Top Free Audiobooks in Biography & Memoir, History & Culture

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/573378 to listen full audiobooks. Title: The New Elizabethans: A BBC history of the Queen’s reign, told through its most notable characters Author: James Naughtie Narrator: James Naughtie Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 6 hours 53 minutes Release date: April 14, 2022 Genres: History & Culture Publisher's Summary: James Naughtie examines the lives and impact of the men and women who have given the second Elizabethan Age its character As the longest-lived and longest-reigning monarch of the United Kingdom, Queen Elizabeth II has presided over an era of tremendous social, political and cultural change. In 2012, to mark her Diamond Jubilee, Radio 4 looked back on the long span of her reign, and asked the public to choose high-profile public figures who have helped to define this New Elizabethan Age. Almost a thousand nominations poured in, and the final selection was decided by a panel of leading writers and historians, including Dominic Sandbrook, Bamber Gascoigne and Max Hastings. In this celebratory collection, distinguished broadcaster James Naughtie profiles 37 of these iconic individuals. They come from all walks of life - from artists and scientists like David Hockney and Francis Crick, to business legends such as Alan Sainsbury and Anita Roddick, politicians including Roy Jenkins, Tony Blair and Alex Salmond, and even a member of the Royal Family: Diana, Princess of Wales. Some are world-famous, others less well-known, and there are several surprising choices - and a few controversial ones. But all have made their mark on our nation, for good or ill. Here are fascinating portraits of mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary, whose conquest of Everest was announced on the day of the Queen's coronation; Elizabeth David, the food writer who brought European cuisine to British tables; leading thinker on British culture, race and identity Stuart Hall; renowned English composer Benjamin Britten; the inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee - and many more, whose achievements and influence will stand the test of time. Together, they shine a light on postwar Britain, illuminating how our society has evolved over the seven decades since Queen Elizabeth II's accession. Production credits Presented by James Naughtie Produced by James Cook, Sukey Firth, Clare Walker, Sarah Taylor, Alison Hughes, Poppy Goodheart and Kate Howells First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: Edmund Hilary 11 June 2012 Elizabeth David 12 June 2012 Graham Greene 13 June 2012 Michael Young 14 June 2012 Vladimir Raitz 15 June 2012 Francis Crick 18 June 2012 Alan Sainsbury 20 June 2012 Benjamin Britten 25 June 2012 Dorothy Hodgkin 26 June 2012 Alfred Denning 4 July 2012 Paul Foot 5 July 2012 Francis Bacon 6 July 2012 Peter Hall 12 July 2012 Terence Conran 13 July 2012 Enoch Powell 16 July 2012 Cicely Saunders 17 July 2012 Basil D'Oliveira 19 July 2012 Germaine Greer 23 July 2012 Robert Edwards 24 July 2012 Jack Jones 26 July 2012 Talaiasi Labalaba 31 July 2012 Jocelyn Bell Burnell 2 August 2012 Roy Jenkins 3 August 2012 Vivienne Westwood 6 August 2012 Jayaben Desai 7 August 2012 Stuart Hall 9 August 2012 David Hockney 14 August 2012 Ralph Robins 16 August 2012 Anita Roddick 21 August 2012 Norman Foster 22 August 2012 Charles Saatchi 23 August 2012 Goldie 24 August 2012 John Hume/David Trimble 27 August 2012 Tim Berners-Lee 29 August 2012 Diana, Princess of Wales 30 August 2012 Alex Salmond 31 August 2012 Tony Blair 3 September 2012 © 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/566744 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Benjamin Franklin's Last Bet: The Favorite Founder's Divisive Death, Enduring Afterlife, and Blueprint for American Prosperity Author: Michael Meyer Narrator: Donald Corren Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 10 hours 4 minutes Release date: April 12, 2022 Genres: History & Culture Publisher's Summary: The incredible story of Benjamin Franklin’s parting gift to the working-class people of Boston and Philadelphia—a deathbed wager that captures the Founder’s American Dream and his lessons for our current, conflicted age. Benjamin Franklin was not a gambling man. But at the end of his illustrious life, the Founder allowed himself a final wager on the survival of the United States: a gift of two thousand pounds to Boston and Philadelphia, to be lent out to tradesmen over the next two centuries to jump-start their careers. Each loan would be repaid with interest over ten years. If all went according to Franklin’s inventive scheme, the accrued final payout in 1991 would be a windfall.  In Benjamin Franklin’s Last Bet, Michael Meyer traces the evolution of these twin funds as they age alongside America itself, bankrolling woodworkers and silversmiths, trade schools and space races. Over time, Franklin’s wager was misused, neglected, and contested—but never wholly extinguished. With charm and inquisitive flair, Meyer shows how Franklin’s stake in the “leather-apron” class remains in play to this day, and offers an inspiring blueprint for prosperity in our modern era of growing wealth disparity and social divisions.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/569945 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Daughters of Chivalry: The Forgotten Princesses of King Edward Longshanks Author: Kelcey Wilson-Lee Narrator: Christine Rendel Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 12 hours 7 minutes Release date: April 12, 2022 Genres: History & Culture Publisher's Summary: Virginal, chaste, humble, patiently waiting for rescue by brave knights and handsome princes: this idealized—and largely mythical—notion of the medieval noblewoman still lingers. Yet the reality was very different, as Kelcey Wilson-Lee shows in this vibrant account of the five daughters of Edward I, often known as Longshanks. The lives of these sisters—Eleanora, Joanna, Margaret, Mary, and Elizabeth—ran the gamut of experiences open to royal women in the Middle Ages. Edward's daughters were of course expected to cement alliances and secure lands and territory by making great dynastic marriages, or endow religious houses with royal favor. But they also skillfully managed enormous households, navigated choppy diplomatic waters, and promoted their family's cause throughout Europe—and had the courage to defy their royal father. They might never wear the crown in their own right, but they were utterly confident of their crucial role in the spectacle of medieval kingship. Drawing on a wide range of contemporary sources, Daughters of Chivalry offers a rich portrait of these formidable women, seeing them—at long last—shine from out of the shadows, revealing what it was to be a princess in the Age of Chivalry.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/578996 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Daughters of the North: Jean Gordon and Mary, Queen of Scots Author: Jennifer Morag Henderson Narrator: Joan Walker Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 15 hours 41 minutes Release date: April 7, 2022 Ratings: Ratings of Book: 5 of Total 1 Ratings of Narrator: 5 of Total 1 Genres: History & Culture Publisher's Summary: Mary, Queen of Scots' marriage to the Earl of Bothwell is notorious. Less known is Bothwell's first wife, Jean Gordon, who extricated herself from their marriage and survived the intrigue of the Queen's court. Daughters of the North reframes this turbulent period in history by focusing on Jean, who became Countess of Sutherland, following her from her birth as the daughter of the ‘King of the North' to her disastrous union with the notorious Earl of Bothwell – and her lasting legacy to the Earldom of Sutherland.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/581163 to listen full audiobooks. Title: [Spanish] - El exilio: Un relato de familia Author: Carlos Tello Díaz Narrator: Miguel ángel álvarez Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 18 hours 49 minutes Release date: April 7, 2022 Ratings: Ratings of Book: 3 of Total 1 Ratings of Narrator: 4 of Total 1 Genres: History & Culture Publisher's Summary: Basado fundamentalmente en fuentes primarias, muchas de ellas inéditas, el autor -tataranieto de Porfirio Díaz- narra la historia de dos familias que tuvieron que dejar su país con la Revolución: los Díaz y los Casasús, con particular énfasis en el ex presidente Porfirio Díaz. El exilio: un relato de familia narra los avatares de dos familias que tuvieron que salir de México tras el estallido de la Revolución: la de Porfirio Díaz y la de Joaquín Casasús. Es un relato de carácter íntimo sobre la vida que llevaron a lo largo del exilio y es, también, un recuento de los sucesos que cambiaron al país vistos a través de sus vidas en el extranjero. La historia que cuenta está basada, esencialmente, en fuentes primarias, muchas de ellas inéditas. El libro de Carlos Tello Díaz, tataranieto del general Porfirio Díaz, publicado por primera vez hace veinte años, fue elogiado entonces por uno de los grandes historiadores mexicanos del siglo XX, don Luis González y González, quien escribió estas palabras en una reseña: 'Sin abjurar del profesionalismo y la especialidad, sin apartarse de los rigores del método científico, la nueva historia aspira a la reconciliación con el público, quiere volver a su condición de arte sin perder el prestigio de ciencia. Pueden aducirse muchos ejemplos de la nueva revolución historiográfica que viene a superar la que se produjo en los años cuarenta. El ejemplo hasta ahora mayor de una nueva historia es El exilio: un relato de familia, de Carlos Tello Díaz'.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/588274 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Jefferson An Autobiography In Letters & Private Writings Author: Thomas Jefferson Narrator: The Ark, Geoffrey Giuliano Format: Abridged Audiobook Length: 10 hours 33 minutes Release date: April 7, 2022 Genres: History & Culture Publisher's Summary: Thomas Jefferson was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He had previously served as the second vice president of the United States under John Adams and as the first United States secretary of state under George Washington. The principal author of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson was a proponent of democracy, republicanism, and individual rights, motivating American colonists to break from the Kingdom of Great Britain and form a new nation; he produced formative documents and decisions at both the state and national levels. During the American Revolution, Jefferson represented Virginia in the Continental Congress that adopted the Declaration of Independence. As a Virginia legislator, he drafted a state law for religious freedom. He served as the second Governor of Virginia from 1779 to 1781, during the American Revolutionary War. In 1785, Jefferson was appointed the United States Minister to France, and subsequently, the nation's first secretary of state under President George Washington from 1790 to 1793. Jefferson and James Madison organized the Democratic-Republican Party to oppose the Federalist Party during the formation of the First Party System. With Madison, he anonymously wrote the provocative Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions in 1798 and 1799, which sought to strengthen states' rights by nullifying the federal Alien and Sedition Acts. As president, Jefferson pursued the nation's shipping and trade interests against Barbary pirates and aggressive British trade policies. Starting in 1803, Jefferson promoted a western expansionist policy, organizing the Louisiana Purchase which doubled the nation's claimed land area. To make room for settlement, Jefferson began the process of Indian tribal removal from the newly acquired territory. As a result of peace negotiations with France, his administration reduced military forces.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/578101 to listen full audiobooks. Title: [Spanish] - Oración: Carta a Vicki y otras elegías políticas Author: María Moreno Narrator: Ines Ulanovsky Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 8 hours 46 minutes Release date: April 1, 2022 Genres: History & Culture Publisher's Summary: Partiendo del enfrentamiento en el que muere Vicki Walsh a través de documentos y testimonios de sobrevivientes, Oración es una relectura de la obra periodística de Rodolfo Walsh y sus procedimientos estético-políticos a partir de sus 'Carta a Vicki' y 'Carta a mis amigos', menos conocidas que su 'Carta a la Junta'. Combinación y cruce de géneros, el libro es principalmente una investigación sobre la verdad en su dimensión para-judicial, sus metáforas y el nuevo valor del testimonio. Oración es de aquellos libros que transforman nuestra sensibilidad al pensar la tragedia humana. Con la investigación del asalto del Ejército a la casa donde a fines de 1976 muere Vicki Walsh, el libro propone una nueva tradición fundada en las cartas que Rodolfo Walsh dedica a su hija y a sus amigos. En esos textos, la gesta política de Walsh se transforma en literaria e íntima, porque instaura un linaje de mujeres destinado a jaquear el protocolo testimonial de la violencia política que -en cine, literatura y teatro- estallará con la interpelación recurrente de hijas y madres sobre los alcances de la vida y el amor. María Moreno, consagrada como una de las voces más audaces y plenas de Hispanoamérica, arrasa con las fronteras entre ensayo, literatura, crítica, investigación y biografía para llevar la escritura a un nuevo mundo, del que es a la vez creadora, descubridora y cronista. La crítica ha dicho... «Somos muchos los que consideramos a María Moreno la mejor cronista argentina de todos los tiempos y una de las voces documentales más lúcidas de la lengua, entre otras hipérboles razonables.» Jorge Carrión, The New York Times 'La verdad de Moreno es una norma de estilo, de un gran estilo plebeyo.' Carlos Pardo, Babelia

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/568905 to listen full audiobooks. Title: The House of Dudley: A New History of Tudor England. A TIMES Book of the Year 2022 Author: Joanne Paul Narrator: Kristin Atherton Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 17 hours 13 minutes Release date: March 31, 2022 Ratings: Ratings of Book: 3.5 of Total 2 Genres: History & Culture Publisher's Summary: Brought to you by Penguin. Told for the very first time is the true story of the secret royal family. Each Tudor monarch made their name with a Dudley by their side - or by crushing one beneath their feet. The Dudleys thrived at the court of Henry VII, but were sacrificed to the popularity of Henry VIII. Rising to prominence in the reign of Edward VI, the Dudleys lost it all by advancing Jane Grey to the throne over Mary I. Under Elizabeth I, the family were once again at the centre of power, and would do anything to remain there . . . With three generations of felled favourites, what was it that caused this family to keep rising so high and falling so low? Here, for the first time, is the story of England's Borgias, a noble house competing for proximity to the throne through cunning, adultery and sheer audacity, revealing some of the period's most talented, intelligent and cunning individuals. © Joanne Paul 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/567500 to listen full audiobooks. Title: The Search for Major Plagge: The Nazi Who Saved Jews Author: Michael Good Narrator: James Romick Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 11 hours 24 minutes Release date: March 29, 2022 Genres: History & Culture Publisher's Summary: Part detective story, part personal quest, Michael Good's book is the story of the German commander of a Lithuanian work camp who saved hundreds of Jewish lives in the Vilnius ghetto—including the life of Good's mother, Pearl. Who was this enigmatic officer Pearl Good had spoken of so often? After five years of research—interviewing survivors, assembling a team that could work to open German files untouched for fifty years, following every lead he could, Good was able to uncover the amazing tale of one man's remarkable courage. And in April 2005, Karl Plagge joined Oskar Schindler and 380 other Germans as 'Righteous among Nations,' honored by the State of Israel for protecting and saving Jewish lives during the Holocaust. This expanded edition features a new epilogue on the impact of the discovery of Karl Plagge—especially the story of eighty-three-year-old Alfons von Deschwanden, who, after fifty years of silence, came forward as a veteran of Plagge's unit. His testimony is now part of this growing witness to truth. Contains mature themes.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/564280 to listen full audiobooks. Title: Straits: Beyond the Myth of Magellan Author: Felipe Fernández-Armesto Narrator: Kris Dyer Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 15 hours 34 minutes Release date: March 29, 2022 Genres: History & Culture Publisher's Summary: For centuries, Ferdinand Magellan has been celebrated as a hero: a noble adventurer who circumnavigated the globe in an extraordinary feat of human bravery; a paragon of daring and chivalry. Now, renowned historian Felipe Fernández-Armesto draws on extensive and meticulous research to conduct a dazzling investigation into Magellan's life, his character and his ill-fated voyage. He shows that Magellan did not attempt – much less accomplish – a journey around the globe, and that in his own lifetime, the explorer was abhorred as a traitor, reviled as a tyrant and dismissed as a failure. He probes the passions and tensions that drove Magellan to adventure and drew him to disaster: the pride that became arrogance, daring that became recklessness, determination that became ruthlessness, romanticism that became irresponsibility, and superficial piety that became, in adversity, irrational exaltation. And as the real Magellan emerges, so to do his real ambitions, focused less on circumnavigating the world or cornering the global spice market than on exploiting Filipino gold. Offering up a stranger, darker and even more compelling narrative than the fictional version that has been glorified for half a millennium, Straits untangles the myths that made Magellan a hero. 'Scintillating and compelling, and told with all of Felipe Fernández Armesto's habitual verve and wit, it is at the same time a sobering insight into how we have come to conceive our own increasingly globalized world.' Anthony Pagden, author of Worlds at War: The 2,500-Year Struggle Between East and West 'Straits is a triumph of biographical writing. With his characteristic vigor and panache, Felipe Fernández-Armesto circumnavigates Magellan's life and times with a clearer object in mind and far greater success than ever imagined for this subject. He shows us not only the skills and bravado but also the intrigues, the self-deception, and even the insanity that animated Magellan's quest.' Lincoln Paine, author of The Sea and Civilization: A Maritime History of the World 'By pulling apart the usually willfully misread sources in their original languages with a detective's eye for contradiction and inconsistency, Straits unravels a yarn of unmitigated failure punctuated by hubris, meanness, and crafty power grabs. The Ferdinand Magellan who emerges from these freshly disinterred sources is no hero but rather a ruthless gentleman of fortune who died to tell the tale.'--Kris Lane, author of Potosi: The Silver City That Changed the World