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.
Have you ever wondered about the place-names that appear on Scotch whisky bottles? What language the names come from, what they mean, or if they are even real places? If you feel baffled about where to start looking for such information, then this reliable and informative book is for you. Learn More
Mount Everest is known to everyone—but what of the person after whom it was named? This book traces the life and profession of that person, George Everest. Learn More
A leading intellectual historian shows how free speech, once viewed as both hazardous and unnatural, was reinvented as an unalloyed good, with enormous consequences for our society today. Learn More
In this Oxford Guide to Film Musicals, author Hannah Lewis gives listeners fascinating new insights into the development, style, and reception of the 2016 film musical La La Land. Learn More
Spelunky is Boss Fight's first autobiographical book: the story of a game's creation as told by its creator. Using his own game as a vehicle, Derek Yu discusses such wide-ranging topics as randomization, challenge, indifferent game worlds, player feedback, development team dynamics, and what's required to actually finish a game. Learn More
From the bestselling author of Three Ordinary Girls, the gripping, remarkably little-known true story of how the people of Denmark banded together during WWII to rescue nearly all of their Jewish citizens from Nazi persecution by ferrying them just a few at a time to sanctuary in Sweden. Learn More
Since protestors ripped through the Capitol Building in 2021, the threat of constitutional crisis has loomed over our nation. The foundational tenets of American democracy seem to be endangered, and many citizens believe this danger is unprecedented in our history. But Americans have weathered many constitutional crises, often accompanied by the same violence and chaos experienced on January 6. However, these crises occurred on the state level. In Sedition, Marcus Alexander Gadson uncovers these episodes of civil unrest and examines how state governments handled them. Learn More
by Ashley Jackson and Andrew Stewart; read by Michael Langan
F O R T H C O M I N G ! Available July
History tells us that the Second World War broke Britain as a great power, diminishing its military strength, ruining its economy, and precipitating a striking wave of decolonization. Nationalists and new superpowers dominated the post-war landscape, and the country was on the slide. But no one knew this in 1945—the leading politicians, the top civil servants, and the most knowledgeable experts, all expected the British Empire to remain intact long into the future. How do we account for the difference between what it was thought would happen and the actual course of events? Learn More
A Journey Through America introduces insightful commentary on our American democracy. Author Lawrence Kadish draws from over eighty-five years of lived experience, allowing him to celebrate our nation's strengths, reflect on our self-inflicted errors, and draw attention to the challenges of a nation that remains humanity's last hope. Learn More
The human body is the primary instrument of war, yet those waging war often confront soldiers' bodies in a detached or merely intellectual way. In The Tenderness of Silent Minds, Martha C. Nussbaum, a leading thinker on emotion, morality, and justice, conducts a pioneering study of Benjamin Britten's musical representations of the tender male body amidst the brutality of war, and their ability to transform consciousness by evoking potent, non-personal emotions. Learn More
In the popular imagination, lethal injection is a slight pinch and a swift nodding off to forever-sleep. It is performed by well-qualified medical professionals. It is regulated and carefully conducted. And it usually provides a "humane" death. In reality, however, not one of those things is true. Secrets of the Killing State pulls back the curtain on this clandestine punishment practice, presenting a view of lethal injection that states have worked hard to hide. Learn More
by Plutarch and Prudentius; translated by Michael Fontaine
F O R T H C O M I N G ! Available July
In this addition to the Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers (AWMR) series, Michael Fontaine offers new and fresh translations of two key texts on coping with internal appetites and external pressure, with different perspectives. Learn More
Video game preservationist and historian Kelsey Lewin tells the story of how a mundane-sounding game full of bug-catching, letter-writing, and furniture-collecting became one of Nintendo's best-loved franchises. Learn More
Drawing together the worlds of classroom practice, school leadership, and scientific research, this is an essential how-to guide for initiating and maintaining a school improvement journey based on the science of learning. Learn More
Find the confidence and courage to change the world. Shelly Rachanow's book contains a diverse collection of brave, beautiful, brilliant, creative, and totally possible ideas that women have shared, complemented by inspirational quotes from famous women and action lists like "Ten Things You Can Start Doing Now." Rachanow's warm and encouraging voice motivates listeners to join other amazing women who are kicking serious butt for the good of all. Learn More
Pop culture writer and horror cinephile Philip J Reed takes dead aim at 1996's Resident Evil, the game that named and defined the genre we now call "survival horror." While examining Resident Evil's influences from the worlds of film, literature, and video games alike, Reed's love letter to horror examines how the game's groundbreaking design and its atmospheric fixed-cam cinematography work to thrill and terrify players—and why that terror may even be good for you. Learn More
Through extensive interviews with GoldenEye's creators, writer and scholar Alyse Knorr traces the story of how this unlikely licensed game reinvigorated a franchise and a genre. Learn all the stories behind how this iconic title was developed, and why GoldenEye 007 has continued to kick the living daylights out of every other Bond game since. Learn More
