High-Quality Free Audiobooks in Biography & Memoir, History & Culture

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/628099 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams Author: Joseph J. Ellis Narrator: Grover Gardner Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 8 hours 36 minutes Release date: August 24, 2009 Genres: History & Culture Publisher's Summary: Here is a fresh look at an astute, likably quirky statesman, by the author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning Founding Brothers and the National Book Award–winning American Sphinx. John Adams, one of the Founding Fathers of our nation and its second president, spent nearly the last third of his life in retirement, grappling with contradictory views of his place in history and fearing his reputation would not fare well in the generations after his death. And indeed, future generations did slight him, elevating Jefferson and Madison to lofty heights while Adams remained way back in the second tier. Now, in a witty, clear, and thoughtful narrative of Adams' later life at his home in Quincy, Joseph Ellis explores the mind and personality of the man, as well as the earlier events that shaped his thinking. Listeners will discover Adams to be both contentious and lovable, generous and petty, and perhaps the most intellectually profound of the revolutionary generation, whose perspective on America's prospects has relevance for us today.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/628207 to listen full audiobooks. Title: John Quincy Adams: A Public Life, a Private Life Author: Paul C. Nagel Narrator: Jeff Riggenbach Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 18 hours 47 minutes Release date: August 24, 2009 Genres: History & Culture Publisher's Summary: A United States minister, senator, president, and congressman in turn, John Quincy Adams was one of the most prevalent and dedicated Americans in history. Drawing from Adams' seventy-year diary, author Paul Nagel probes deeply into the psyche of this cantankerous, misanthropic, erudite, hardworking son of a former president whose remarkable career spanned so many offices. We learn about his passionate marriage to Louisa Johnson, his personal tragedies, including two sons lost to alcoholism, his recurring depression, exasperating behavior, and brilliant diplomacy. We see his frustration with the political life and the pleasure he drew from being a poet, critic, translator, essayist, botanist, and professor of oratory at Harvard. Nagel's great achievement, in this first biography of America's sixth president in a quarter century, is finally to portray Adams in all his talent and complexity.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/624094 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Co. Aytch: A Sideshow of the Big Show Author: Sam R. Watkins Narrator: Pat Bottino Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 9 hours 2 minutes Release date: January 21, 2009 Ratings: Ratings of Book: 5 of Total 1 Ratings of Narrator: 5 of Total 1 Genres: History & Culture Publisher's Summary: Early in May 1861, twenty-one-year-old Sam R. Watkins of Columbia, Tennessee, joined the First Tennessee Regiment. He fought in all of its major battles, from Shiloh to Nashville. Twenty years later, with a 'house full of young 'rebels' clustering around my knees and bumping about my elbows,' he wrote the remarkable account of 'Co. Aytch,' its common foot soldiers, its commanders, its Yankee enemies, its victories and defeats, and its ultimate surrender on April 26, 1865. Co. Aytch is the work of a natural storyteller who balances the horror of war with his irrepressible sense of humor and his sharp eye for the lighter side of battle. Among Civil War memoirs, it stands as a living testament to one man's enduring humanity, courage, and wisdom in the midst of death and destruction.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/624549 to listen full audiobooks. Title: The Life of Horatio Lord Nelson Author: Robert Southey Narrator: Frederick Davidson Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 9 hours 48 minutes Release date: November 11, 2008 Genres: History & Culture Publisher's Summary: Having entered the British Navy at the age of twelve, Horatio Lord Nelson achieved the rank of captain at the age of twenty. As captain, he was quickly recognized as a magnetic and controversial figure. He triumphed at Cape St. Vincent and the Nile but failed at Tenefife and Boulogne. With the glories of Copenhagen and Trafalgar yet ahead of him, his ardent passion for Emma Hamilton, the wife of a British Ambassador, cast a heavy shadow over his career. Audacious in battle (he once ignored a superior's order to cease action at Copenhagen by putting his telescope to his blind eye and saying he could not see the signal) and winner of some of Britain's greatest victories, Nelson possessed an extraordinary amount of dash and courage, thus rendering him one of history's great romantic figures. This extensive biography of one of England's most famous navy heroes—a great commander able to inspire and bring out the best in his men—is a great reference work for anyone interested in British naval history.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/628083 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Campaigning with Grant Author: Horace Porter Narrator: Noah Waterman Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 12 hours 19 minutes Release date: November 5, 2008 Genres: History & Culture Publisher's Summary: Horace Porter served as lieutenant colonel on Ulysses S. Grant’s staff from April 1864 to the end of the Civil War. He accompanied Grant into battle in the Wilderness, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg campaigns, and was present at Lee’s surrender at McLean’s house. Throughout the war, he kept extensive notes that capture Grant’s conversations, as well as his own observations of military life. Porter’s portrait of Grant is the most comprehensive first-hand account that we have. We see Grant as a soldier and hear in his own words the tactical evaluations that led to many of the war’s key decisions. We also hear of Grant’s dealings with Lincoln, of the close relationship between Sherman and Grant, and of Lee’s noble bearing at his surrender. This is a stirring account of our country’s most memorable conflict.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/628215 to listen full audiobooks. Title: The Good Man of Nanking: The Diaries of John Rabe Author: John Rabe Narrator: Anna Fields Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 9 hours 22 minutes Release date: October 29, 2008 Genres: History & Culture Publisher's Summary: This unique and gripping document contains the recently discovered diaries of a German businessman, John Rabe, who saved so many lives in the infamous siege of Nanking in 1937 that he is now being honored as the Oskar Schindler of China. As the Japanese army closed in and all foreigners were ordered to evacuate, Rabe mobilized the remaining Westerners in Nanking and organized an “International Safety Zone” which guaranteed safety to all unarmed Chinese by virtue of Germany’s pact with Japan. As hundreds of thousands of Chinese streamed into the city, all that stood between them and certain slaughter were Rabe and his committee, and it is thought that he saved more than 250,000 lives. After the siege, when he was arrested by the Gestapo in Germany, he survived the war and the starvation that followed with help from the Chinese government. His journal is a record of inhuman horror and unpretentious heroism.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/628065 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Daniel Boone: The Life and Legend of an American Pioneer Author: John Mack Faragher Narrator: Grover Gardner Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 12 hours 56 minutes Release date: October 1, 2008 Genres: History & Culture Publisher's Summary: In the first and most reliable biography of Daniel Boone in more than fifty years, award-winning historian Faragher brilliantly portrays America’s famous frontier hero, while illuminating the American hero-making process itself. Drawing from popular narrative, the public record, scraps of documentation from Boone’s own hand, and a treasure trove of reminiscences gathered by nineteenth-century antiquarians, Faragher uses the methods of new social history to create a portrait of the man and the times he helped shape. Blending themes from a much vitalized Western and frontier history with the words and ideas of ordinary people, Faragher has produced a book that will stand as the definitive life of Daniel Boone for decades to come, and one that illuminates the frontier world of Boone like no other.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/628439 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye Author: David Ritz Narrator: Dion Graham Format: Abridged Audiobook Length: 6 hours 38 minutes Release date: August 7, 2008 Ratings: Ratings of Book: 5 of Total 1 Genres: History & Culture Publisher's Summary: In this intimate biography of the Prince of Soul, David Ritz provides a candid look at a star and a friend. Ritz had been collaborating with Marvin Gaye on his story for several years before the singer's tragic death and had conducted a series of extraordinary interviews in which Gaye discussed his deepest secrets. What emerges here is a full-scale portrait of a charming but tortured artist, a brilliant singer with a divided soul. Here is Marvin's story, from his early years in the slums of Washington, DC, to his rise to the top of the Motown industry, his fall from grace, his comeback, and finally his sudden, shocking end at the hands of his own father. But it is also the story of his glorious music and the music of black America over the past fifty years, an epic tale whose cast of characters includes Diana Ross, Berry Gordie, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, and countless other icons from the world of soul music. This is the definitive biography of an enormously gifted and sensitive musician.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/628529 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Alexander the Great: Journey to the End of the Earth Author: Norman F. Cantor Narrator: Bronson Pinchot Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 4 hours 21 minutes Release date: July 8, 2008 Genres: History & Culture Publisher's Summary: Alexander's behavior was conditioned along certain lines—heroism, courage, strength, superstition, bisexuality, intoxication, cruelty. He bestrode Europe and Asia like a supernatural figure. In this succinct portrait of Alexander the Great, distinguished scholar and historian Norman Cantor draws on the major writings of Alexander's contemporaries as well as the most recent psychological and cultural studies to illuminate this most legendary of men—a great figure in the ancient world whose puzzling personality greatly fueled his military accomplishments. Cantor describes Alexander's ambiguous relationship with his father, Philip II of Macedon; his oedipal involvement with his mother, the Albanian princess Olympias; and his bisexuality. He traces Alexander's attempts to bridge the East and West, the Greek and Persian worlds, using Achilles, hero of the Trojan War, as his model. Finally, Cantor explores Alexander's view of himself in relation to the pagan gods of Greece and Egypt. More than a biography, Cantor's Alexander the Great is a psychological rendering of a man of his time.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/628475 to listen full audiobooks. Title: The Snake Charmer: A Life and Death in Pursuit of Knowledge Author: Jamie James Narrator: William Hughes Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 8 hours 18 minutes Release date: June 3, 2008 Genres: History & Culture Publisher's Summary: One of the most brilliant biologists of our time and a charismatic daredevil, Dr. Joe Slowinski had been obsessed with venomous snakes since his youth. In 2001, Slowinski led a team of young scientists deep into the wilds of Burma on a final tragic expedition. Immediately after being bitten by the many-banded krait, the deadliest serpent in Asia, Joe knew his life was in grave and imminent peril. Thus began one of the most remarkable wilderness rescue attempts of modern times, as Joe’s teammates kept him alive for thirty hours by mouth-to-mouth respiration. The Snake Charmer is at once a brilliant biography, a pulse-pounding adventure story, an exotic travel book, and a fascinating introduction to the bizarre world of snake science.