Historical Audiobooks

Theater Actors Then and Now

Actors have entertained audiences for thousands of years. In the past, plays were performed both to entertain and to teach. Today, plays involve the use of lighting, sound systems, and elaborate sets and often have large casts that include many actors.

Kathleen C. Petersen (Author), Teacher Created Materials (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Youngest Marcher: The Story of Audrey Faye Hendricks, a Young Civil Rights Activist

Nine-year-old Audrey Faye Hendricks intended to go places and do things like anybody else.So when she heard grown-ups talk about wiping out Birmingham's segregation laws, she spoke up. As she listened to the preacher's words, smooth as glass, she sat up tall. And when she heard the plan-picket those white stores! March to protest those unfair laws! Fill the jails!-she stepped right up and said, I'll do it! She was going to j-a-a-il!Audrey Faye Hendricks was confident and bold and brave as can be, and hers is the remarkable and inspiring story of one child's role in the Civil Rights Movement.

Cynthia Levinson (Author), Tyla Collier (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Young Abe Lincoln

This album contains five fully-dramatized audio stories on Abraham Lincoln from his birth to his presidency. Educational and entertaining!

Your Story Hour (Author), Aunt Carole, Uncle Dan (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Year of Confusion

In 46 B.C. Julius Caesar devised our calendar starting with a leap year of 15 months and 445 days!

Demar Regier, William L. Steen (Author), Highlights For Children (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Wright Brothers: Nose-Diving Into History

A hilarious nonfiction look at two of history's most epic 'failures': the Wright brothers, whose countless crashes ultimately led to groundbreaking success. Although Orville and Wilbur Wright are celebrated today as heroes for their revolutionary contributions to science and engineering?they are acknowledged as the first men to successfully achieve powered, piloted flight?their success was hard-earned. (Spoiler alert: there were a lot of nosedives involved.) In fact, it took the self-taught engineers years of work and dozens of crashes before they managed a single twelve-second flight! In this first installment of the brand new Epic Fails series, Ben Thompson and Erik Slader take readers through the Wright brothers' many mishaps and misadventures as they paved the way for modern aviation. The Epic Fails series takes a humorous and unexpected view of history, exploring the surprising stories behind a variety of groundbreaking discoveries, voyages, experiments, and innovations, illustrating how many of mankind's biggest successes are in fact the result of some pretty epic failures.

Ben Thompson, Erik Slader (Author), L.J. Ganser (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Wounded Mastodon

A scientist solves the mystery of a wounded Ice-Age creature.

Gail Jarrow (Author), Highlights For Children (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Wouldbegoods

The Wouldbegoods, a sequel to The Treasure Seekers, reacquaints us with the six Bastable children: Dora, Oswald, Dicky, Alice, Noel and H. O. Again, the story is told by you-may-not-know-who, and the children find all sorts of ways in which to amuse themselves in the country during the summer holidays. 'Children are like jam,' says the Indian uncle, 'all very well in the proper place, but you can't stand them all over the shop - eh, what?' Well, the children do their best, but they do get themselves into trouble - right from the beginning, when their latest brainwave is to create a jungle in the garden...

Edith Nesbit (Author), Teresa Gallagher (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Worst of Times: A Story of the Great Depression

When the Depression strikes America, throwing millions out of work, Petey Williamson’s family seems safe. Hadn’t the boss promised Petey’s father that he’d always have a job? But during the Depression, promises cannot always be kept, and Petey finds his family sliding rapidly into poverty. And when Petey’s much-admired cousin Steve starts working as a union organizer in the battle to improve conditions for workers, poverty turns into tragedy. “Collier tugs at readers’ heartstrings.”—School Library Journal

James Lincoln Collier (Author), Charles Carroll (Narrator)

Audiobook

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

The World Turned Upside Down: The Yorktown Victory That Won America’s Independence

A dramatic, gripping history of the Siege of Yorktown, the last major battle of the American Revolution, told through vastly different perspectives In October 1781, American, French, and British forces converged on a small village named Yorktown—a place that the British would try to forget and Americans would forever remember. In his riveting, balanced, and thoroughly researched account of the Revolutionary War’s last pivotal conflict, author-historian Tim Grove follows the true stories of American, French, and British players, whose lives intersected at Yorktown. Through very different viewpoints—from General George Washington to the notorious traitor Benedict Arnold, from young French hero Lafayette to British General Lord Cornwallis, and an enslaved man named James who became a spy—The World Turned Upside Down tells the story of bold decisions made by famous military leaders, as well as the everyday courage shown by civilians. For every side involved, the world forever turned upside down at Yorktown.

Tim Grove (Author), Nathan Agin (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Wool-Pack

Compelling historical thriller, winner of the Carnegie MedalA compelling 15th century thriller, set against the background of the Cotswold wool trade. Rich with period detail, the story of Nicholas Fetterlock's apprenticeship in his father's business and his political betrothal to the daughter of a linen merchant is nonetheless immensely accessible to twenty-first century children. As his father embarks on a deal with Italian Lombards, Nicholas, Cecily and their friend Hal unearth a sabotage plot of smuggling and piracy that will have repurcussions all over Europe. But can they find someone to believe their tale before it is too late?

Cynthia Harnett (Author), Jamie Glover (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Wonder of Charlie Anne

Charlie Anne is devastated when her father must go north to build roads after the Depression hits. She and her siblings are left with their rigid cousin, Mirabel, and a farm full of chores. The only solace Charlie Anne finds is by the river, where the memory of her mother is strongest. Then her neighbor Old Mr. Jolly brings home a new wife, Rosalyn, who shows up in pants-pants!-the color of red peppers. With her arrives Phoebe, a young African American girl who has also lost her mother. Phoebe is smart and fun and the perfect antidote to Charlie Anne's lonely days. The girls soon forge a friendship and learn from each other in amazing ways. But when hatred turns their town ugly, it's almost more than they can bear. Now it's up to Charlie Anne and Phoebe to prove that our hearts are always able to expand.

Kimberly Fusco, Kimberly Newton Fusco (Author), Ann Marie Lee (Narrator)

Audiobook