Experience our world: as it was, as it is, as it might become with these audiobooks about history, the arts, culture, education, and politics. Don't miss Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel, or Fresh Air with Terry Gross: Writers, or Gwen Ifill's The Breakthrough.
The bitter feud between President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Chief Justice Earl Warren framed the tumultuous future of the modern civil rights movement. Compellingly written, Eisenhower vs. Warren brings to vivid life the clash that continues to reverberate in political and constitutional debates today. Learn More
As the 2020 presidential campaign begins to take shape, there is widespread distrust of the fairness and accuracy of American elections. In this timely and accessible book, Richard L. Hasen uses riveting stories illustrating four factors increasing the mistrust. Learn More
A physician and historian of science and medicine at the National Institute of Health tells the hidden story of how plagues and pandemics shaped the history of the Jewish people. Learn More
Violet-eyed siren Elizabeth Taylor and classically handsome Montgomery Clift were the most gorgeous screen couple of their time. Over two decades of friendship they made, separately and together, some of the era's defining movies. Yet the relationship between these two figures has never truly been explored until now. Learn More
The story of how a band of antislavery leaders recovered the radical philosophical inspirations of the first American Revolution to defeat the slaveholders' oligarchy in the Civil War. Learn More
The shadowy story of a nineteenth-century English gentleman who went to India and dramatically cut all ties to home, forming a relationship with a local Muslim man. Learn More
The Empire Must Die portrays the vivid drama of Russia's brief and exotic experiment with civil society before it was swept away by the despotism of the Communist Revolution. Learn More
The epic story of the rise and fall of the empire of cotton, its centrality in the world economy, and its making and remaking of global capitalism. Learn More
A rollicking story of greed, financial corruption, dirty politics, over-the-top and under-the-radar deceit, illicit sex, and a brilliant and wildly charming con man who kept a Ponzi scheme alive perhaps for longer than anyone else in history. Learn More
Western civilization is generally regarded as the child of Athens, Jerusalem, and Rome. However, Western society has other forefathers as well: we would be unwise to give the Byzantine Empire short shrift. The ways in which it has influenced our world for the good, and indeed, created the parameters of our society at its healthiest and strongest, are insufficiently appreciated today. Learn More
An extraordinary re-creation of the terrible beauty of Antarctica, the awful destruction of the ship The Endurance, and Shackleton’s crew’s heroic daily struggle for survival. A thrilling account of one of the last great adventures in the brave age of exploration. Learn More
As few books regarding American history have achieved, Jim Stempel's The Enemy Harassed brings a previously neglected period of the American Revolution to life. Learn More
John C. Bogle; read by Alan Sklar with introduction and afterword read by the author
Bogle offers his unparalleled insights on money, on the values we should emulate in our business and professional callings, and on what we should consider as the true treasures in our lives. By explaining what "enough" truly is, he demonstrates how close everyone can be to having it. Learn More
by Paul Warde, Libby Robin, & Sverker Sörlin; read by Henrietta Meire
In this fascinating book, Paul Warde, Libby Robin, and Sverker Sörlin trace the emergence of the concept of the environment following World War II. Learn More
