Civilization in History & Nonfiction Audiobooks

Audiobook

Audiobook

Energy

A Human History

by Richard Rhodes ...

Narrated by Jacques Roy ...

Unabridged

11 hours 48 min

A “meticulously researched” (The New York Times Book Review) examination of energy transitions over time and an exploration of the current challenges presented by global warming, a surging world population, and renewable energy—from Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award-winning author Richard Rhodes.People have lived and died, businesses have prospered and failed, and nations have risen to world ... Read more

$26.99 USD

A “meticulously researched” (The New York Times Book Review) examination of energy transitions over time and an exploration of the current challenges presented by global warming, a surging world population, and renewable energy—from Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award-winning author Richard Rhodes.People have lived and died, businesses have prospered and failed, and nations have risen to world
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

The Bookshop

A History of Bookselling from the Dawn of Print to the Twenty-First Century

by Andrew Pettegree ...

Narrated by Sean Barrett ...

Unabridged

11 hours 13 min

The global history of the rise and transformation of bookstores, from medieval book merchants to today’s neighborhood indies."This is the arresting and ultimately optimistic story of the making and marketing of print culture. Here is a book for every book-lover to buy.” -Jeff Jarvis, author The Gutenberg ParenthesisWhether it’s a local indie bookshop, an online megaretailer, or a chain bookstore, ... Read more

$27.99 USD

The global history of the rise and transformation of bookstores, from medieval book merchants to today’s neighborhood indies."This is the arresting and ultimately optimistic story of the making and marketing of print culture. Here is a book for every book-lover to buy.” -Jeff Jarvis, author The Gutenberg ParenthesisWhether it’s a local indie bookshop, an online megaretailer, or a chain bookstore,
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

Roman Britain

A New History: Revised Edition

by Guy de la Bédoyère ...

Narrated by Elliot Fitzpatrick ...

Unabridged

12 hours 3 min

This illuminating account of Britain as a Roman province sets the Roman conquest and occupation of the island within the larger context of Romano-British society and how it functioned.The author first outlines events from the Iron Age period immediately preceding the conquest in AD 43 to the emperor Honorius's advice to the Britons in 410 to fend for themselves. He then tackles the issues facing ... Read more

$25.99 USD or Free with Kobo Plus

This illuminating account of Britain as a Roman province sets the Roman conquest and occupation of the island within the larger context of Romano-British society and how it functioned.The author first outlines events from the Iron Age period immediately preceding the conquest in AD 43 to the emperor Honorius's advice to the Britons in 410 to fend for themselves. He then tackles the issues facing
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

Homo Deus

A Brief History of Tomorrow

by Yuval Noah Harari ...

Narrated by Derek Perkins ...

Unabridged

14 hours 54 min

Yuval Noah Harari, author of the critically-acclaimed New York Times bestseller and international phenomenon Sapiens, returns with an equally original, compelling, and provocative book, turning his focus toward humanity’s future, and our quest to upgrade humans into gods.Over the past century humankind has managed to do the impossible and rein in famine, plague, and war. This may seem hard to ... Read more

$32.99 USD

Yuval Noah Harari, author of the critically-acclaimed New York Times bestseller and international phenomenon Sapiens, returns with an equally original, compelling, and provocative book, turning his focus toward humanity’s future, and our quest to upgrade humans into gods.Over the past century humankind has managed to do the impossible and rein in famine, plague, and war. This may seem hard to
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

Guns, Germs, and Steel

The Fates of Human Societies

by Jared Diamond ...

Narrated by Doug Ordunio ...

Unabridged

16 hours 20 min

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Guns, Germs and Steel examines the rise of civilization and the issues its development has raised throughout history.Having done field work in New Guinea for more than 30 years, Jared Diamond presents the geographical and ecological factors that have shaped the modern world. From the viewpoint of an evolutionary biologist, he highlights the broadest movements both ... Read more

$25.00 USD

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Guns, Germs and Steel examines the rise of civilization and the issues its development has raised throughout history.Having done field work in New Guinea for more than 30 years, Jared Diamond presents the geographical and ecological factors that have shaped the modern world. From the viewpoint of an evolutionary biologist, he highlights the broadest movements both
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

At Home

A Short History of Private Life

by Bill Bryson ...

Narrated by Bill Bryson ...

Unabridged

16 hours 33 min

From one of the most beloved authors of our time—more than six million copies of his books have been sold in this country alone—a fascinating excursion into the history behind the place we call home.“Houses aren’t refuges from history. They are where history ends up.”Bill Bryson and his family live in a Victorian parsonage in a part of England where nothing of any great significance has happened ... Read more

$25.00 USD

From one of the most beloved authors of our time—more than six million copies of his books have been sold in this country alone—a fascinating excursion into the history behind the place we call home.“Houses aren’t refuges from history. They are where history ends up.”Bill Bryson and his family live in a Victorian parsonage in a part of England where nothing of any great significance has happened
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

Bloodlands

Europe Between Hitler and Stalin

by Timothy Snyder ...

Narrated by Ralph Cosham ...

Unabridged

19 hours 14 min

The definitive history of Hitler and Stalin's politics of mass killing, explaining why Ukraine has been at the center of Western history for the last century, from the author of the international bestseller, On Tyranny**.**Americans call the Second World War "the Good War." But before it even began, America's ally Stalin had killed millions of his own citizens, and kept killing them during and ... Read more

$38.99 USD

The definitive history of Hitler and Stalin's politics of mass killing, explaining why Ukraine has been at the center of Western history for the last century, from the author of the international bestseller, On Tyranny**.**Americans call the Second World War "the Good War." But before it even began, America's ally Stalin had killed millions of his own citizens, and kept killing them during and
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

Upheaval

Turning Points for Nations in Crisis

by Jared Diamond ...

Narrated by Henry Strozier ...

Unabridged

18 hours 44 min

A brilliant new theory of how and why some nations recover from trauma and others don't, by the author of the landmark bestsellers Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse. In his earlier bestsellers Guns, Germs and Steel and Collapse, Jared Diamond transformed our understanding of what makes civilizations rise and fall. Now, in the final book in this monumental trilogy, he reveals how successful ... Read more

$30.99 USD or Free with Kobo Plus

A brilliant new theory of how and why some nations recover from trauma and others don't, by the author of the landmark bestsellers Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse. In his earlier bestsellers Guns, Germs and Steel and Collapse, Jared Diamond transformed our understanding of what makes civilizations rise and fall. Now, in the final book in this monumental trilogy, he reveals how successful
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

Energy and Civilization

A History

by Vaclav Smil ...

Narrated by David Colacci ...

Unabridged

20 hours 9 min

Energy is the only universal currency; it is necessary for getting anything done. The conversion of energy on Earth ranges from terra-forming forces of plate tectonics to cumulative erosive effects of raindrops. Life on Earth depends on the photosynthetic conversion of solar energy into plant biomass. Humans have come to rely on many more energy flows—ranging from fossil fuels to photovoltaic ... Read more

$30.99 USD or Free with Kobo Plus

Energy is the only universal currency; it is necessary for getting anything done. The conversion of energy on Earth ranges from terra-forming forces of plate tectonics to cumulative erosive effects of raindrops. Life on Earth depends on the photosynthetic conversion of solar energy into plant biomass. Humans have come to rely on many more energy flows—ranging from fossil fuels to photovoltaic
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

A People’s History of the World

From the Stone Age to the New Millennium

by Chris Harman ...

Narrated by Napoleon Ryan ...

Unabridged

29 hours 44 min

Chris Harman describes the shape and course of human history as a narrative of ordinary people forming and re-forming complex societies in pursuit of common human goals. Interacting with the forces of technological change as well as the impact of powerful individuals and revolutionary ideas, these societies have engendered events familiar to every schoolchild—from the empires of antiquity to the ... Read more

$35.99 USD or Free with Kobo Plus

Chris Harman describes the shape and course of human history as a narrative of ordinary people forming and re-forming complex societies in pursuit of common human goals. Interacting with the forces of technological change as well as the impact of powerful individuals and revolutionary ideas, these societies have engendered events familiar to every schoolchild—from the empires of antiquity to the
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

Guns, Germs and Steel

The Fates of Human Societies

by Jared Diamond ...

Narrated by Grover Gardner ...

Abridged

5 hours 58 min

Winner of the Pulitzer PrizeIn this groundbreaking work, evolutionary biologist Jared Diamond stunningly dismantles racially based theories of human history by revealing the environmental factors actually responsible for history’s broadest patterns. It is a story that spans 13,000 years of human history, beginning when Stone Age hunter-gatherers constituted the entire human population. Guns, Germs ... Read more

$18.99 USD or Free with Kobo Plus

Winner of the Pulitzer PrizeIn this groundbreaking work, evolutionary biologist Jared Diamond stunningly dismantles racially based theories of human history by revealing the environmental factors actually responsible for history’s broadest patterns. It is a story that spans 13,000 years of human history, beginning when Stone Age hunter-gatherers constituted the entire human population. Guns, Germs
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

Carthage Must Be Destroyed

The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization

by Richard Miles ...

Narrated by Grover Gardner ...

Unabridged

14 hours 9 min

An epic history of a doomed civilization and a lost empire.The devastating struggle to the death between the Carthaginians and the Romans was one of the defining dramas of the ancient world. In an epic series of land and sea battles, both sides came close to victory before the Carthaginians finally succumbed and their capital city, history, and culture were almost utterly erased.Drawing on a ... Read more

Was $34.99 USD Now $25.99 USD or Free with Kobo Plus

An epic history of a doomed civilization and a lost empire.The devastating struggle to the death between the Carthaginians and the Romans was one of the defining dramas of the ancient world. In an epic series of land and sea battles, both sides came close to victory before the Carthaginians finally succumbed and their capital city, history, and culture were almost utterly erased.Drawing on a
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

The World Until Yesterday

What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies?

by Jared Diamond ...

Narrated by Jay Snyder ...

Unabridged

18 hours 31 min

Most of us take for granted the features of our modern society, from air travel and telecommunications to literacy and obesity. Yet for nearly all of its six million years of existence, human society had none of these things. While the gulf that divides us from our primitive ancestors may seem unbridgeably wide, we can glimpse much of our former lifestyle in those largely traditional societies ... Read more

$27.50 USD

Most of us take for granted the features of our modern society, from air travel and telecommunications to literacy and obesity. Yet for nearly all of its six million years of existence, human society had none of these things. While the gulf that divides us from our primitive ancestors may seem unbridgeably wide, we can glimpse much of our former lifestyle in those largely traditional societies
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

Goliath's Curse

The History and Future of Societal Collapse

by Luke Kemp ...

Narrated by Luke Kemp ...

Unabridged

23 hours 7 min

**“In the modern tradition of Big Books of human history like Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens and David Graeber and David Wengrow’s The Dawn of Everything, Goliath’s Curse provides a novel theory of civilizational development. . . . [It] feels something like reading the French economist Thomas Piketty filtered through Mad Max: Fury Road.” —Ed Simon, The New York Times Book ReviewNAMED A BEST BOOK OF ... Read more

$28.00 USD

**“In the modern tradition of Big Books of human history like Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens and David Graeber and David Wengrow’s The Dawn of Everything, Goliath’s Curse provides a novel theory of civilizational development. . . . [It] feels something like reading the French economist Thomas Piketty filtered through Mad Max: Fury Road.” —Ed Simon, The New York Times Book ReviewNAMED A BEST BOOK OF
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

Four Lost Cities

A Secret History of the Urban Age

by Annalee Newitz ...

Narrated by Chloe Cannon ...

Unabridged

8 hours 14 min

In Four Lost Cities, acclaimed science journalist Annalee Newitz takes listeners on an entertaining and mind-bending adventure into the deep history of urban life. Investigating across the centuries and around the world, Newitz explores the rise and fall of four ancient cities, each the center of a sophisticated civilization: the Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük in Central Turkey, the Roman vacation ... Read more

$20.99 USD or Free with Kobo Plus

In Four Lost Cities, acclaimed science journalist Annalee Newitz takes listeners on an entertaining and mind-bending adventure into the deep history of urban life. Investigating across the centuries and around the world, Newitz explores the rise and fall of four ancient cities, each the center of a sophisticated civilization: the Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük in Central Turkey, the Roman vacation
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

Capitalism

A Global History

by Sven Beckert ...

Narrated by Soneela Nankani, Courtney Patterson, Robert Petkoff, Mack Sanderson ...

Unabridged

42 hours 29 min

**A New York Times Notable Book • A Financial Times Best Book of the Year*"*A learned, formidable and vivid story… Readers around the world will study and ponder this monumental work of history, agreeing and arguing with it, all the while affirming its generational importance, for decades to come." — Marcus Rediker, The New York Times“Epic… Read this book and you will learn innumerable things you ... Read more

$50.00 USD

**A New York Times Notable Book • A Financial Times Best Book of the Year*"*A learned, formidable and vivid story… Readers around the world will study and ponder this monumental work of history, agreeing and arguing with it, all the while affirming its generational importance, for decades to come." — Marcus Rediker, The New York Times“Epic… Read this book and you will learn innumerable things you
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

Reformations

The Early Modern World, 1450-1650

by Carlos M. N. Eire ...

Narrated by David Drummond ...

Unabridged

39 hours 42 min

This fast-paced survey of Western civilization's transition from the Middle Ages to modernity brings that tumultuous period vividly to life. Carlos Eire, popular professor and gifted writer, chronicles the two-hundred-year era of the Renaissance and Reformation with particular attention to issues that persist as concerns in the present day. Eire connects the Protestant and Catholic Reformations in ... Read more

$35.99 USD or Free with Kobo Plus

This fast-paced survey of Western civilization's transition from the Middle Ages to modernity brings that tumultuous period vividly to life. Carlos Eire, popular professor and gifted writer, chronicles the two-hundred-year era of the Renaissance and Reformation with particular attention to issues that persist as concerns in the present day. Eire connects the Protestant and Catholic Reformations in
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

A Curious History of Sex

by Kate Lister ...

Narrated by Kate Lister ...

Unabridged

8 hours 18 min

The act of sex has not changed since people first worked out what went where, but the ways in which society dictates how sex is culturally understood and performed have varied significantly through the ages. Humans are the only creatures that stigmatize particular sexual practices, and sex remains a deeply divisive issue around the world. Attitudes will change and grow—hopefully for the better—but ... Read more

$20.99 USD or Free with Kobo Plus

The act of sex has not changed since people first worked out what went where, but the ways in which society dictates how sex is culturally understood and performed have varied significantly through the ages. Humans are the only creatures that stigmatize particular sexual practices, and sex remains a deeply divisive issue around the world. Attitudes will change and grow—hopefully for the better—but
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

Babylon

Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization

by Paul Kriwaczek ...

Narrated by Derek Perkins ...

Unabridged

12 hours 1 min

Civilization was born eight thousand years ago, between the floodplains of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, when migrants from the surrounding mountains and deserts began to create increasingly sophisticated urban societies. In the cities that they built, half of human history took place.In Babylon, Paul Kriwaczek tells the story of Mesopotamia from the earliest settlements seven thousand years ... Read more

$25.99 USD or Free with Kobo Plus

Civilization was born eight thousand years ago, between the floodplains of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, when migrants from the surrounding mountains and deserts began to create increasingly sophisticated urban societies. In the cities that they built, half of human history took place.In Babylon, Paul Kriwaczek tells the story of Mesopotamia from the earliest settlements seven thousand years
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

The Fate of Rome

Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire

by Kyle Harper ...

Narrated by Andrew Garman ...

Unabridged

15 hours 20 min

How devastating viruses, pandemics, and other natural catastrophes swept through the far-flung Roman Empire and helped to bring down one of the mightiest civilizations of the ancient worldHere is the monumental retelling of one of the most consequential chapters of human history: the fall of the Roman Empire. The Fate of Rome is the first book to examine the catastrophic role that climate change ... Read more

$25.99 USD or Free with Kobo Plus

How devastating viruses, pandemics, and other natural catastrophes swept through the far-flung Roman Empire and helped to bring down one of the mightiest civilizations of the ancient worldHere is the monumental retelling of one of the most consequential chapters of human history: the fall of the Roman Empire. The Fate of Rome is the first book to examine the catastrophic role that climate change
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

Cannibalism

by Bill Schutt ...

Narrated by Tom Perkins ...

Unabridged

8 hours 56 min

Eating one's own kind is a completely natural behavior in thousands of species, including humans. Throughout history we have engaged in cannibalism for reasons related to famine, burial rites, and medicine. Cannibalism has also been used as a form of terrorism and as the ultimate expression of filial piety. With unexpected wit and a wealth of knowledge, Bill Schutt takes us on a tour of the field, ... Read more

Was $24.99 USD Now $20.99 USD or Free with Kobo Plus

Eating one's own kind is a completely natural behavior in thousands of species, including humans. Throughout history we have engaged in cannibalism for reasons related to famine, burial rites, and medicine. Cannibalism has also been used as a form of terrorism and as the ultimate expression of filial piety. With unexpected wit and a wealth of knowledge, Bill Schutt takes us on a tour of the field,
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

Sapiens (Nova edição)

Uma breve história da humanidade

by Yuval Noah Harari ...

Narrated by Antonio Fagundes ...

Unabridged

17 hours 52 min

Na nova edição do livro que conquistou milhões de leitores ao redor do mundo, Yuval Noah Harari questiona tudo o que sabemos sobre a trajetória humana no planeta ao explorar quem somos, como chegamos até aqui e por quais caminhos ainda poderemos seguir. Com narração de Antonio Fagundes.O planeta Terra tem cerca de 4,5 bilhões de anos. Numa fração ínfima desse tempo, uma espécie entre incontáveis ... Read more

Was $9.99 USD Now $8.99 USD

Na nova edição do livro que conquistou milhões de leitores ao redor do mundo, Yuval Noah Harari questiona tudo o que sabemos sobre a trajetória humana no planeta ao explorar quem somos, como chegamos até aqui e por quais caminhos ainda poderemos seguir. Com narração de Antonio Fagundes.O planeta Terra tem cerca de 4,5 bilhões de anos. Numa fração ínfima desse tempo, uma espécie entre incontáveis
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

Fall of Civilizations

Stories of Greatness and Decline

by Paul Cooper ...

Narrated by Paul Cooper ...

Unabridged

19 hours 26 min

**"A treasure trove of myths and terror… Atmospheric as hell… Immersive."-**The TimesBased on the podcast with over one hundred million downloads, Fall of Civilizations brilliantly explores how a range of ancient societies rose to power and sophistication, and how they tipped over into collapse.Across the centuries, we journey from the great empires of Mesopotamia to those of Khmer and ... Read more

$39.99 USD

**"A treasure trove of myths and terror… Atmospheric as hell… Immersive."-**The TimesBased on the podcast with over one hundred million downloads, Fall of Civilizations brilliantly explores how a range of ancient societies rose to power and sophistication, and how they tipped over into collapse.Across the centuries, we journey from the great empires of Mesopotamia to those of Khmer and
... Read more
Audiobook

Audiobook

The Future of Truth

by Werner Herzog ...

Narrated by Werner Herzog ...

Unabridged

3 hours 39 min

**Named a Best Book of 2025 by BloombergFrom legendary filmmaker and author Werner Herzog, a compact, effervescent, and deeply personal exploration of art, philosophy, and history that unravels one of our most elusive and contested questions: What is truth—and how to find it in our “post-truth” era?**For over half a century, Werner Herzog has challenged, enriched, and expanded our understanding of ... Read more

$15.00 USD

**Named a Best Book of 2025 by BloombergFrom legendary filmmaker and author Werner Herzog, a compact, effervescent, and deeply personal exploration of art, philosophy, and history that unravels one of our most elusive and contested questions: What is truth—and how to find it in our “post-truth” era?**For over half a century, Werner Herzog has challenged, enriched, and expanded our understanding of
... Read more

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Civilization Audiobooks

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