History & Culture Audiobooks | Biography & Memoir

Pioneer Doctor: The Story Of A Woman's Work

When Mollie Babcock stepped off the train in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1890, she knew she had to start a new life. She'd left her husband and their medical practice in Iowa, and with only a few hundred dollars in her pocket and a great deal of pride, she set out to find a new position as a physician. She was offered a job as doctor to the miners at Bannack, Montana, and thus began her epic adventures in the Rocky Mountain West. The true story of a medicine woman who found opportunity in the wide-open spaces of America's frontier west, Pioneer Doctor: The Story of a Woman's Work, is not just a beautifully written and thoroughly researched story of a fascinating woman's life. It is also the story of an era when daring women ventured forth and changed history for the rest of us.

Mari Graña (Author), Patricia Davis (Narrator)

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The Confidante: The Untold Story of the Woman Who Helped Win WWII and Shape Modern America

Though Anna Rosenberg emerged from modest immigrant beginnings, equipped with only a high school education, she was the real power behind national policies critical to America winning the war and prospering afterwards. Astonishingly, her story remains largely forgotten. With a disarming mix of charm and Tammany-hewn toughness, Rosenberg began her career in public relations in 1920s Manhattan. As FDR's unofficial adviser, Rosenberg soon wielded enormous influence-no less potent for being subtle. Her extraordinary career continued after his death. By 1950, she was tapped to become the assistant secretary of defense-the highest position ever held by a woman in the US military-prompting Senator Joe McCarthy to wage an unsuccessful smear campaign against her. Until the end of her life, Rosenberg fought tirelessly for causes from racial integration to women's equality to national healthcare. More than the story of one remarkable woman, The Confidante explores who gets to be at the forefront of history, and why. In this inspiring, impeccably researched, and revelatory book, Christopher C. Gorham at last affords Anna Rosenberg the recognition she so richly deserves.

Christopher C. Gorham (Author), Ann Richardson (Narrator)

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Under the Boab Tree

Boaboa - pronounced ‘Bow-a-Bow-a’ - is the name given to a real tree—the Baobab—that imparts wisdom to a growing child in a South African garden. This stirring memoir traverses Africa and Australia following the Speer-Jordan family, who fled persecution and poverty in Varniai, Lithuania, to South Africa. The political machinations they witnessed in that time in South Africa changed the women forever in this unusual family. As the story unfolds, Isabella and Franceska’s tenacity and courage surface as they prove to be hardy and, at times, seemingly indestructible with their strong roots. Under The Boab Tree is a tale about the souls of these women connecting to the people they meet—like Princess Yasmin Aga Khan, Rita Hayworth’s daughter—and the richness of their hearts. The mother and daughter’s spiritual, political, and humanitarian awakenings in this chronicle give them power and purpose in finding truth and justice for others and themselves through adversity. This is a story about how Isabella and Franceska came to a place of acceptance and stillness, finding their ultimate saviour: love. A love that unravels and transcends exploitation and fear.

Franceska Jordan (Author), Franceska Jordan (Narrator)

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My Auto-Biography by Joe Biden

It's All Here! The Life of The Joe 'Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.' - William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night. (What the Bard of Avon might have written even today had he the opportunity to meet the King of Kovid and the Cyclic Cycler of Redundancy and Recursive Mental Fluidity). And so it is that this Man for All Reasons now graces the world with his wisdom and his downright homeyness. What a delight to read and learn of the man's own thoughts before they vanish like ice in hot water. For like ice itself, his thoughts are hard and inflexible, which must demonstrate a kind of mental gymnastics as they nonetheless transition from liquidity to cold concrete and then quickly evaporate into the heavens like a carbonated food print. The Guiding Principles of Joe's Life The Eight Big Attitudes (1) Blessed are the chic who mumble for they shall become president. (2) Blessed are our boarders for they shall pay rent. (3) Blessed are the homeless for they shall seem odd and live in California. (4) Blessed are the corrupt for they shall run the Department of Justice. (5) Blessed are the naked for they are for touching and sniffing. (6) Blessed is foreign policy for it is for them and not us. (7) Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for tail for they shall be with Hunter. The wit and wisdom of The Big Guy, Joe of the Magic Syntax, who once said, 'There is no reason to be afraid, for tax for sins like drugs and stuff makes think me things many and more.' Read more about Joe's syntax from the perspective of a grammarian inside. Or, as the great American poet ee cummings might have written had he been around today, 'Joey lives in a pretty White House, within go leaving aides and out. Sultry passes, swampy gasses, and goes the luster with the muster. Called attention to are we, all the Greenies, meanies not. I order got no my to thoughts, just my Twitter writ by bots.'

J. Galt Escort (Author), Mark Williams (Narrator)

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[Portuguese] - Sertório e Eumenes: Vidas Paralelas

Sertório e Eumenes é um dos pares de biografias que Plutarco escreveu e que pertence a uma série que se conhece por Vidas Paralelas. Nascido provavelmente no ano 46 da nossa era, na cidade grega de Queroneia, na Beócia, Plutarco deixou-nos muitos escritos, sob a forma de curtos ensaios, sobre temas tão diversos como filosofia, ética, educação, política, religião, psicologia, ciências naturais, literatura, retórica e biografias. Plutarco busca nas suas Vidas Paralelas o carácter, a influência da educação, o drama dos sucessos e dos insucessos dos seus personagens, a atitude dos seus sujeitos face a tais destinos e os respetivos ensinamentos morais que daí podem advir. Neste par, Plutarco aborda a vida do general romano Sertório, personagem de relevo na história antiga do território português, e a de Eumenes de Cárdia, um dos generais de Alexandre, o Grande.

Plutarco (Author), Luis Matias (Narrator)

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The Diary Keepers: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Times – World War II in the Netherlands, as Writte

Based on select writings from an exceptional Amsterdam archive containing more than two thousand Dutch diaries from World War II, The Diary Keepers illuminates a part of history we haven’t seen in quite this way before. This audiobook is read by Nina Siegal, Maggi-Meg Reed, Nan McNamara, Catherine Taber, Jenna Lamia, Rob Shapiro, Mike Ortego, Robert Petkoff, Steven Jay Cohen and Jim Meskimen Nina Siegal, an accomplished journalist and novelist, weaves together excerpts from the daily journals of collaborators, resistors, and the persecuted—a Dutch Nazi police detective, a Jewish journalist imprisoned at Westerbork transit camp, a grocery store owner who saved dozens of lives—into a braided nonfictional narrative of the Nazi occupation and the Dutch Holocaust, as individuals experienced it day by day. Siegal provides the context, both historical and personal, while she tries to make sense of her own relationship to this past. As a “second-generation survivor” born and raised in New York, she attempts to understand what it meant for her mother and maternal grandparents to live through the war in Europe in those times. When Siegal moved to Amsterdam, those questions came up again, as did another horrifying one: Why did 75 percent of the Dutch Jewish community perish in the war, while in other Western European countries the proportions were significantly lower? How did this square with the narratives of Dutch resistance she had heard so much about, and in what way did it relate to the famed Dutch tolerance? Searching and singular, The Diary Keepers takes us into the lives of seven diary writers and follows their pasts into the present, through interviews with those who preserved and inherited these diaries. Along the way, Siegal investigates the nature of memory and how the traumatic past is rewritten again and again.

Nina Siegal (Author), Catherine Taber, Jenna Lamia, Jim Meskimen, Maggie-Meg Reed, Mike Ortego, Nan Mcnamara, Rob Shapiro, Robert Petkoff, Steven Jay (Narrator)

Audiobook

Feral: Losing Myself and Finding My Way in America’s National Parks

A bracing memoir about self-discovery, liberating escape, and moving forward across an adventurous and volatile American landscape. One year. One national park at a time. This is it. No more California. I’m sifting into the underbelly of where the nomads go. After a decade as an assistant to high-powered LA executives, Emily Pennington left behind her structured life and surrendered to the pull of the great outdoors. With a tight budget, meticulous routing, and a temperamental minivan she named Gizmo, Emily embarked on a yearlong road trip to sixty-two national parks, hell-bent on a single goal: getting through the adventure in one piece. She was instantly thrust into more chaos than she’d bargained for and found herself on an unpredictable journey rocked by a gutting romantic breakup, a burgeoning pandemic, wildfires, and other seismic challenges that threatened her safety, her sanity, and the trip itself. What began as an intrepid obsession soon evolved into a life-changing experience. Navigating the tangle of life’s unexpected sucker punches, Feral invites readers along on Emily’s grand, blissful, and sometimes perilous journey, where solitude, resilience, self-reliance, and personal transformation run wild.

Emily Pennington (Author), Emily Pennington (Narrator)

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A Few Days Full of Trouble: Revelations on the Journey to Justice for My Cousin and Best Friend, Emm

The last surviving witness to the lynching of Emmett Till tells his story, with poignant recollections of Emmett as a boy, critical insights into the recent investigation, and powerful lessons for racial reckoning, both then and now. "In this moving and important book, the Reverend Wheeler Parker Jr. and Christopher Benson give us a unique window onto the anguished search for justice in a case whose implications shape us still."-JON MEACHAM In 1955, Emmett Till was lynched when he was fourteen years old. That remains an undisputed fact of the case that ignited a flame within the Civil Rights Movement that has yet to be extinguished. Yet the rest of the details surrounding the event remain distorted by time and too many tellings. What does justice mean in the resolution of a cold case spanning nearly seven decades? In A Few Days Full of Trouble, this question drives a new perspective on the story of Emmett Till, relayed by his cousin and best friend-the Reverend Wheeler Parker Jr., a survivor of the night of terror when young Emmett was taken from his family's rural Mississippi Delta home in the dead of night. In a hypnotic interplay between uncovered facts and vivid recall, Rev. Parker offers an emotional and suspenseful page-turner, set against a backdrop of reporting errors and manipulations, racial reckoning, and political pushback-and he does so accompanied by never-before-seen findings in the investigation, the soft resurrection of memory, and the battle-tested courage of faith. A Few Days Full of Trouble is a powerful work of truth-telling, a gift to readers looking to reconcile the weight of the past with a hope for the future.

Christopher Benson, Wheeler Parker (Author), Jd Jackson (Narrator)

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Spare

It was one of the most searing images of the twentieth century: two young boys, two princes, walking behind their mother's coffin as the world watched in sorrow-and horror. As Princess Diana was laid to rest, billions wondered what Prince William and Prince Harry must be thinking and feeling-and how their lives would play out from that point on. For Harry, this is that story at last. Before losing his mother, twelve-year-old Prince Harry was known as the carefree one, the happy-go-lucky Spare to the more serious Heir. Grief changed everything. He struggled at school, struggled with anger, with loneliness-and, because he blamed the press for his mother's death, he struggled to accept life in the spotlight. At twenty-one, he joined the British Army. The discipline gave him structure, and two combat tours made him a hero at home. But he soon felt more lost than ever, suffering from post-traumatic stress and prone to crippling panic attacks. Above all, he couldn't find true love. Then he met Meghan. The world was swept away by the couple's cinematic romance and rejoiced in their fairy-tale wedding. But from the beginning, Harry and Meghan were preyed upon by the press, subjected to waves of abuse, racism, and lies. Watching his wife suffer, their safety and mental health at risk, Harry saw no other way to prevent the tragedy of history repeating itself but to flee his mother country. Over the centuries, leaving the Royal Family was an act few had dared. The last to try, in fact, had been his mother. . . . For the first time, Prince Harry tells his own story, chronicling his journey with raw, unflinching honesty. A landmark publication, Spare is full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief.

Prince Harry, The Duke Of Sussex (Author), Prince Harry, The Duke Of Sussex (Narrator)

Audiobook

Love and Justice

In the tradition of Just Mercy, an inspirational memoir by WNBA star Maya Moore Irons and her husband, Jonathan Irons, who she helped free from a wrongful conviction. A journey for justice turned into a love story when Maya Moore, one of the WNBA's brightest stars, married the man she helped free from prison, Jonathan Irons. Jonathan was only 16 when he was arrested for a crime he did not commit. Maya Moore's family met Jonathan through a prison ministry program in 1999 and over time developed a close bond with him. Maya met Jonathan in 2007, shortly before her freshman year at the University of Connecticut, where she became one of the most heralded women's basketball players in collegiate history. She visited him often throughout the years, as well as sending him letters and books as he fought for his freedom; ultimately, she became a strong voice for prosecutorial changes. She stunned the sports world when she announced in February 2019 that she would step away from her career in women's basketball, in part so she could help Jonathan in what they hoped would be his final appeal. In March 2020, his conviction was overturned by a state judge in Jefferson City, Mo. In this inspiring memoir, the couple will explore their unwavering faith, their deep connection, and how Maya stepped away from basketball to pursue justice both to prove Jonathan's innocence and inspire activism in others. Just like Maya and Jonathan asked themselves, readers will ask themselves one of the most important questions they can after reading this book: 'Am I living out my purpose?'

Bryan Stevenson, Jonathan Irons, Maya Moore Irons, Travis Thrasher (Author), Jonathan Irons, Maya Moore Irons (Narrator)

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Life on Delay: Making Peace with a Stutter

An intimate, candid memoir about a lifelong struggle to speak. • "A raw, intimate look at [Hendrickson's] life with a stutter. It's a profoundly moving book that will reshape the way you think about people living with this condition."-Esquire "Brims with empathy and honesty...It's fantastic."-Clint Smith, best-selling author of How the Word Is Passed "I can't remember the last time I read a book that made me want to both cry and cheer so much, often at the same time."-Robert Kolker, best-selling author of Hidden Valley Road In the fall of 2019, John Hendrickson wrote a groundbreaking story for The Atlantic about Joe Biden's decades-long journey with stuttering, as well as his own. The article went viral, reaching readers around the world and altering the course of Hendrickson's life. Overnight, he was forced to publicly confront an element of himself that still caused him great pain. He soon learned he wasn't alone with his feelings: strangers who stutter began sending him their own personal stories, something that continues to this day. Now, in this reported memoir, Hendrickson takes us deep inside the mind and heart of a stutterer as he sets out to answer lingering questions about himself and his condition that he was often too afraid to ask. In Life on Delay, Hendrickson writes candidly about bullying, substance abuse, depression, isolation, and other issues stutterers like him face daily. He explores the intricate family dynamics surrounding his own stutter and revisits key people from his past in unguarded interviews. Readers get an over-the-shoulder view of his childhood; his career as a journalist, which once seemed impossible; and his search for a romantic partner. Along the way, Hendrickson guides us through the evolution of speech therapy, the controversial quest for a "magic pill" to end stuttering, and the burgeoning self-help movement within the stuttering community. Beyond his own experiences, he shares portraits of fellow stutterers who have changed his life, and he writes about a pioneering doctor who is upending the field of speech therapy. Life on Delay is an indelible account of perseverance, a soulful narrative about not giving up, and a glimpse into the process of making peace with our past and present selves.

John Hendrickson (Author), George Newbern (Narrator)

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438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea

The incredible true survival story of one man's record-breaking fourteen months lost at sea. On 17th November, 2012, Salvador Alvarenga left the coast of Mexico for a two-day fishing trip. A vicious storm killed his engine and the current dragged his boat out to sea. The storm picked up and carried him West, deeper into the heart of the Pacific Ocean. Alvarenga would not touch solid ground again for fourteen months. When he was washed ashore on January 30th, 2014, he had drifted over 9,000 miles. Three dozen cruise ships and container vessels passed nearby. Not one stopped for the stranded fisherman. He considered suicide on multiple occasions – including offering himself up to a pack of circling sharks. But Alvarenga developed a method of survival that kept his body and mind intact long enough for the Pacific Ocean to spit him up onto a remote palm-studded island. Crawling ashore, he was saved by a local couple living in their own private castaway paradise. Based on dozens of hours of interviews with Alvarenga and his colleagues, search and rescue officials, the medical team that saved his life and the remote islanders who nursed him back to normality, 438 Days by Jonathan Franklin is an epic tale of survival and one man's incredible story of beating the ultimate odds.

Jonathan Franklin (Author), George Newbern (Narrator)

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History & Culture Audiobooks in Biography & Memoir