Historical Audiobooks

The Archaeopteryx: The History and Mystery Surrounding the Flying Dinosaur Genus

The massively popular 1990 novel Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton and its subsequent movie adaptations led to a huge resurgence in interest in dinosaurs and the prehistoric world. That interest continues to the present day, even though most of the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park weren’t actually from the Jurassic period. Triceratops, Velociraptor, Tyrannosaurus Rex and the huge sauropods such as Brachiosaurus that feature in the book and movies all actually belong to the Late Cretaceous period, more than 40 million years after the end of the Jurassic. Regardless, certain kinds of dinosaurs remain instantly recognizable. The movie also popularized pterodactyls, and the concept of flying dinosaurs fascinates people. There is no doubt that Archaeopteryx, which lived over 150 million years ago, was one of the earliest birds or avialans (bird-like creatures), and when the first fossil of it was discovered, it was hailed as a potential missing link between dinosaurs and birds. The name Archaeopteryx comes from Greek, the word for “ancient” and the term for “wing” or “feather.” The creature is occasionally referenced by the German, “Urvogel,” which literally means “primeval bird.” From the known species of Archaeopteryx, the creature grew no longer than half a meter (20 inches), including its long, bony tail. Despite its bird-like appearance, scientists point out that the genus has far more in common with the dinosaurs of its day than with the thousands of bird species of our modern age. Over time, however, others would argue it was actually the missing link between birds and other reptiles. Meanwhile, the debate over whether it was the first avialan came and went, as it was discovered to not be the first.

Charles River Editors (Author), Jim D. Johnston (Narrator)

Audiobook

Among the Great

A tale of courage and true heroism set during the reign of England's greatest king! The year is AD 877, and King Alfred has succeeded in driving the marauding Danes from his kingdom - for the time being. Edwin and his sister Edith are just beginning to enjoy their liberty when, one terrible night, their lives change forever. Separated from one another, and caught up in the turmoil of their times, Edwin and Edith must learn to discern between truth and falsehood, friend and foe, or be swept away on a tide of treachery. A blind bard, a lame blacksmith, and an ambitious warrior all have their role in this tale of courage and true heroism set during the reign of Alfred the Great. 'Captivating! Among the Great moves forward at a quick pace and kept me turning the pages to find out what happens next.' Emily Hall, Author of Becoming Lottie Moon 'This was excellently written and such an engaging story! ... Such a joy to read!' Darya C., Editor

Amy Ullrich (Author), Deedee Ash (Narrator)

Audiobook

Margaret of Wessex: Mother, Saint, and Queen of Scots

The 11th century was a dangerous time to be of the line unbroken of King Æthelred II Unread and his first queen, Æfgifu of York. Born in Hungary after King Canute III's failed attempt to murder her father, Edward the Exile, Margaret found her life turned upside down by King Edward the Confessor's discovery of her father's survival -- and the resulting recall of her family to England. Now a political hostage only kept alive for as long as it served powerful men's interests, Margaret and her family found King Máel Coluim mac Donnchadh Ceann Mhor (Malcolm III Canmore)'s invitation to his court in Dunfermline in Alba the long-awaited answer to her prayers. Scotland would never be the same again.

Laurel A. Rockefeller (Author), Steven Vox (Narrator)

Audiobook

[Spanish] - Ignacio de Loyola, soldado de Jesús

La biografía comienza en medio de la batalla, allí donde el santo siempre estuvo, sobre todo en su vida espiritual, como soldado de Jesús. No es fácil encerrar en unas cuantas páginas la vida de San Ignacio de Loyola, pero eso se ha pretendido, hacer un resumen novelado de los acontecimientos que forjaron a uno de los grandes santos de la iglesia, cuya repercusión aún alcanza en nuestros tiempos, no solamente con su gran fundación, la Compañía de Jesús, sino con sus ejercicios ignacianos. Se ha pretendido con el libro acercar a los jóvenes esta figura de la iglesia que merece recuerdo y actualización. El estilo por lo tanto es claro y asequible, sin perder profundidad. Se ha novelado su vida, pero sin ir más allá de los hechos. Julio César Romano nace en 1969 en Talavera de la Reina (Toledo) y pasará su infancia en un pequeño pueblo llamado Mohedas de la Jara. Es Licenciado en Filología Hispánica en la Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Ha hecho numerosos viajes a Israel, Italia, Irlanda. En la actualidad es profesor de Griego, Lengua y Literatura. Lleva ejerciendo la docencia desde 1995. Ha publicado más de una docena de libros de literatura infantil y juvenil en diferentes editoriales, entre ellas varias biografías noveladas.

Julio César Romano (Author), Alvaro Moreno Gelabert (Narrator)

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The Ancient Adventures Collection

There's so much to digest when it comes to History - how do you know where to begin? These incredible short introductions are just the thing for listeners who are beginning to explore ancient history. Get to know the basics on Ancient Egypt, Rome, and Greece, from religious ceremonies to mummification and day to day life. And on Pirates from famous looters to scurvy and hygiene with easy-to-digest, humorous text that is reminiscent of the best-selling Horrible Histories series. This enhanced audio collection includes the following four titles: Meet the Ancient Egyptians, Meet the Ancient Romans, Meet the Ancient Greeks, and Meet the Pirates. Music and sound effects bring the audio to life for young listeners keen to learn new things.

James Davies (Author), Maria Gbeleyi (Narrator)

Audiobook

Meet the Ancient Romans

There's so much to digest when it comes to History - how do you know where to begin? These incredible short introductions are just the thing for readers who are beginning to explore ancient history. Get to know the basics on Ancient Rome from gladiators to day to day life, with easy-to-digest, humorous text that is reminiscent of the bestselling Horrible Histories series. James Davies' stunning artwork and infographics provide a fresh nonfiction approach that is sure to captivate young readers.

James Davies (Author), Maria Gbeleyi (Narrator)

Audiobook

Reports From The First World War: Nowadays, Tales of War and Unhappy Far-Off Things

Includes the collections Nowadays, Tales of War, & Unhappy Far-Off Things  The great fantasy writer Lord Dunsany wrote very little in the way of fantasy after the onset of the First World War. This was partly because he was busy, having volunteered in 1915 and becoming a Captain in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in Derry. However, the reality of the world bore in on our hero at this time, and it is not difficult to imagine that his heart moved to more serious concerns. Dunsany’s days of high fantasy, it seems, ended with the emergence of civil unrest in his nation. This is why the non-fiction section is included at the end of this collection; while he wrote the odd fantasy work in later years, they were written by a distinctly different man, with a very different life.  For a week, he lay in a hospital bed, listening to the sounds of the riots as the British forces became increasingly violent and shelled the centre of Dublin with artillery. His military belt was left in the hospital, and eventually buried with the Nationalist leader Michael Collins. This, it seems, was the trigger for his change of heart, as expressed in ‘Nowadays’, towards poetry as the essence of writing. “In January 1917, under the stimulant of shellfire, I turned to poetry and wrote two poems in Plug-Street Wood”. After initially being refused forward positioning, he eventually served in the trenches. In this time, his literary output was focused on writing propaganda material for the War Office, some of which is collected in the non-fiction section of this volume.

Lord Dunsany (Author), Charles Featherstone (Narrator)

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The World’s Most Famous Megaliths: The History of Göbekli Tepe, Stonehenge, and the Megalithic Templ

Despite the fact some Neolithic communities grew to considerable sizes, they’re typically not considered when people think of the first ancient civilizations or the first major cities, so when German archaeologists discovered the archaeological site of Göbekli Tepe in southeastern Turkey in the 1990s, it created an academic firestorm that is still raging. Far from being just another settlement, Göbekli Tepe has been described as the world’s first temple and perhaps one of the locations where human civilization began. Subsequent archaeological work at Göbekli Tepe has revealed that the site was a spiritual center for the local population during a time when humans were undergoing a transition as hunter-gatherers in the Paleolithic Period to a more sedentary lifestyle in the Neolithic Period, more than 10,000 years ago. Naturally, when European archaeologists began unearthing the megaliths of Malta in the 19th century, they did not know what to think, which led to a plethora of theories, many of them quite fantastic. At least 23 of these temples were uncovered, but because the people who built them lacked the knowledge of writing, speculation over who built them and why remained well into the 20th century (Rountree 2003, 26). Some people theorized that the Malta megaliths were built by a race of giants, while others believed that it was the center of a “Mother Earth” cult that later spread through Neolithic Europe.  On the Salisbury Plain, only a few hours from the hustle and bustle of Central London, remains one of the greatest surviving relics of humanity's ancient past: the mighty stone circle of Stonehenge. Stonehenge is one of the most well-known ancient sites in the world, and an image of it raises numerous associations and emotional responses. Its impressiveness comes not only from its size and remarkable level of preservation, but more so because of incredible precision during an era of simple technology.

Charles River Editors (Author), Michelle Humphries (Narrator)

Audiobook

Sundaland and Doggerland: The History and Mysteries of the Sunken Landmasses in Asia and Europe

By the time the Pleistocene Epoch ended around 12,000 years ago, Homo sapiens had become one of the most significant species on the planet. It was also near the end of that period of time that modern humans began to gradually populate what would become Europe, Asia, and the Americas, eventually becoming the inheritors of the Paleolithic era and the only human species to make it into the Neolithic era. The cold Pleistocene temperatures lowered water levels across the planet, exposing land that was not there before or after the period. At the same time, significant regions of the planet were very different during the Pleistocene, including Southeast Asia, particularly the modern islands of Bali, Borneo, Sumatra, and the Malay Peninsula, roughly equivalent to parts of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. This region, which modern scholars refer to as Sunda or Sundaland, was unique because all of it was connected by land, meaning today’s islands were once part of a contiguous subcontinent, and in terms of the people, flora, and fauna, it was very different than it is today. Among the most significant water displacement phenomena in the Western world was Doggerland on the northern European continent. The notable inundation occurred in both a steady and eruptive fashion covering a vast stretch of former tundra, a land bridge between today’s British Isles and the European continent. The event brought about the modern English Channel and an expanded North Sea, and unlike the early supercontinents, the inundation of Doggerland took place after the appearance of people. Incrementally submerged since roughly 18,000 years ago as the climate warmed, the patch of sea between Britain and Europe is the subject of much recent scientific scrutiny. 

Charles River Editors (Author), Victoria Woodson (Narrator)

Audiobook

[Italian] - Il Diario Di Anna Frank

Annelies Marie Frank, detta Anne, nome spesso italianizzato in Anna Frank, è una ragazzina ebrea nata in Germania, che durante la seconda guerra mondiale, per sfuggire alla persecuzione nazista, è costretta a nascondersi insieme ai suoi cari e ad una famiglia di conoscenti un alloggio segreto ad Amsterdam. La vita delle due famiglie ebree costrette a vivere recluse per circa due anni, fu minuziosamente descritta da Anna Frank nel suo diario che fu poi pubblicato dal padre, unico superstite.

Anna Frank (Author), Sandra Tedeschi (Narrator)

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[German] - Kriegsgeschichte

Dieses Hörbuch wird von einer digitalen Stimme erzählt. Diese sorgfältig ausgearbeitete Erzählung verwebt die Geschichten von Helden und Bösewichten, dem unerbittlichen Marsch der Armeen und dem beständigen menschlichen Geist angesichts von Konflikten. Vor dem Hintergrund einer Welt im Aufruhr untersucht die Geschichte die Folgen des Krieges sowohl im Großen als auch im persönlichen Maßstab. Während die Flammen der Schlacht weiter toben, werden die Leser in ein detailreiches und fesselndes Universum hineingezogen, in dem Diplomatie, Verrat, Opferbereitschaft und Heldentum aufeinanderprallen.

Russom Teklay (Author), Digitale Stimme Gabriel G (Narrator)

Audiobook

First Bull Run: The History of the Civil War’s First Major Battle

After Fort Sumter, the Lincoln Administration pushed for a quick invasion of Virginia, with the intent of defeating Confederate forces and marching toward the Confederate capitol of Richmond. Lincoln pressed General Irvin McDowell to push forward. Despite the fact that McDowell knew his troops were inexperienced and unready, pressure from Washington politicians forced him to launch a premature offensive against Confederate forces in Northern Virginia. McDowell’s strategy during the First Battle of Bull Run was grand, and in many ways it was the forerunner of a tactic Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and James Longstreet executed brilliantly on nearly the same field during the Second Battle of Bull Run in August 1862. McDowell’s plan called for parts of his army to pin down General P.G.T. Beauregard’s Confederate soldiers in front while marching another wing of his army around the flank and into the enemy’s rear, rolling up the line. McDowell assumed the Confederates would be forced to abandon Manassas Junction and fall back to the next defensible line, the Rappahannock River. In July 1861, however, this proved far too difficult for his inexperienced troops to carry out effectively. As the first major land battle of the Civil War, the First Battle of Bull Run made history in several ways. The two sides fought near the railroad junction at Manassas on July 21, 1861, just 25 miles away from Washington, which was close enough for many civilians from the nation’s capital to come and watch what they expected to be a rout of Confederate forces, and for awhile it appeared as though that might be the case. McDowell’s strategy ultimately fell apart though, mostly thanks to the use of the railroad. Confederate reinforcements under General Joseph E. Johnston, including a brigade led by Thomas Jonathan Jackson, arrived by train in the middle of the day, a first in the history of American warfare.

Jonathan Gianos-Steinberg (Author), Jim Walsh (Narrator)

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