Stream Popular Free Audiobooks in Biography & Memoir, History & Culture

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/672968 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Great-Uncle Harry: A Tale of War and Empire Author: Michael Palin Narrator: Michael Palin Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 7 hours 46 minutes Release date: September 28, 2023 Ratings: Ratings of Book: 5 of Total 3 Ratings of Narrator: 5 of Total 2 Genres: History & Culture Publisher's Summary: Brought to you by Penguin. Some years ago a stash of family records was handed down to Michael Palin, among which were photos of an enigmatic young man in army uniform, as well as photos of the same young man as a teenager looking uncomfortable at family gatherings. This, Michael learnt, was his Great-Uncle Harry, born in 1884, died in 1916. He had previously had no idea that he had a Great-Uncle Harry, much less that his life was cut short at the age of 32 when he was killed in the Battle of the Somme. The discovery both shocked him and made him want to know much more about him. The quest that followed involved hundreds of hours of painstaking detective work. Michael dug out every bit of family gossip and correspondence he could. He studied every relevant official document. He tracked down what remained of his great-uncle Harry's diaries and letters, and pored over photographs of First World War battle scenes to see whether Harry appeared in any of them. He walked the route Harry took on that fatal, final day of his life amid the mud of northern France. And as he did so, a life that had previously existed in the shadows was revealed to him. Great-Uncle Harry is an utterly compelling account of an ordinary man who led an extraordinary life. A blend of biography, history, travelogue and personal memoir this is Michael Palin at his very finest. ©2023 Michael Palin (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/652409 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Two Roads Home: Hitler, Stalin, and the Miraculous Survival of My Family Author: Daniel Finkelstein Narrator: Daniel Finkelstein Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 11 hours 59 minutes Release date: September 19, 2023 Genres: History & Culture Publisher's Summary: An epic and uplifting World War II family history of resistance that spans Europe, telling of two happy families uprooted by war, their incredible suffering under Hitler and Stalin, and the near-miraculous survival stories of the author's mother and father. “Moving and important.”—Robert Harris, author of Act of Oblivion In Two Roads Home beloved British journalist Daniel Finkelstein tells the extraordinary story of the years before his mother met his father—years of war and trials they barely survived. Daniel Finkelstein's grandfather was a German Jewish intellectual leader who tolled an early warning of the impending Holocaust and became an archivist of Nazi crimes. He relocated his family to safety in Amsterdam, where they knew Anne Frank. But in those years safety was an illusion: Anne Frank famously went into hiding and Daniel's mother, Mirjam, also still a child, was sent to Bergen-Belsen with her mother and sisters. Finkelstein's father, Ludwik, grew up in a prosperous Jewish family in Poland where his father, Dolu was a patriotic hero of the Great War. But when Stalin took control, Dolu, was deported to Siberia and Ludwik and his mother were sentenced to forced labor in Kazakhstan, starved and housed in a stable in freezing conditions. Two Roads Home is a page-turning account of the narrow escapes, forged passports, ingenuity, bravery, and luck that allowed Mirjam and Ludwik to survive the war and find each other. Using their personal testimony, letters sent to Siberia, a diary written in Belsen, and years of historical research, Daniel Finkelstein tells what happened to two families, one the victim of the Nazis, the other of the Soviets. A tale of deliverance and triumph over evil, Two Roads Home will profoundly touch all who read it. * This audiobook edition ncludes a downloadable PDF of notes and a family tree from the book.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/663110 to listen full audiobooks. Title: The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I Author: Douglas Brunt Narrator: Scott Brick Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 12 hours 41 minutes Release date: September 19, 2023 Ratings: Ratings of Book: 4.18 of Total 50 Ratings of Narrator: 4.93 of Total 14 Genres: History & Culture Publisher's Summary: This instant New York Times bestselling “dynamic detective story” (The New York Times) reveals the hidden history Rudolf Diesel, one of the world’s greatest inventors, and his mysterious disappearance on the eve of World War I. September 29, 1913: the steamship Dresden is halfway between Belgium and England. On board is one of the most famous men in the world, Rudolf Diesel, whose new internal combustion engine is on the verge of revolutionizing global industry forever. But Diesel never arrives at his destination. He vanishes during the night and headlines around the world wonder if it was an accident, suicide, or murder. After rising from an impoverished European childhood, Diesel had become a multi-millionaire with his powerful engine that does not require expensive petroleum-based fuel. In doing so, he became not only an international celebrity but also the enemy of two extremely powerful men: Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and John D. Rockefeller, the founder of Standard Oil and the richest man in the world. The Kaiser wanted the engine to power a fleet of submarines that would finally allow him to challenge Great Britain’s Royal Navy. But Diesel had intended for his engine to be used for the betterment of the world. Now, New York Times bestselling author Douglas Brunt reopens the case and provides an “absolutely riveting” (Chris Bohjalian, #1 New York Times bestselling author) new conclusion about Diesel’s fate. Brunt’s book is “equal parts Walter Isaacson and Sherlock Holmes, [and] yanks back the curtain on the greatest caper of the 20th century in this riveting history” (Jay Winik, New York Times bestselling author).

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/670762 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Love in a Time of Hate: Art and Passion in the Shadow of War Author: Florian Illies Narrator: Jacqui Bardelang Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 12 hours 7 minutes Release date: September 19, 2023 Genres: History & Culture Publisher's Summary: “An enthralling and insightful cultural history—one that shows how, over the course of one pivotal decade, love, freedom and the freedom to love gave way to fear, madness and despair.” —Malcolm Forbes, Washington Post Book Review  An ingeniously orchestrated popular history brings to life the most pivotal decade of the twentieth century As the Roaring Twenties wind down, Jean-Paul Sartre waits in a Paris café for a first date with Simone de Beauvoir, who never shows. Marlene Dietrich slips away from a loveless marriage to cruise the dive bars of Berlin. The fledgling writer Vladimir Nabokov places a freshly netted butterfly at the end of his wife’s bed. Hannah Arendt, Walter Benjamin, Zelda and Scott, Dalí and Gala, Picasso and his many muses, Henry and June and Anaïs Nin, the entire extended family of Thomas Mann, and a host of other fascinating and famous figures make art and love, write and row, bed and wed and betray. They do not yet know that they, along with millions of others, will soon be forced to contemplate flight—or fight—as the world careens from one global conflict to the next.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/667012 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Passionate Mothers, Powerful Sons: The Lives of Jennie Jerome Churchill and Sara Delano Roosevelt Author: Charlotte Gray Narrator: Allyson Ryan Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 13 hours 55 minutes Release date: September 14, 2023 Genres: History & Culture Publisher's Summary: A captivating biography of two famous women whose sons, Winston Churchill and Franklin D Roosevelt, would change the course of the 20th century—by award-winning historian Charlotte Gray. Born into upper class America in the same year, 1854, Sara Delano and Jennie Jerome refused to settle into predictable, sheltered lives as little-known wives to prominent men. Instead, both women concentrated their energies on enabling their sons to reach the epicentre of political power on two continents. In the mid-19th century, the British Empire was at its height, France’s Second Empire flourished and the industrial vigour of the USA was catapulting the republic towards the Gilded Age. Sara and Jennie, raised with privilege but subject to the constraints of women’s roles at the time, learned how to take control of their destinies, Sara in the prosperous Hudson Valley and Jennie in the glittering world of Imperial London.  Yet their personalities and choices were dramatically different. A vivacious extrovert, Jennie married Lord Randolph Churchill, rising politician and scion of a noble British family. Her deft social and political manoeuvrings helped not only her mercurial husband but, once she was widowed, her ambitious son, Winston. By contrast, deeply conventional Sara Delano married a man as old as her father. But once widowed, she made Franklin, her only child, the focus of her existence. Thanks in large part to her financial support and to her guidance, Franklin acquired the skills he needed to become a successful politician. Set against one hundred years of history, Passionate Mothers, Powerful Sons is a study in loyalty and resilience. Gray argues that Jennie and Sara are too often presented as lesser figures rather than two remarkable individuals who were key in shaping the characters of the sons who adored them, and preparing them for leadership on the world stage.  A masterful biographer and acclaimed historian, Charlotte Gray breathes new life into Sara and Jennie. Impeccably researched and filled with intriguing social insights, Passionate Mothers, Powerful Sons offers a fascinating and fulsome portrait of how leaders are not just born but made.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/650779 to listen full audiobooks. Title: The Dictionary People: The unsung heroes who created the Oxford English Dictionary Author: Sarah Ogilvie Narrator: Sarah Ogilvie, Joan Walker Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 11 hours 8 minutes Release date: September 7, 2023 Genres: History & Culture Publisher's Summary: Brought to you by Penguin. What do three murderers, Karl Marx's daughter and a vegetarian vicar have in common? They all helped create the Oxford English Dictionary. The Oxford English Dictionary has long been associated with elite institutions and Victorian men; its longest-serving editor, James Murray, devoted 36 years to the project, as far as the letter T. But the Dictionary didn't just belong to the experts; it relied on contributions from members of the public. By the time it was finished in 1928 its 414,825 entries had been crowdsourced from a surprising and diverse group of people, from archaeologists and astronomers to murderers, naturists, novelists, pornographers, queer couples, suffragists, vicars and vegetarians. Lexicographer Sarah Ogilvie dives deep into previously untapped archives to tell a people's history of the OED. She traces the lives of thousands of contributors who defined the English language, from the eccentric autodidacts to the family groups who made word-collection their passion. With generosity and brio, Ogilvie reveals, for the first time, the full story of the making of one of the most famous books in the world - and celebrates to sparkling effect the extraordinary efforts of the Dictionary People. ©2023 Sarah Ogilvie (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/672451 to listen full audiobooks. Title: The Girl Who Survived Auschwitz Author: Eti Elboim, Sara Leibovits Narrator: Laurel Lefkow Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 6 hours 35 minutes Release date: September 5, 2023 Genres: History & Culture Publisher's Summary: ‘You are no longer a number’ Poland, 1944 The train slowed and halted with a squeal of the breaks. It felt like we waited in the carriage for an eternity, but eventually, the heavy doors opened, directly into the chaos inside. Sara Leibovitz, a 16-year-old Jewish girl, was a passenger on the train with her family. They spent their final moments together on the platform in Auschwitz before their horrific fates were sealed. Sara’s mother and baby brothers were sent straight to their deaths. Her father was made to work in the Sonderkommando as one of the men forced to remove the bodies from the gas chambers, and was later executed. Sara survived. This is the powerful true story of Sara Leibovits and the incredible pain and hardships she went through during her time in the death camp. Yet despite the horrors she faced, she always tried to maintain her family’s values of courage, faith and kindness to others. In this compelling memoir, Sara’s story is intertwined with that of her daughter, Eti. Seventy years after the horrors of the Holocaust, Eti reveals the inherited trauma of the second generation and completes the Holocaust survivor’s tale. What readers are saying about The Girl Who Survived Auschwitz: ‘Let us never stop reading these novels. These memoirs are the ones that keep all the voices alive’ ‘Highly recommend… I finished reading it with a newfound sense of love and compassion’ ‘Reading this family’s memories is a rewarding experience in that it will ensure future generations will remember and learn. Many thanks to the author…for the trust in allowing me to review this life-changing memoir.’ ‘A raw and gripping Holocaust recount’ ‘What I loved most about this book is that it is a dual perspective…I was grateful to have a little glimpse into the mind of Eti and her absolute respect for her parents…together they learned, they grieved and they healed’ ‘It makes me really proud of my Jewish heritage and this story of perseverance. I highly recommend this book for any and all to read so we can keep survivor's stories alive and never let this type of tragedy happen again’ ‘Powerful, heartbreaking and inspiring. We need to know what happened. It will make your heart break. It is beyond horrific. But we need to know in memory of the six million innocents who died and of those who survived’ ‘A haunting and beautiful read…I give it a resounding 5 stars’ ‘We have the perspective of a woman who survived the holocaust as well as her daughter who had never known the horrrors her mother endured, yet asked…I feel honored to have read this memoir’ ‘Anyone who reads this book will not be left untouched…truly moving' ‘This is one of those books everyone should read' ‘Remarkable… a profoundly impactful book, one which should be required reading for everyone' 'Sara Leibovits is an amazing lady. She showed strength of character, resilience and maintained a kind heart, as she shared what little she had with those around her in Auschwitz'

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/649356 to listen full audiobooks. Title: The Rigor of Angels: Borges, Heisenberg, Kant, and the Ultimate Nature of Reality Author: William Egginton Narrator: David Glass Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 10 hours 14 minutes Release date: August 29, 2023 Ratings: Ratings of Book: 2 of Total 1 Ratings of Narrator: 5 of Total 1 Genres: History & Culture Publisher's Summary: A NEW YORK TIMES AND NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • A poet, a physicist, and a philosopher explored the greatest enigmas in the universe—the nature of free will, the strange fabric of the cosmos, the true limits of the mind—and each in their own way uncovered a revelatory truth about our place in the world “[A] mind-expanding book. . . . Elegantly written.” —The New York Times “A remarkable synthesis of the thoughts, ideas, and discoveries of three of the greatest minds that our species has produced.” —John Banville, The Wall Street Journal Argentine poet Jorge Luis Borges was madly in love when his life was shattered by painful heartbreak. But the breakdown that followed illuminated an incontrovertible truth—that love is necessarily imbued with loss, that the one doesn’t exist without the other. German physicist Werner Heisenberg was fighting with the scientific establishment on the meaning of the quantum realm’s absurdity when he had his own epiphany—that there is no such thing as a complete, perfect description of reality. Prussian philosopher Immanuel Kant pushed the assumptions of human reason to their mind-bending conclusions, but emerged with an idea that crowned a towering philosophical system—that the human mind has fundamental limits, and those limits undergird both our greatest achievements as well as our missteps. Through fiction, science, and philosophy, the work of these three thinkers coalesced around the powerful, haunting fact that there is an irreconcilable difference between reality “out there” and reality as we experience it. Out of this profound truth comes a multitude of galvanizing ideas: the notion of selfhood, free will, and purpose in human life; the roots of morality, aesthetics, and reason; and the origins and nature of the cosmos itself.   As each of these thinkers shows, every one of us has an incomplete picture of the world. But it's only as mortal, finite beings are we able to experience the world in its richness and breathtaking majesty. A soaring and lucid reflection on the lives and work of Borges, Heisenberg, and Kant, The Rigor of Angels movingly demonstrates that the mysteries of our place in the world may always loom over us—not as a threat, but as a reminder of our humble humanity.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/649130 to listen full audiobooks. Title: It Stops Here: Standing Up for Our Lands, Our Waters, and Our People Author: Michael Simpson, Rueben George Narrator: Rueben George Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 9 hours 34 minutes Release date: August 29, 2023 Genres: History & Culture Publisher's Summary: NATIONAL BESTSELLER *SHORTLISTED FOR THE GEORGE RYGA AWARD* *SHORTLISTED FOR THE CITY OF VANCOUVER BOOK AWARD* *LONGLISTED FOR THE SCIENCE WRITERS AND COMMUNICATORS OF CANADA AWARD* A personal account of one man’s confrontation with colonization that illuminates the philosophy and values of a First Nation on the front lines of the fight against an extractive industry, colonial government, and threats to the life-giving Salish Sea. It Stops Here is the profound story of the spiritual, cultural, and political resurgence of a nation taking action to reclaim their lands, waters, law, and food systems in the face of colonization. In deeply moving testimony, it recounts the  intergenerational struggle of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation to overcome colonial harms and the powerful stance they have taken alongside allies and other Indigenous nations across Turtle Island against the development of the Trans Mountain Pipeline—a fossil fuel megaproject on their unceded territories. In a firsthand account of the resurgence told by Rueben George, one of the most prominent leaders of the widespread opposition to the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion, It Stops Here reveals extraordinary insights and revelations from someone who has devoted more than a decade of his life to fighting the project. Rueben shares stories about his family’s deep ancestral connections to their unceded lands and waters, which are today more commonly known as Vancouver, British Columbia and the Burrard Inlet. He discloses how, following the systematic cultural genocide enacted by the colonial state, key leaders of his community, such as his grandfather, Chief Dan George, always taught the younger generations to be proud of who they were and to remember the importance of their connection to the inlet. Part memoir, part call to action, It Stops Here is a compelling appeal to prioritize the sacred over oil and extractive industries, while insisting that settler society honour Indigenous law and jurisdiction over unceded territories rather than exploiting lands and reducing them to their natural resources.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/660954 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Hamilton: The Energetic Founder Author: R.B. Bernstein Narrator: Graham Winton Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 3 hours 36 minutes Release date: August 29, 2023 Genres: History & Culture Publisher's Summary: Alexander Hamilton (1755–1804) was a key founding father—a politician, a constitutional thinker, and the nation’s first secretary of the treasury. He led the effort to write the brilliant defense and exposition of the Constitution, The Federalist, and later, as the nation’s first treasury secretary, he pioneered efforts to interpret the Constitution broadly, as a source of executive and judicial power.Finding his purpose in the American Revolution and in its sequel, the creation of the United States and its constitutional form of government, he sought to give the nation and its government the power and energy required to preserve the fruits of the Revolution and the nation’s survival in a hostile world. In this concise, elegant, and scholarly overview of his life, thought, career, and legacies, acclaimed biographer R. B. Bernstein shows his life as a record of struggle, war, ambition, and of the practice of law, fierce politics, and good government.A war hero, a brilliant lawyer, and a skilled and effective polemicist, Hamilton devoted his life and his career to the cause of American independence, the Union, and an effective general government. A perennial focus of controversy, a skilled and often ruthless political fighter, Hamilton helped to define the emerging partisan politics of the new nation. He was a key player in the quarrels over what its constitution meant and what powers it gave the Union. A brilliant administrator and a shrewd and cogent economic theorist, he created the American government’s role in the nation’s economic system and helped tosecure for the nation an effective and energetic general government.Hamilton was also a principal exponent of political combat in defense of personal and political honor. As such, he was a tragic victim of the honor culture he did so much to establish as a component of national politics, dying as the result of a mortal wound he suffered in his 1804 duel with Aaron Burr, his longtime antagonist.