Length: 12 hours 2 minutes

“A thoroughly engaging and enjoyable” (National Review) biography of Grover Cleveland—one of America’s most unusual presidents and the only one to serve two non-consecutive terms.

“Entertaining and astute” (Booklist), A Man of Iron explores the remarkable life and extraordinary career of Grover Cleveland—the honest, principled, and plain-spoken... Read more

The French and Indian War

Deciding the Fate of North America

By: Walter R. Borneman
Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
Length: 12 hours 30 minutes

In the summer of 1754, deep in the wilderness of western Pennsylvania, a very young George Washington suffered his first military defeat, and a centuries-old feud between Great Britain and France was rekindled. The war that followed would be fought across virgin territories, from Nova Scotia to the forks of the Ohio River, and it would... Read more

Dominion

How the Christian Revolution Remade the World

By: Tom Holland
Narrated by: Tom Holland & Mark Meadows
Length: 22 hours 17 minutes

A "marvelous" (Economist) account of how the Christian Revolution forged the Western imagination. Crucifixion, the Romans believed, was the worst fate imaginable, a punishment reserved for slaves. How astonishing it was, then, that people should have come to believe that one particular victim of crucifixion-an obscure provincial by the name of... Read more