History bestsellers

The Demon of Unrest

A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War

By: Erik Larson
Narrated by: Will Patton & Erik Larson
Length: 17 hours 17 minutes

“A chilling story of our country falling apart, this is a fascinating dive into the lead-up to the beginning of the Civil War: the time between Lincoln’s election and the fall of Fort Sumter. This compelling, essential and eminently readable book is based on letters, journals and political records from the time. Read more

How the Word Is Passed

A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America

By: Clint Smith
Narrated by: Clint Smith
Length: 10 hours 6 minutes

“Poet Clint Smith’s personal, intimate examination of sites of historical significance to slavery is as soulful and accessible as it is urgent and important. The opening chapter on Jefferson’s Monticello is one of the best chapters of American historical writing in recent memory, and should be required reading on the legacy of America’s founders.... Read more

The Wager

A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder

By: David Grann
Narrated by: Dion Graham & David Grann
Length: 8 hours 28 minutes

“Since a lot of the book is drawn from actual sailor's diaries, listening to it feels like you're hearing a salty sea dog's confessional! Apart from that it's got everything you'd want in a swashbuckling adventure: mutiny, shipwreck, scurvy and colonialist criticism. Read more

A Promised Land

By: Barack Obama
Narrated by: Barack Obama
Length: 29 hours 9 minutes

“No one really needs my blurb to help sell this book, but I wanted to give it anyway, especially for the audiobook, narrated by Barack Obama himself. If you want to know his incredible knowledge and wisdom that guided him through major decisions, and also hear him drop a few F-bombs, you need to listen to this fantastically written book. Read more

Cue the Sun!

The Invention of Reality TV

By: Emily Nussbaum
Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
Length: 15 hours 11 minutes

The rollicking saga of reality television—an ambitious cultural history of America’s most influential, most divisive artistic phenomenon, from the Pulitzer Prize–winning New Yorker writer

“Written with a storyteller’s verve, a journalist’s skepticism, a critic’s astuteness, and a fan’s loving eye.”—Michael Chabon, author of The Amazing Adventures... Read more

An Unfinished Love Story

A Personal History of the 1960s

By: Doris Kearns Goodwin
Narrated by: Doris Kearns Goodwin
Length: 17 hours 37 minutes

“Pulitzer winner Kearns Goodwin’s magnificent work describes experiences that she and her husband Dick Goodwin shared and their personal influence on sweeping issues and events of the 1960’s. As Dick hits age 80, they go through boxes of items from those days and treat us to amazing memories, quotes, conversations and even the stories behind... Read more

Caste (Oprah's Book Club)

The Origins of Our Discontents

By: Isabel Wilkerson
Narrated by: Robin Miles
Length: 15 hours 10 minutes

“This is an important and beautifully written book examining the links and common elements between the caste systems of America, India, and Nazi Germany. Highly recommended. Read more

The 1619 Project

A New Origin Story

By: Caitlin Roper, Ilena Silverman & Jake Silverstein
Narrated by: Nikole Hannah-Jones & Full Cast
Length: 18 hours 56 minutes

“This new landmark work of U.S. history, criticism, and art is forged of 18 essays that consider the relevance of slavery to contemporary America through the prism of such subjects as capitalism, music, and healthcare and poems and fiction that focus on key moments in the oppression, resistance, and liberation of Black people in America. Riveting... Read more

Spare

By: Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex
Narrated by: Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex
Length: 15 hours 37 minutes

“I deeply relished every drop of the tea spilt in this memoir. I would recommend it on that alone. However, I was most impressed with Prince Harry’s clear passion for the things and the people he cares about. In his narration of the audiobook you can feel how much he loves his family, how proud he is of his time in the military, and how much he... Read more

Talking to Strangers

What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know

By: Malcolm Gladwell
Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
Length: 8 hours 57 minutes

“Fascinating! How and why we so frequently misinterpret the words, intentions, and sincerity of strangers. Computers, analyzing only information, are far better at judging someone’s guilt or innocence (and future behavior) than judges, psychologists, and witnesses. Based on our preconceptions of how people should behave in certain situations, the... Read more

The Hundred Years' War on Palestine

A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017

By: Rashid Khalidi
Narrated by: Fajer Al-Kaisi & Rashid Khalidi
Length: 10 hours 30 minutes

This program includes an introduction read by the author.

A landmark history of one hundred years of war waged against the Palestinians from the foremost US historian of the Middle East, told through pivotal events and family history.

In 1899, Yusuf Diya al-Khalidi, mayor of Jerusalem, alarmed by the Zionist call to create a Jewish national home... Read more

Killers of the Flower Moon

The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI

By: David Grann
Narrated by: Will Patton, Ann Marie Lee & Danny Campbell
Length: 9 hours 4 minutes

“One of the most horrific chapters in American history is brought back to the national consciousness with alarming detail in Killers of the Flower Moon. After the Osage Indian Nation strikes oil, its members become rich beyond their wildest dreams, only to encounter a vast and murderous conspiracy that will leave more than 60 members of the... Read more

When the Clock Broke

Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s

By: John Ganz
Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
Length: 15 hours 17 minutes

"John Ganz is the most important young political writer of his generation—just the one our dark moment needs." —Rick Perlstein

"Lively and kaleidoscopic." —Andrew Marantz, The New Yorker

"John Ganz belongs to a species of public intellectual that is almost extinct . . . When the Clock Broke is the first of what I hope will be a shelf of books that... Read more

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You

A Remix of the National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning

By: Jason Reynolds & Ibram X. Kendi
Narrated by: Jason Reynolds
Length: 4 hours 11 minutes

“I will recommend this book over and over again because it is that amazing. I especially love the young adult adaptation because the information is so easy to absorb. The book is nonfiction but feels like a story is being told because of the incredible writing style. What's really special is that Ibram X. Kendi, one of the authors, narrates the... Read more

Say Nothing

A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland

By: Patrick Radden Keefe
Narrated by: Matthew Blaney
Length: 14 hours 40 minutes

“Say Nothing is a chilling chronicle of The Troubles of Northern Ireland and its aftermath, with special focus on the orchestrated disappearance of civilian mother of ten Jean McConville. Per the author, Patrick Radden Keefe, the book is not a comprehensive history, but as someone who knew virtually nothing about The Troubles going in, I found... Read more

The Dawn of Everything

A New History of Humanity

By: David Graeber & David Wengrow
Narrated by: Mark Williams
Length: 24 hours 13 minutes

“This book packs the foundations of modern political philosophy with dynamite and lights the fuse! Through recent advances in archaeology and anthropology, Davids Graeber and Wengrow show us a dizzying range of sophisticated models of human social organization among indigenous peoples, around the world, over tens of thousands of years,... Read more

A Fever in the Heartland

The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them

By: Timothy Egan
Narrated by: Timothy Egan
Length: 10 hours 29 minutes

“Some pride themselves on knowing historical facts and hidden histories, and yet, Egan, with his horror story about the KKK, will stop you in your tracks. Wasn't this just a 19th century Southern phenomenon? Who knew American Terror happened literally in our own backyard. Read more

Sapiens

A Brief History of Humankind

By: Yuval Noah Harari
Narrated by: Derek Perkins
Length: 15 hours 17 minutes

“I don't own many books. I read books and give them away. However, I will NOT be giving away my copy of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. It's a keeper! Sapiens was an intense read for me. I found myself taking breaks every dozen pages or so. Not because I was bored - just the opposite. I needed time to let the author's perspective on the... Read more

Raw Dog

The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs

By: Jamie Loftus
Narrated by: Jamie Loftus
Length: 9 hours 38 minutes

“Funny, informative, and fantastic, this has to be the most American book ever written. It has: a road trip with a relationship on line, plus pets; hot dogs; baseball; the COVID-19 pandemic; the trials and tribulations of small businesses; corporations pretending to be the small guy; the Great Depression; local communities who love their local... Read more

Mythos

By: Stephen Fry
Narrated by: Stephen Fry
Length: 15 hours 24 minutes

“I'm really enjoying listening to Stephen Fry's narration of his book Mythos. Told with a wink and a nod, he brings the classical mythologies alive with great zest. Weaving the many personalities and stories into a whole tapestry of delight. Wonderful fun for making that walk longer. Read more

The Boys in the Boat

Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics

By: Daniel James Brown
Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
Length: 14 hours 24 minutes

“This is one of my favorite non-fiction reads of all time, containing everything that I love to find in a book: suspense, unbreakable friendships, insurmountable obstacles, and unlimited perseverance! As told to the readers at the beginning of the book, this story is not one of Brown’s own experience but one that he heard and shared with the... Read more

Master Slave Husband Wife

An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom

By: Ilyon Woo
Narrated by: Janina Edwards & Leon Nixon
Length: 12 hours 54 minutes

“Ellen and William Craft, married slaves from Georgia, pulled off one of the most daring escapes from slavery in recorded history. Ellen, who was able to pass for white because she had a white father, dressed as a very ill young man. The couple convinced people that they were master and slave bound for the North to seek medical care. After four... Read more

The Making of America: Volume 1

Alexander Hamilton, Andrew Jackson, and Abraham Lincoln

The Making of America

By: Teri Kanefield
Narrated by: Pete Cross
Length: 12 hours 14 minutes

Unlike other biographies, the Making of America series goes beyond individual narratives linking influential figures to create an overarching story of America's growth that will deepen understanding of the country we live in today. This bundle featuring Alexander Hamilton, Abraham Lincoln, and Andrew Jackson tells the story of American... Read more

The Only Plane in the Sky

An Oral History of September 11, 2001

By: Garrett M. Graff
Narrated by: A Full 45-Person Cast
Length: 15 hours 54 minutes

“This is a book you really need to hear instead of read. I was an adult with 2 children on 9/11 and I learned so much listening to this. This is more than just people recounting what happened to them on that dark day, it is a reenactment from key people told in chronological order. You get the where and learn exactly what they experienced. There... Read more

Palo Alto

A History of California, Capitalism, and the World

By: Malcolm Harris
Narrated by: Patrick Harrison
Length: 28 hours 19 minutes

“From The Gold Rush to Google, Harris spins a tale of greed, racism, union-busting and violence that built California and Silicon Valley. The book offers an alternate view of California and world history that many of us missed in school. Read more

Challenger

A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space

By: Adam Higginbotham
Narrated by: Jacques Roy
Length: 16 hours 54 minutes

“In 1986, the space shuttle Challenger launched to total disaster, killing the 7 people aboard, including schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe, within 73 seconds, all while America watched. This is a serious emotional account of those events. In great detail this book takes you through the years before the Challenger. It includes the first Apollo... Read more

Fight Like Hell

The Untold History of American Labor

By: Kim Kelly
Narrated by: Em Grosland
Length: 12 hours 11 minutes

“In Fight Like Hell, Kim Kelly celebrates the untold stories and unsung heroes of the American labor movement, taking great care to center voices that have historically been sidelined or silenced in mainstream conversations around workers' rights. The result is an inclusive, fascinating, and galvanizing retrospective that mines the depths of the... Read more

The Devil in the White City

Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America

By: Erik Larson
Narrated by: Scott Brick
Length: 14 hours 58 minutes

“The Devil in the White City is one of the most fascinating books I've ever read. Set amidst the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, Erik Larson's historical narrative interweaves the stories of two men who would come to define it, for better and for worse. One is Daniel Burnham, chief architect of the Fair, who threw his entire being into creating a... Read more

The Splendid and the Vile

A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz

By: Erik Larson
Narrated by: John Lee & Erik Larson
Length: 17 hours 48 minutes

“Erik Larson has done it again! With years of impeccable research into diaries, archives, dossiers, biographies, and official British documents, he has presented an intimate and detailed account of Winston Churchill in his first years as prime minister as he dealt with the London Blitz and his own personal and family issues. This is Churchill as... Read more

The Making of America: Volume 2

Susan B. Anthony, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Thurgood Marshall

The Making of America

By: Teri Kanefield
Narrated by: Joyce Bean, David Sadzin & Chris Lutkin
Length: 13 hours

Unlike other biographies, the Making of America series goes beyond individual narratives linking influential figures to create an overarching story of America's growth that will deepen understanding of the country we live in today. This bundle featuring Susan B. Anthony, Thurgood Marshall, and Franklin D. Roosevelt focuses on some of the most... Read more

The House of Hidden Meanings

A Memoir

By: RuPaul
Narrated by: RuPaul
Length: 7 hours 7 minutes

***An Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller!***From international drag superstar and pop culture icon RuPaul, comes his most revealing and personal work to date--a deeply intimate memoir of discovery, found family, and self-acceptance. The House of Hidden Meanings is a self-portrait of the legendary icon on the road to global fame and changing... Read more

Nuclear War

A Scenario

By: Annie Jacobsen
Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
Length: 11 hours 18 minutes

The INSTANT New York Times bestseller

Instant Los Angeles Times bestseller

“In Nuclear War: A Scenario, Annie Jacobsen gives us a vivid picture of what could happen if our nuclear guardians fail…Terrifying.”—Wall Street Journal

There is only one scenario other than an asteroid strike that could end the world as we know it in a matter of hours:... Read more

Cobalt Red

How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives

By: Siddharth Kara
Narrated by: Peter Ganim
Length: 11 hours 20 minutes

“We cannot close our eyes to what is happening in our world even in 2023. Exposés like this force us to see and understand how our choices can affect people on the other side of the earth from us. Changes need to be made starting at the major corporations and then trickle down to the individual. Once we know what is happening we cannot un-know it. Read more

A People's History of the United States

By: Howard Zinn
Narrated by: Jeff Zinn
Length: 34 hours 9 minutes

“What this classic, alternative, and, yes, overtly leftist history of the United States most impressed upon me is that the history of American protest is just as vital and as old a tradition as the stars and stripes. The American people have always protested, gone on strike, marched - for suffrage, abolition, labor rights, civil rights,... Read more

SPQR

A History of Ancient Rome

By: Mary Beard
Narrated by: Phyllida Nash
Length: 18 hours 30 minutes

“I listened to SPQR as I prepared for my first trip to Rome, and I am so glad that I did. Beard expertly recounts the history of Rome's rise to world dominance. She updates our knowledge of this fantastic empire using new archeological finds and insight into the motivations underlying the source documents. A recent social media craze claims that... Read more

Heroes

The Greek Myths Reimagined

By: Stephen Fry
Narrated by: Stephen Fry
Length: 15 hours 1 minute

In this sequel to the bestselling Mythos, legendary author and actor Stephen Fry moves from the exploits of the Olympian gods to the deeds of mortal heroes.

Perseus. Jason. Atalanta. Theseus. Heracles. Rediscover the thrills, grandeur, and unabashed fun of the Greek myths. Whether recounting a tender love affair or a heroic triumph, Fry deftly... Read more

The Library Book

By: Susan Orlean
Narrated by: Susan Orlean
Length: 12 hours 8 minutes

“On the day I turned 2, Chernobyl was struck by disaster. Three days later, hidden among the news and chaos, the Los Angeles Public Library was in flames. Two thousand degrees, more than a million books destroyed or damaged, and the source of the fire unknown. Susan Orlean centers her book on the fire and then moves outward to include librarians... Read more

Off the Edge

Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything

By: Kelly Weill
Narrated by: Xe Sands
Length: 7 hours 13 minutes

“It's easy to look at the social and political landscape of the past few years and despair for the human race. We may feel we are entering a new dark age, a social-media-fueled fracturing that will Balkanize our nations and cultures until consensus reality vanishes entirely. Is this our fate, a new tribalism formed from Facebook echo chambers,... Read more

Right Thing, Right Now

Good Values. Good Character. Good Deeds.

The Stoic Virtues Series

By: Ryan Holiday
Narrated by: Ryan Holiday
Length: 7 hours 58 minutes

INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

In his New York Times bestselling book, Discipline Is Destiny, Ryan Holiday made the Stoic case for a life of self-discipline. In this much-anticipated third installment in the Stoic Virtues series, he argues for the necessity of doing what’s right – even when it isn’t easy

For the ancients, everything worth... Read more

Normal Women

Nine Hundred Years of Making History

By: Philippa Gregory
Narrated by: Philippa Gregory, Clare Corbett, Tania Rodrigues, Nneka Okoye, James Goode & Joe Jameson
Length: 27 hours 14 minutes

The #1 New York Times bestselling historical novelist delivers her magnum opus—a landmark work of feminist nonfiction that radically redefines our understanding of the extraordinary roles ordinary women played throughout British history and “should be included in every history lesson” (Glamour UK)“As author and lead narrator, Gregory’s passion... Read more

G-Man (Pulitzer Prize Winner)

J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century

By: Beverly Gage
Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
Length: 36 hours 35 minutes

Winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in Biography

Winner of the 2022 National Book Critics Circle Award in Biography, the 2023 Bancroft Prize in American History and Diplomacy, and the 43rd LA Times Book Prize in Biography | Finalist for the 2023 PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography

Named a Best Book of 2022 by The Atlantic, The Washington... Read more

Miss May Does Not Exist

The Life and Work of Elaine May, Hollywood's Hidden Genius

By: Carrie Courogen
Narrated by: Erin Bennett
Length: 13 hours 55 minutes

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

The Wide Wide Sea

Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook

By: Hampton Sides
Narrated by: Peter Noble
Length: 15 hours 40 minutes

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR SO FAR FOR 2024 BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW • A “thrilling and superbly crafted” (The Wall Street Journal) account of the most momentous voyage of the Age of Exploration, which culminated in Captain James Cook’s death in Hawaii, and left a complex and controversial legacy still... Read more

How to Hide an Empire

A History of the Greater United States

By: Daniel Immerwahr
Narrated by: Luis Moreno
Length: 17 hours 25 minutes

“A hilarious sparkler of historical quirks burns down to a dangerous fuse of tampering, territory, and transnational economics in this history of the USA not as the nation you just pictured, but as the complete global network of Americans, many without the rights the Lower 48 believe in, most segregated into cells of power that occasionally... Read more

When the Sea Came Alive

An Oral History of D-Day

By: Garrett M. Graff
Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini & Garrett M. Graff
Length: 19 hours 33 minutes

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Absolutely gripping.” —Ron Charles, The Washington Post • “A masterpiece of oral history…stirring, surprising, grim, joyous, moving, and always riveting.” —Evan Thomas • “Gripping and propulsive...Readers will be spellbound.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Only... Read more

The Everything War

Amazon's Ruthless Quest to Own the World and Remake Corporate Power

By: Dana Mattioli
Narrated by: Caroline Hewitt & Dana Mattioli
Length: 14 hours 23 minutes

Most Anticipated by Foreign Policy, Globe and Mail

“Riveting and explosive.” – Christopher Leonard

From veteran Amazon reporter for The Wall Street Journal, The Everything War is the first untold, devastating exposé of Amazon's endless strategic greed, from destroying Main Street to remaking corporate power, in pursuit of total domination, by any... Read more

When the Night Comes Falling

A Requiem for the Idaho Student Murders

By: Howard Blum
Narrated by: Zac Aleman
Length: 5 hours 43 minutes

The definitive, inside story of the Idaho murders from bestselling author Howard Blum, whose groundbreaking coverage of the story was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.Timed for a trial that will capture national attention, When the Night Comes Falling examines the mysterious murders of the four University of Idaho students. Having covered this... Read more

Stamped from the Beginning

The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America

By: Ibram X. Kendi
Narrated by: Avery Kidd Waddell
Length: 23 hours 35 minutes

Some Americans insist that we're living in a post-racial society. But racist thought is not just alive and well in America—it is more sophisticated and more insidious than ever. And as award-winning historian Ibram X. Kendi argues, racist ideas have a long and lingering history, one in which nearly every great American thinker is complicit.



In... Read more

Prequel

An American Fight Against Fascism

By: Rachel Maddow
Narrated by: Rachel Maddow
Length: 13 hours 9 minutes

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Rachel Maddow traces the fight to preserve American democracy back to World War II, when a handful of committed public servants and brave private citizens thwarted far-right plotters trying to steer our nation toward an alliance with the Nazis.
 
“A ripping read—well rendered, fast-paced and delivered with the same... Read more

Guns, Germs, and Steel

The Fates of Human Societies

By: Jared Diamond
Narrated by: Doug Ordunio
Length: 16 hours 19 minutes

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Guns, Germs and Steel examines the rise of civilization and the issues its development has raised throughout history.
 
Having done field work in New Guinea for more than 30 years, Jared Diamond presents the geographical and ecological factors that have shaped the modern world. From the viewpoint of an evolutionary... Read more