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.
AudioFile Earphones Winner BookPage Best Books of 2018 Best books of the year by Rolling Stone, BookPage, and Amazon
Rollicking, cinematic, deeply researched, highly readable, and thrillingly topical, Burning Down the Haus brings to life the young men and women who successfully fought authoritarianism three chords at a time—and is a fiery testament to the irrepressible spirit of resistance. Learn More
A brilliant, paradigm-shifting global history of how humanity has reshaped the planet, and the planet has shaped human history, over the last 500 years. Learn More
The death of Colonel Muammar Qadhafi freed Libya from forty-two years of despotic rule, raising hopes for a new era. But in the aftermath, the country descended into bitter rivalries and civil war, paving the way for the Islamic State and a catastrophic migrant crisis. In a fast-paced narrative that blends frontline reporting, analysis, and history, Frederic Wehrey tells the story of what went wrong. Learn More
The Burr Conspiracy offers a panoramic and multifaceted portrait of the United States at a time when it was far from clear to its people how long it would last. James E. Lewis also traces the enduring legacy of the stories that were told and accepted during this moment of uncertainty. Learn More
by Tom Z. Collina & William J. Perry; read by John Pruden
From authors William J. Perry and Tom Z. Collina, The Button recounts the terrifying history of nuclear launch authority, from the faulty forty-six-cent microchip that nearly caused World War III to president Trump's tweet about his "much bigger & more powerful" button. Learn More
A paradigm-shifting investigation of Jim Crow–era violence, the legal apparatus that sustained it, and its enduring legacy, from a renowned legal scholar. Learn More
Offering listeners a new perspective on the historical importance of actuarial science in structural racism, Calculating Race is a particularly timely contribution as Big Data and algorithmic decision making increasingly pervade our lives. Learn More
From the "former sex worker taking Hollywood by storm" (The Daily Beast), comes a candid and hilarious memoir of sex work, shame, and self-discovery set in the colorful world of live-streaming camgirls. Learn More
A compelling new biography of Camilla, Queen Consort, that reveals how she transformed her role and established herself as one of the key members of the royal family. Learn More
In Campaigning in a Racially Diversifying America, Loren Collingwood develops a theory of Cross-Racial Electoral Mobilization (CRM) to explain why, when, and how candidates of one race or ethnicity act to mobilize voters of another race or ethnicity. Learn More
In Can Democracy Survive Global Capitalism? one of our leading social critics recounts capitalism's finest hour, and shows us how we might achieve it once again. Learn More
The Cancer Problem: Malignancy in Nineteenth-Century Britain argues that it was in the nineteenth century that cancer acquired the unique emotional, symbolic, and politicized status it maintains today. Learn More
Part candy porn, part candy polemic, part social history, part confession, Candyfreak explores the role candy plays in our lives as both source of pleasure and escape from pain. Learn More
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Natalie Angier takes a joyride through the major scientific disciplines—physics, chemistry, biology, geology, and astronomy. Her approach is smart, funny, and sure to inspire a new appreciation of science. Learn More
Mordantly funny and piercingly urgent, The Capital, the winner of Germany's highest fiction prize, is an "elegantly written, beautifully constructed" (Die Zeit) feat of world literature. Learn More
Edited by Travis Langley, Foreword by Stan Lee; read by Reba Buhr and Kevin T. Collins
Freedom vs. security, the basic human dilemma. Can heroes really protect both? Two iconic figures, two living symbols whose choices make them superheroes and leaders, come to completely opposite conclusions. Learn More
The unknown story of the only leprosy colony in the continental United States, and the thousands of Americans who were exiled—hidden away with their "shameful" disease. Learn More
