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.
George C. Daughan's magnificently detailed account of the battle of Lexington and Concord will challenge the prevailing narrative of the American War of Independence. Authoritative and immersive, Lexington and Concord offers new understanding of a battle that became a template for colonial uprising in later centuries. Learn More
by Anne Higonnet; read by Elisabeth Lagelee and Anne Higonnet
This is a story for our time: of a revolution that demanded universal human rights, of self-creation, of women empowering each other, and of transcendent glamor. Learn More
Library of Small Catastrophes, Alison Rollins's ambitious debut collection, interrogates the body and nation as storehouses of countless tragedies. Learn More
Franken trains his subversive wit directly on the contemporary political scene, earning him the nickname the "master of political humor" (Washington Post) . Learn More
by Kwame Anthony Appiah; read by Kwame Anthony Appiah
From the bestselling author of Cosmopolitanism comes this revealing exploration of how the collective identities that shape our polarized world are riddled with contradiction. Learn More
by Simone Weil; edited by Robert Chenavier and André A. Devaux; translated by Nicholas Elliott; contributions by Marie- Noëlle Chenavier- Jullien, Annette Devaux, and Olivier Rey; read by Elisabeth Lagelee
The inspiring letters of philosopher, mystic, and freedom fighter Simone Weil to her family, presented for the first time in English. Learn More
by Dawn M. Hadley and Julian Richards; read by Mary Sarah
This book describes life in the tents and towns that the Viking Great Army inhabited: the treasure, tools, and weapons found in the camps and what they reveal about how the groups that made up the Army lived and the activities that took place, including the processing and trading of loot, the minting of coins, and the manufacture of jewelry. What emerges is evidence of a rich and diverse community whose impact on England can be traced to the present day. Learn More
In this unique book, John Janovy Jr., one of the world's preeminent experts on parasites, reveals what can humans learn from the most reviled yet misunderstood animals on Earth: lice, tapeworms, flukes, and maggots that can eat a lizard from the inside, and how these lessons help us negotiate our own complicated world. Whether we're learning to adapt to adverse conditions, accept our own limitations, or process new information in an ever-changing landscape—we can be sure a parasite did it first. Learn More
This book tells the complete story of the quest to answer one of the most tantalizing questions in astronomy. But it is more than a history. Life on Mars explains what we need to know before we go. It also shows how Mars mania has obscured our vision since we first turned our sights on the planet and encourages a healthy skepticism toward the media hype surrounding Mars as humanity prepares to venture forth. 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
In Light of the Stars, astrophysicist and NPR commentator Adam Frank reveals what the latest research on alien civilizations may tell us about our own. Learn More
A U.S. fighter pilot captured by the enemy. A father determined to rescue his son. One of the most remarkable and moving true stories of faith and perseverance to come out of World War II. Learn More
Rush was one of the most celebrated hard rock acts of the '80s, and the second book of Popoff's staggeringly comprehensive three-part series takes listeners from Permanent Waves to Presto, while bringing new insight to Moving Pictures, their crowning glory. Learn More
A groundbreaking, magisterial study that explains why, like Walt Whitman, we "love the President personally."
In a stunning feat of scholarship, insight, and engaging prose, Lincoln's Body explores how a president ungainly in body and downright "ugly" of aspect came to mean so much to us. Learn More
