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History

Travel through time with the best history audiobooks that bring the past vividly to life. Our collection covers ancient civilizations, world wars, cultural movements, and pivotal moments that shaped our world – all narrated by engaging storytellers who make historical events feel immediate and relevant.

History

Over the Top Audiobook Free: A Raw Journey Through WWI Trenches – Free Download

Arthur Guy Empey was an American who responded to the sinking of the Lusitania by enlisting with the British Army to fight in France. His experiences in the trenches, including his ultimate wounding and convalescence, became this book. When published in 1917, it was a major hit and helped the recruiting effort when America entered the Great War.

If you’ve heard of the horror of trench warfare in WWI and want to see it from below dirt level, Empey offers it all here.

Also included is Empey’s popular “Tommy’s Dictionary of the Trenches” which humorously demistifies the slang used by the British soldier. (Summary by Mark F. Smith)

History

Becoming: The Sunday Times Number One Bestseller Audiobook: A Journey Through Authentic Storytelling – Free Download

Brought to you by Penguin.

Winner of the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album

Winner of the 2020 Audie Award for Autobiography/Memoir

An intimate, powerful, and inspiring memoir; 17 million copies sold worldwide

THE NO. 1 BESTSELLER

BRITISH BOOK AWARDS, NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR

THE SUNDAY TIMES, MEMOIR OF THE YEAR

BOOKS OF THE YEAR: THE TIMES, OBSERVER, GUARDIAN, EVENING STANDARD

‘A polished pearl of a memoir’ New York Times

In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America – the first African American to serve in that role – she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the United States and around the world, dramatically changing the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives and standing with her husband as he led America through some of its most harrowing moments. Along the way, she showed us a few dance moves, crushed Carpool Karaoke, and raised two down-to-earth daughters under an unforgiving media glare.

In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her — from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it — in her own words and on her own terms.

Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations — and whose story inspires us to do the same.

‘A genuine page-turner, full of intimacies and reflections’ Evening Standard

‘A rich, entertaining and candid memoir. And overall Obama’s a fun person to sit alongside as she tells you the story of her life . . . it is as beautifully written as any piece of fiction’ i

‘Offers new insights into her upbringing on the south side of Chicago and the highs and lows of life with Barack Obama. . . a refreshing level of honesty about what politics really did to her. I have read Barack Obama’s two books so far, and this is like inserting a missing piece of reality into the narrative of his dizzying journey’ Guardian

‘I found myself lifting my jaw from my chest at the end of every other chapter . . . this was not the Obama I thought I knew. She was more’ Independent

‘An inspirational memoir that also rings true’ Daily Telegraph

‘It seems a wonderful privilege to have the former First Lady speaking her own words straight into your ear, and her own reading gives the anecdotes extra meaning and emotion’ Daily Mail

MICHELLE OBAMA’S NEXT BOOK, THE LIGHT WE CARRY, IS AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW

©2018 Michelle Obama (P)2018 Penguin Books Ltd

History

Caste (Oprah’s Book Club): The Origins of Our Discontents Audiobook: A Scholarly Analysis of Hidden Hierarchies – Free Download

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • “An instant American classic and almost certainly the keynote nonfiction book of the American century thus far.”—Dwight Garner, The New York Times

The Pulitzer Prize–winning, bestselling author of The Warmth of Other Suns examines the unspoken caste system that has shaped America and shows how our lives today are still defined by a hierarchy of human divisions—now with a new Afterword by the author.

#1 NONFICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR: Time
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, O: The Oprah Magazine, NPR, Bloomberg, The Christian Science Monitor, New York Post, The New York Public Library, Fortune, Smithsonian Magazine, Marie Claire, Slate, Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews

Winner of the Carl Sandberg Literary Award • Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize • National Book Award Longlist • National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist • Dayton Literary Peace Prize Finalist • PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction Finalist • PEN/Jean Stein Book Award Longlist • Kirkus Prize Finalist

“As we go about our daily lives, caste is the wordless usher in a darkened theater, flashlight cast down in the aisles, guiding us to our assigned seats for a performance. The hierarchy of caste is not about feelings or morality. It is about power—which groups have it and which do not.”
 
In this brilliant book, Isabel Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched, and beautifully written narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings.
 
Beyond race, class, or other factors, there is a powerful caste system that influences people’s lives and behavior and the nation’s fate. Linking the caste systems of America, India, and Nazi Germany, Wilkerson explores eight pillars that underlie caste systems across civilizations, including divine will, bloodlines, stigma, and more. Using riveting stories about people—including Martin Luther King, Jr., baseball’s Satchel Paige, a single father and his toddler son, Wilkerson herself, and many others—she shows the ways that the insidious undertow of caste is experienced every day. She documents how the Nazis studied the racial systems in America to plan their outcasting of the Jews; she discusses why the cruel logic of caste requires that there be a bottom rung for those in the middle to measure themselves against; she writes about the surprising health costs of caste, in depression and life expectancy, and the effects of this hierarchy on our culture and politics. Finally, she points forward to ways America can move beyond the artificial and destructive separations of human divisions, toward hope in our common humanity.

Original and revealing, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents is an eye-opening story of people and history, and a reexamination of what lies under the surface of ordinary lives and of American life today.

History

Declaration of Independence Audiobook Free: A Scholarly Exploration of Liberty – Free Download

On July 4, 1776 the Continental Congress adopted the United State Declaration of Independence. The document declared the independence of the thirteen American colonies from Great Britain. The Declaration justified the independence of the United Sates by listing a number of grievances against King George III, and by asserting certain natural rights. The document was written primarily by Thomas Jefferson and signed by 56 of the most influential and well known politicians, statesman and delegates of the time including Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, John Hancock and Thomas Jefferson.

History

Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold Audiobook: A Journey Through Ancient Civilizations – Free Download

Brought to you by Penguin

STEP INTO ANOTHER WORLD – OF MAGIC, MAYHEM, MONSTERS AND MANIACAL GODS – IN STEPHEN FRY’S MOMENTOUS SUNDAY TIMES AND AUDIBLE BESTSELLER, MYTHOS

Discover Stephen Fry’s magnificent retelling of the greatest myths and legends ever told . . .

No one loves and quarrels, desires and deceives as boldly or brilliantly as Greek gods and goddesses.

In Stephen Fry’s vivid retelling, we gaze in wonder as wise Athena is born from the cracking open of the great head of Zeus and follow doomed Persephone into the dark and lonely realm of the Underworld.

Shiver in fear when Pandora opens her jar of evil torments.

Listen with joy as the legendary love affair between Eros and Psyche unfolds.

Read by Stephen Fry himself, Mythos captures these extraordinary myths for our modern age – in all their dazzling and deeply human relevance.

If you’re enthralled by the magic of Greek mythology you’ll love Fry’s follow-up books HEROES and TROY, with tales of mortals and monsters, quests and adventures.

‘Wit and erudition are impressively evident . . . Read by Fry with his accustomed ebullient showmanship [he] gives the legends modern resonance by telling them with a contemporary colloquial twist’ — AUDIOBOOK OF THE WEEK – The Sunday Times

‘A head-spinning marathon of legends’ Guardian

© Stephen Fry 2017 (P) Penguin Audio 2017

History

Life in a Tank Audiobook Free: A Soldier’s Journey Through WWI – Free Download

Richard Haigh was an Infantry lieutenant in the 2nd Royal Berkshire Infantry Regiment serving in the Somme area in 1916. Shortly after Tanks were first used in battle in September of 1916 the British Army asked for volunteers, Lieutenant Haigh signed up and was accepted in December of 1916. He describes the training and actions he participated in until the war ended in 1918. He was awarded MC in 1916 as Lt. (acting Capt.) Richard Haigh, Royal Berkshire Regiment. He was commissioned from the RMC (Sandhurst) to the Berkshires 16th Feb 1915; on resigning his commission in 1919, he joined the General Reserve of Officers. (Summary by William A. Crenshaw)

History

Black Flags, Blue Waters: The Epic History of America’s Most Notorious Pirates Audiobook: A Journey Through the Golden Age of Piracy – Free Download

Set against the backdrop of the Age of Exploration, Black Flags, Blue Waters reveals the dramatic and surprising history of American piracy’s ‘Golden Age’-spanning the late 1600s through the early 1700s-when lawless pirates plied the coastal waters of North America and beyond. Bestselling author Eric Jay Dolin illustrates how American colonists at first supported these outrageous pirates in an early display of solidarity against the Crown, and then violently opposed them. Through engrossing episodes of roguish glamour and extreme brutality, Dolin depicts the star pirates of this period, among them towering Blackbeard, ill-fated Captain Kidd, and sadistic Edward Low, who delighted in torturing his prey. Also brilliantly detailed are the pirates’ manifold enemies, including colonial governor John Winthrop and evangelist Cotton Mather. Upending popular misconceptions and cartoonish stereotypes, Dolin provides this wholly original account of the seafaring outlaws whose raids reflect the precarious nature of American colonial life.

History

Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 Audiobook: A Journey Through Courage and Sacrifice – Free Download

Follow along a Navy SEAL’s firsthand account of American heroism during a secret military operation in Afghanistan in this true story of survival and difficult choices.

On a clear night in late June 2005, four U.S. Navy SEALs left their base in northern Afghanistan for the mountainous Pakistani border. Their mission was to capture or kill a notorious al Qaeda leader known to be ensconced in a Taliban stronghold surrounded by a small but heavily armed force. Less then twenty-four hours later, only one of those Navy SEALs remained alive.

This is the story of fire team leader Marcus Luttrell, the sole survivor of Operation Redwing, and the desperate battle in the mountains that led, ultimately, to the largest loss of life in Navy SEAL history. But it is also, more than anything, the story of his teammates, who fought ferociously beside him until he was the last one left-blasted unconscious by a rocket grenade, blown over a cliff, but still armed and still breathing. Over the next four days, badly injured and presumed dead, Luttrell fought off six al Qaeda assassins who were sent to finish him, then crawled for seven miles through the mountains before he was taken in by a Pashtun tribe, who risked everything to protect him from the encircling Taliban killers.

A six-foot-five-inch Texan, Leading Petty Officer Luttrell takes us, blow by blow, through the brutal training of America’s warrior elite and the relentless rites of passage required by the Navy SEALs. He transports us to a monstrous battle fought in the desolate peaks of Afghanistan, where the beleaguered American team plummeted headlong a thousand feet down a mountain as they fought back through flying shale and rocks.

In this rich, moving chronicle of courage, honor, and patriotism, Marcus Luttrell delivers one of the most powerful narratives ever written about modern warfare — and a tribute to his teammates, who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

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