History bestsellers

Everything Is Tuberculosis

The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection

By: John Green
Narrated by: John Green
Length: 5 hours 35 minutes

“Wow! I was so intrigued by all of the information this book provided. I had no idea how much TB has affected so many aspects of history. This book touches on some amazing insights into the disparity of health care in regard to TB and socio economic status but also in health care as a whole. Very insightful! Read more

A Marriage at Sea

A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck

By: Sophie Elmhirst
Narrated by: Marisa Calin
Length: 5 hours 50 minutes

“A beautiful account of a terrible adventure—and I do mean the shipwreck and marriage! Read more

A People's History of the United States

By: Howard Zinn
Narrated by: Jeff Zinn
Length: 34 hours 10 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

Black AF History

The Un-Whitewashed Story of America

By: Michael Harriot
Narrated by: Michael Harriot
Length: 15 hours 42 minutes

“Prepare for a history book unlike any other! Michael Harriot's Black AF is truly one of the best I've encountered in a long time. Don't let the humor and captivating storytelling fool you – this isn't just a dry recitation of dates and events. Instead, Harriot masterfully blends memoir, history, and sharp analysis of race, economics, and... Read more

Challenger

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

By: Adam Higginbotham
Narrated by: Jacques Roy
Length: 17 hours 9 minutes

“My space-obsessed son read this and kept telling me that I had to read it. I devoured the audiobook in a couple of days. This was excellent. A fun, deep, and heart-breaking dive into the history of space flight, NASA, Challenger, and even leadership. Highly recommended. Read more

107 Days

By: Kamala Harris
Narrated by: Kamala Harris
Length: 9 hours 58 minutes

“This is the biggest "I told you so" in the history of "I told you so's" I had to stop listening every so often because knowing we could've had sanity in the White House, and we did not get it. She worked tirelessly for 107 days to make the US a place for EVERYONE. Read more

1929

Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History--and How It Shattered a Nation

By: Andrew Ross Sorkin
Narrated by: Andrew Ross Sorkin
Length: 13 hours 30 minutes

“I was fortunate to hear this on my drive South to and from the Furniture Market. Andrew Ross Sorkin is the narrator and author of this behind-the-scenes account of the intersection of Politics, Financiers, and the common man startin in the mid-1920s. Andrew does a great job giving context to the Bank decisions, Politics and World events... Read more

A Promised Land

By: Barack Obama
Narrated by: Barack Obama
Length: 29 hours 10 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

To Catch a Fascist

The Fight to Expose the Radical Right

By: Christopher Mathias
Narrated by: Matt Godfrey
Length: 10 hours 50 minutes

A searing, provocative investigation into the rise of white nationalist and neo-Nazi movements in the United States, centered on the anti-fascist groups working to expose and stop these hateful factions.

Demonized as “extremist” by conservatives and liberals alike, “antifa” became a bogeyman during Donald Trump’s first term. But few Americans... Read more about To Catch a Fascist

Sapiens

A Brief History of Humankind

By: Yuval Noah Harari
Narrated by: Derek Perkins
Length: 15 hours 18 minutes

“Harari's brilliant cross-discipline synthesis of humanity's last 100,000 year story arc is sweeping and brilliant. I would almost use a phrase usually reserved for beach read thrillers-it's a page-turner. Rarely does a book stir up conversation in academic circles while still being so accessible to a general audience. That a history book has... 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

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

“One of the best nonfiction books of the last decade by one of the best nonfiction writers working today. 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

“Smith has crafted a resource, narrative and detailed explanation into how we teach the legacy of slavery. He recounts visits from everywhere from NYC to the Whitney Plantation, integrating stories of people and visitors today. This book is lays a beautiful written foundation for interrogating the history we've been taught. Particularly... Read more

The Gales of November

The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald

By: John U. Bacon
Narrated by: Johnny Heller
Length: 10 hours 53 minutes

“The Gales of November is a very comprehensive look at the legendary Edmund Fitzgerald and the men who lost their lives on that fateful November day. With interviews and extensive research, author John Bacon brings these sailors and their surviving family members to life. Read more

The Barn

The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi

By: Wright Thompson
Narrated by: Wright Thompson
Length: 11 hours 38 minutes

“This is the story/history of the kidnapping, torture and murder of 14 year old Emmett Till in Mississippi in the summer of 1955. It is a reckoning with the horrors and injustices that Black Americans face daily, even today, but specifically in the South. It is a history of the insular community surrounding this (and other) murders. It is the... Read more

Family of Spies

A World War II Story of Nazi Espionage, Betrayal, and the Secret History Behind Pearl Harbor

By: Christine Kuehn
Narrated by: Erin Bennett
Length: 8 hours 36 minutes

“A heartfelt and raw dive into family secrets. Well written and researched lots of aha moments, even though the story is well known. 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

“An absorbing non-fiction nautical shipwreck thriller, this is the story of the ill-fated journey of The Wager in 1740-41 as it attempts to to sail round Cape Horn, the treacherous tip of South America. The hardships seem unreal: starvation, illness (scurvy, typhus), death, but also murder and a mutinous crew, never mind the truly wild weather... Read more

When Trees Testify

Science, Wisdom, History, and America’s Black Botanical Legacy

By: Beronda L. Montgomery
Narrated by: Melinda Sewak
Length: 8 hours 3 minutes

“When Trees Testify is written by Beronda L. Montgomery, an award-winning botanist. She chronicles Black history and culture through the lens of seven types of trees and cotton. She includes stories about her family alongside the legacy that particular trees have to offer. So unique and well done I highly recommend this! Read more

Caste (Oprah's Book Club)

The Origins of Our Discontents

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

“Possibly one of the most important books I've read in the last decade. Caste examines the unspoken caste system that has shaped America. Wondering how America came to this? This book has brutal, unflinching answers. Read more

Raw Dog

The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs

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

“Raw Dog by Jamie Loftus, (host of The Lolita Podcast and Ghost Church), covers all the basics you'd expect from a writer embarking on a road trip to taste test all the hottest pork tubes in America - a crumbling relationship due to a distaste for mustard, xenophobia and sexism in the competitive hot-dog eating circuit, and the horrible... 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

“This is an audio experience. Malcolm Gladwell talks about it a bit in the beginning. He chose to use audio recordings of interviews, etc., wherever available instead of just reading the quotes himself. There’s music spattered throughout. It’s kind of a book/podcast. It is not just a direct reading of the text. Also, Malcolm Gladwell has a... 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

“Did you know that the richest people per capita in the world in the 1920s were members of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma? Me neither. Soon after oil was discovered under their land, a series of murders plagued the Osage Nation and one by one members were killed off, along with those who attempted to get to the bottom of this mystery. This is a... Read more

The Dawn of Everything

A New History of Humanity

By: David Graeber & David Wengrow
Narrated by: Mark Williams
Length: 24 hours 19 minutes

“From one of the founding members of the Occupy movement and author of the critically acclaimed Debt comes a posthumous epic that will change the way you see the past. It fundamentally questions major epochs (like the hunter-gatherer era) asking what really happened. It analyzes old structures and offers new paradigms from which to organize... Read more

Spare

By: Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex
Narrated by: Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex
Length: 15 hours 39 minutes

“This is a tale of the reality of people's lives. It shows that we are all alike, no matter what our positions, titles, or economic status are. I loved this very real story of life with it's ups and downs. It's time to realize that everyone goes through hard times and good times...it's a simple fact that we have to all accept. Sharing all the... Read more

On Tyranny

Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century

By: Timothy Snyder
Narrated by: Timothy Snyder
Length: 1 hour 47 minutes

“This handbook will take you less than 2 hours to listen to. Each short chapter provides a separate lesson on what tyranny looks like and how it rises in a nation. It's concise, accessible, and cites well-researched historical events to help readers understand how the unthinkable has happened in the past, and how individuals either contributed... Read more

No More Tears

The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson

By: Gardiner Harris
Narrated by: Gardiner Harris
Length: 14 hours 23 minutes

“This book will forever change the way you look at Johnson & Johnson, as well as consumer safety in general. Perhaps the most horrifying book I've read this year, before I was done with it I was frantically texting everyone I know to tell them they had to read it ASAP. 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: 15 hours

“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

An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States

ReVisioning History

By: Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
Narrated by: Shaun Taylor-Corbett
Length: 9 hours 48 minutes

“There are so many reasons why this book matters so much, but one worth highlighting is the way it inspires a greater appreciation for the dignity and continuing presence of Indigenous people in the USA. Read more

America, América

A New History of the New World

By: Greg Grandin
Narrated by: Holter Graham
Length: 25 hours 55 minutes

“Starting from Europe’s first contact, Greg Grandin reframes American history from the story of one country to the interconnected epics of the two continents that bear the name. Rich with historical detail, at times horrifying (as history often is) and also with figures at times inspiring (as history often has), the wholly fascinating America,... 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 was blown away by this book. I listened to the audio and Jason Reynold's narration is engaging, funny, and moving all rolled into one. I found myself interested in history in ways I have not been in the past. As white women I found myself grieving for the crimes my race has committed. For hatred that continued to take root and spread. Yet I... Read more

The Shock Doctrine - Abridged

The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

By: Naomi Klein
Narrated by: Jennifer Wiltsie
Length: 9 hours 1 minute

“A must-read. Read more

South to America

A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation

By: Imani Perry
Narrated by: Imani Perry
Length: 16 hours 32 minutes

“The spirit and essence of “America” are things quintessentially, essentially elusive. In South to America, Imani Perry—native Black Southerner, award-winning author, Princeton professor—submits a gorgeously written, eminently worthy entry in the search. Crafting a compelling balance between recorded history, current events, and personal... Read more

Puerto Rico

A National History

By: Jorell Meléndez-Badillo
Narrated by: Tony Chiroldes
Length: 10 hours 27 minutes

This audiobook narrated by Tony Chiroldes traces the multifaceted history of Puerto Rico from pre-Columbian times to today Puerto Rico is a Spanish-speaking territory of the United States with a history shaped by conquest and resistance. For centuries, Puerto Ricans have crafted and negotiated complex ideas about nationhood. Jorell... Read more about Puerto Rico

Everything Is Tuberculosis

The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection

By: John Green
Narrated by: John Green
Length: 5 hours 36 minutes

“A truly empathetic and deep understanding of tuberculosis that’s incredibly well researched. 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

“As a Palestinian-American woman, I thought I knew the history of the continuous war on Palestine, but I was wrong. Khalidi does a superb job of recounting the history of Palestine from 1917-2014. Khalidi’s family actually was in the thick of the early war up until the 1990s, working for a solution for their country and people. I learned so much... Read more

Mark Twain

By: Ron Chernow
Narrated by: Jason Culp
Length: 44 hours 35 minutes

“What a great bio of Mark Twain. The ups and downs of his life were very absorbing! What an amazing guy! Read more

The Fort Bragg Cartel

Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces

By: Seth Harp
Narrated by: Dan John Miller
Length: 10 hours 45 minutes

“I found The Fort Bragg Cartel to be a very interesting and engaging read. The central story focuses on a shocking murder between close friends within the Special Forces community, and that narrative is where the book is at its strongest. That said, the author casts a very wide net, pulling in events from across Cumberland County and the... Read more

Autocracy, Inc.

The Dictators Who Want to Run the World

By: Anne Applebaum
Narrated by: Anne Applebaum
Length: 4 hours 48 minutes

“With a new era of global authoritarianism upon us, it is essential to understand how autocracies work together to undermine democracies, and how we can organize to defeat them. Pulitzer Prize–winning author Anne Applebaum’s Autocracy, Inc. is an excellent place to start. Applebaum has such a clear way of writing about complex issues and deftly... 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 49 minutes

“What riveting trip through the war on the capable albeit somewhat eccentric shoulders of Churchill. Not only does Larson provide a top-notch history of World War II, but he also provides an intimate look at the man and the family and associates of that one man, that unlikely hero, who now seems the only one who could have led Britain through the... Read more

Scream With Me

Horror Films and the Rise of American Feminism (1968-1980)

By: Eleanor Johnson
Narrated by: Andi Arndt & Eleanor Johnson
Length: 8 hours 57 minutes

“This book, in fact, made me want to scream! Not from fear but from anger. Scream with Me may be focused on the select time frame of second-wave feminism, but as we are facing the same issues again today, this collection couldn’t be more urgent. Eleanor Johnson has a keen eye for detail, and she dissects the nuances of each film with cutthroat... Read more

We Survived the Night

By: Julian Brave NoiseCat
Narrated by: Julian Brave NoiseCat
Length: 15 hours 9 minutes

“(Indies Introduce) An astonishing, engaging, and transforming work of narrative nonfiction that is both personal and historical. NoiseCat has written a smart, lively, and instantly foundational work of the modern Indigenous experience. Read more

The Small and the Mighty

Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History, from the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement

By: Sharon McMahon
Narrated by: Sharon McMahon
Length: 10 hours 13 minutes

“A thoroughly informative and enjoyable look at 12 Americans who made a difference. Sharon McMahon narrates the book herself, and it’s all the better for her own inflections and emotions. Cannot recommend enough! Read more

Fear and Fury

The Reagan Eighties, the Bernie Goetz Shootings, and the Rebirth of White Rage

By: Heather Ann Thompson
Narrated by: Erin Bennett
Length: 18 hours 2 minutes

In this masterful, groundbreaking work, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Heather Ann Thompson shines surprising new light on an infamous 1984 New York subway shooting that would unveil simmering racial resentments and would lead, in unexpected ways, to a fractured future and a new era of rage and violence.

"A gripping and powerful account of one of... Read more about Fear and Fury

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 18 minutes

“Larson’s gift is taking lesser known historical events and providing nail-biting descriptions that entertain and inform. This one focuses on the five months between Lincoln’s election and inauguration and events leading up to the firing on Fort Sumter. He tells us how General Anderson and his men “hold the fort” for the federal government while... Read more

Let This Radicalize You

Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care

By: Kelly Hayes & Mariame Kaba
Narrated by: Diana Blue
Length: 10 hours 42 minutes

What fuels and sustains activism and organizing when it feels like our worlds are collapsing? Let This Radicalize You is a practical and imaginative resource for activists and organizers building power in an era of destabilization and catastrophe.



Longtime organizers and movement educators Mariame Kaba and Kelly Hayes examine some of the... Read more about Let This Radicalize You

Nuclear War

A Scenario

By: Annie Jacobsen
Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
Length: 11 hours 19 minutes

“Jacobsen extensively researched the military science and our country's preparation plan should a nuclear war occur. The consequences are understandably brutal. The subject of nuclear warfare is described in an assertive style that will leave you thinking about the subject long after the book is finished. Told in a relentless play-by-play style,... Read more

Murderland

Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers

By: Caroline Fraser
Narrated by: Patty Nieman
Length: 16 hours 11 minutes

“Dark, shocking, unflinching, and poetic. Fraser anchors true crime to stunning regional history, environmental degradation, fascinating memoir and presents it all with an amazing prose style that delivers sentences that frequently stun. Her scope is encyclopedic. So many of our most famous serial killers all lived (in close proximity) in... Read more

The Conjuring of America

Mojos, Mermaids, Medicine, and 400 Years of Black Women's Magic

By: Lindsey Stewart
Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo
Length: 10 hours 40 minutes

From a Black philosopher and the author of The Politics of Black Joy, an epic retelling of American history from slavery to Jim Crow from the perspective of the Black women who used magic and spirituality to gain freedom and reshape the culture of the nation.

The Conjuring of America tells the epic story of conjure women, who, through a mix of... Read more about The Conjuring of America

Genocide Bad

Notes on Palestine, Jewish History, and Collective Liberation

By: Sim Kern
Narrated by: Sim Kern
Length: 9 hours 29 minutes

“Sim Kern is a writer with a clear and concise voice, backed up by stellar research and wit. Read more

Democracy Awakening

Notes on the State of America

By: Heather Cox Richardson
Narrated by: Heather Cox Richardson
Length: 8 hours 51 minutes

A New York Times Bestseller

A vital and urgent call to action about the precarious state of American democracy, charting its historical challenges and current threats, from one of our era’s most important and insightful historians, with a new afterword by the author.

“Magisterial.” –The Washington Post

“An excellent primer for anyone who... Read more about Democracy Awakening