El Dorado by Baroness E. Orczy audiobook. Genre: adventure In El Dorado, Baroness Emmuska Orczy returns to the perilous world of Revolutionary France, where the guillotine is a daily spectacle and suspicion can be a death sentence. Sir Percy Blakeney - outwardly a frivolous English aristocrat, secretly the daring Scarlet Pimpernel - is drawn back across the Channel when news reaches him of innocent prisoners trapped in the iron grip of the new regime. But this time the stakes are personal: his e...
Sep 03, 2022•11 hr 5 min•Ep. 327
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens audiobook. Genre: drama Charles Dickens' David Copperfield is a richly detailed coming-of-age tale told in the voice of its own hero, who looks back on the joys and wounds that shaped him. Orphaned into uncertainty and raised under shifting guardianship, young David must navigate a world where affection can be fragile and power often belongs to the cruel or the careless. Along the way he encounters a vivid cast: steadfast friends who offer refuge, charismatic...
Sep 02, 2022•33 hr 24 min•Ep. 326
The Battle of Life by Charles Dickens audiobook. Genre: romance While 'The Battle of Life' is one of Charles Dickens' Christmas Books - his annual release of a story just before Christmas - this one breaks the tradition by not being concerned with Christmas. Rather, its subtitle, 'A Love Story', reveals more of the plot. The major events of this book take place on land that once was a battleground. That is just a backdrop for Dickens' idea of the real battle of life - finding and winning the rig...
Sep 02, 2022•3 hr 36 min•Ep. 325
Over the Top by Arthur Empey audiobook. Genre: biography In Over the Top, Arthur Guy Empey, an American who volunteered to serve with the British Army in World War I, gives a direct, ground-level account of life and fighting on the Western Front. Writing with a mix of blunt realism and soldier humor, Empey brings listeners into the trenches: the mud and cold, the constant danger from shells and snipers, the tense night watches, and the sudden, terrifying rush of going 'over the top' into No Man'...
Sep 01, 2022•7 hr 18 min•Ep. 324
How to Live on Twenty-Four Hours a Day by Arnold Bennett audiobook. Genre: self help 'Which of us lives on twenty-four hours a day? And when I say 'lives,' I do not mean exists, nor 'muddles through.'' -- Arnold Bennett knew a 'rat race' when he saw one. Every day, his fellow white-collar Londoners followed the same old routine. And they routinely decried the sameness in their lives.-- So Bennett set out to explain how to inject new enthusiasm into living. In this delightful little work, he taug...
Sep 01, 2022•1 hr 30 min•Ep. 323
Mark Twain by Archibald Henderson audiobook. Genre: biography Many writers have penned studies of Mark Twain's life and work through the years. Twain authorized this biography, having met and hosted the writer, Archibald Henderson, on a few occasions. Henderson considered this work to be an homage to one of his biggest idols, who guided him through his youth and adolescence. He writes, 'It is an appreciation originating in the heart of one who loved Mark Twain’s works for a generation before he ...
Sep 01, 2022•5 hr 38 min•Ep. 322
The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas audiobook. Genre: adventure In The Man in the Iron Mask, Alexandre Dumas returns to the glittering and dangerous court of France under Louis XIV, where power is absolute, secrets are deadly, and loyalty can cost a life. The aging musketeers - d'Artagnan, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis - find themselves pulled back into intrigue when whispers spread of a mysterious prisoner hidden away in the Bastille, forced to wear a mask that conceals more than a face. A...
Aug 31, 2022•21 hr 12 min•Ep. 321
The Boys Life of Mark Twain by Albert Bigelow Paine audiobook. Genre: biography In The Boys Life of Mark Twain, Albert Bigelow Paine tells the true story of how Samuel Langhorne Clemens became the writer the world would later know as Mark Twain. Written with young listeners in mind, this brisk biography follows Clemens from his boyhood on the Mississippi River frontier through the hard knocks and odd jobs that shaped his voice: apprentice printer, riverboat dreamer, wandering traveler, and sharp...
Aug 31, 2022•9 hr 4 min•Ep. 320
The Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln audiobook. Genre: speeches After having written and released an initial draft of this proclamation in September of 1862, minor changes were made and Lincoln signed it on January 1st, 1863. It declared free the slaves in 10 states not then under Union control, with exemptions specified for areas already under Union control in two states. Lincoln spent the next 100 days preparing the army and the nation for emancipation, while Democrats rallied thei...
Aug 31, 2022•9 min•Ep. 319
The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln audiobook. Genre: speeches It was a cloudy November day in 1863 when thousands gathered to hear renowned orator Edward Everett dedicate a national cemetery at the site of a pivotal battle early in July of that year. Also present to deliver 'a few appropriate remarks' was the President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln spoke but 278 words; Everett later wrote to the President, 'I should be glad, if I could flatter myself that I came as near t...
Aug 30, 2022•5 min•Ep. 318
Chancellorsville and Gettysburg by Abner Doubleday audiobook. Genre: history Abner Doubleday began the Civil War as a Union officer and aimed the first cannon shot in response to the bombardment opened on Ft. Sumter in 1861. Two years later, after a series of battles (including Antietam, where he was wounded), Doubleday took over a division in the Army of the Potomac's 1st Corps. These are his memoirs of service in two of the War's great campaigns. At Chancellorsville, a very promising start mad...
Aug 30, 2022•6 hr 54 min•Ep. 317
The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare audiobook. Genre: comedy The Taming of the Shrew is one of Shakespeare's earliest comedies, and was inspired by classical Roman comedy and the Italian commedia dell'arte. Baptista Minola, a rich gentleman of Padua, has two daughters: Katherina, renowned for her sharp tongue, and Bianca, who is sought after by multiple suitors. Baptista decides that Bianca cannot marry until her elder sister finds a husband. Enter Petruchio, who has come to 'wive it ...
Aug 30, 2022•2 hr 30 min•Ep. 316
Othello by William Shakespeare audiobook. Genre: tragedy In the glittering, volatile world of Venetian power and military prestige, Othello, a celebrated Moorish general, has risen through skill and courage to command respect. But his private life becomes the talk of the city when he secretly marries Desdemona, the daughter of a prominent senator. Summoned to defend Venice against a looming threat, Othello sails to the outpost of Cyprus with his new bride, his loyal lieutenant Cassio, and his en...
Aug 30, 2022•3 hr 11 min•Ep. 315
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins audiobook. Genre: mystery The story concerns a young woman called Rachel Verinder who inherits a large Indian diamond, the Moonstone, on her eighteenth birthday. The book is widely regarded as the precursor of the modern mystery and suspense novels. T. S. Eliot called it 'the first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels'. It contains a number of ideas which became common tropes of the genre: a large number of suspects, red herrings, a crime ...
Aug 30, 2022•20 hr 22 min•Ep. 314
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman audiobook. Genre: poetry American poet Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, is a collection of poems notable for its frank delight in and praise of the senses, during a time when such candid displays were considered immoral. Where much previous poetry, especially English, relied on symbolism, allegory, and meditation on the religious and spiritual, Leaves of Grass exalted the body and the material world. Whitman was inspired to begin Leaves of Grass after reading an es...
Aug 28, 2022•19 hr 30 min•Ep. 313
The Adventures of Maya the Bee by Waldemar Bonsels audiobook. Genre: adventure In The Adventures of Maya the Bee, Waldemar Bonsels invites listeners into a bright and bustling world where every flower hides a secret and every flight beyond the hive brings a new lesson. Maya is a curious young honeybee who cannot resist exploring what lies past the familiar order of her home. Restless and independent, she leaves the safety of the hive to discover the meadow, the forest, and the wide community of ...
Aug 28, 2022•4 hr 40 min•Ep. 312
Universal Declaration of Human Rights by United Nations General Assembly audiobook. Genre: history Adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a landmark statement of the principles meant to guide how people and governments treat one another. Written in the wake of global conflict and mass atrocities, it sets out a shared moral and political framework built on the idea that every person is born free and equal in dignity and rights. Across ...
Aug 27, 2022•20 min•Ep. 311
The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides audiobook. Genre: history Written by the Athenian historian and general Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War is a firsthand-driven account of the long, brutal struggle between Athens and Sparta and their allies in the late fifth century BCE. Opening with the mounting tensions that make conflict inevitable, Thucydides follows the war's early shocks and shifting alliances through campaigns on land and at sea, civic unrest, and the rele...
Aug 27, 2022•21 hr 9 min•Ep. 310
The Adventures of Danny Meadow Mouse by Thornton W. Burgess audiobook. Genre: family In The Adventures of Danny Meadow Mouse, Thornton W. Burgess invites listeners into the sunlit fields and shadowy thickets of the Green Meadows, where a small, curious mouse learns that the world is both wondrous and dangerous. Danny is quick and eager, but his love of exploring often puts him in the path of hungry enemies, especially the sly Reddy Fox and other sharp-eyed hunters who prowl the open ground. Guid...
Aug 27, 2022•1 hr 50 min•Ep. 309
Utopia by Thomas More audiobook. Genre: philosophy This book is all about the fictional country called Utopia. It is a country with an ‘ideal’ form of communism, in which everything really does belong to everybody, everyone does the work they want to, and everyone is alright with that. This country uses gold for chamber pots and prison chains, pearls and diamonds for children’s playthings, and requires that a man and a woman see each other exactly as they are, naked, before getting married. This...
Aug 26, 2022•4 hr•Ep. 308
Common Sense by Thomas Paine audiobook. Genre: history First published in January 1776, Thomas Paine's Common Sense is the fiery pamphlet that helped turn colonial frustration into a direct argument for American independence. Written for ordinary readers rather than lawmakers, it lays out, in plain language, why reconciliation with Britain is neither practical nor desirable, and why a new nation should be built on representative government instead of hereditary monarchy. Paine challenges the leg...
Aug 26, 2022•2 hr 15 min•Ep. 610
The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy audiobook. Genre: tragedy Like all of Hardy's work, The Return of the Native (1878) is passionate and controversial, with themes and sympathies beyond what a good Victorian would ever admit. A modern and honest novel of chance and choice, faith and infidelities, this dark story asks what is free will and what is fate? What is the true nature of nature, and how do we fit together? Can we fit together? A tragedy set in the barren land of Edgon Heath. Our he...
Aug 26, 2022•17 hr 47 min•Ep. 307
Confessions by St. Augustine of Hippo audiobook. Genre: religion The Confessions outlines Augustine's sinful youth and his conversion to Christianity. It is widely seen as the first Western autobiography ever written, and was an influential model for Christian writers throughout the following 1,000 years, through the Middle Ages. It is not a complete autobiography, as it was written in his early 40s, and he lived long afterwards, producing another important work (City of God). It does, nonethele...
Aug 25, 2022•14 hr•Ep. 306
The White Company by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle audiobook. Genre: adventure Set during the Hundred Years' War with France, The White Company tells the story of a young Saxon man who is learning what it is to be a knight. Raised by Cistercian Monks and rejected by a violent elder brother, Alleyn Edricson takes service with one of the foremost knights in the country. When Alleyn falls in love with the knight's daughter, he must prove himself to be a courageous and honourable knight before he can win h...
Aug 25, 2022•14 hr 58 min•Ep. 305
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle audiobook. Genre: mystery When Sir Charles Baskerville is found dead on the lonely moor near his ancestral home, the whispered legend of a supernatural hound returns to haunt the Baskerville family. With the young heir, Sir Henry Baskerville, newly arrived from London and marked as the next possible victim, Dr. James Mortimer turns to the only man who might untangle terror from truth: Sherlock Holmes. Holmes dispatches Dr. John Watson to Ba...
Aug 25, 2022•6 hr 5 min•Ep. 304
The Story of the Middle Ages by Samuel B. Harding audiobook. Genre: history In The Story of the Middle Ages, historian Samuel B. Harding guides listeners through the long, dramatic centuries that bridged the ancient world and the modern age. Beginning with the fragmentation of the Roman world and the rise of new kingdoms, Harding traces how Europe slowly reorganized itself around the competing forces of kingship, feudal obligation, and the authority of the Church. Along the way, he introduces th...
Aug 25, 2022•5 hr 43 min•Ep. 303
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson audiobook. Genre: mystery In fog-bound Victorian London, reputable lawyer Gabriel John Utterson becomes troubled by an unsettling name that keeps surfacing in connection with his longtime friend, the brilliant and charitable Dr Henry Jekyll. The name is Edward Hyde - a violent, secretive figure who seems to possess an uncanny claim on Jekyll's life, fortune, and even his safety. As disturbing incidents mount across the city, U...
Aug 25, 2022•3 hr 11 min•Ep. 302
More William by Richmal Crompton audiobook. Genre: comedy The second of Crompton's series of 39 books about William Brown, our cheeky 11 year-old protagonist. A hero to some, a dastardly villain to others, this book is structured round a year in his life. Starting with William waking up on Christmas morning and ending with him going to sleep the following Christmas Eve, there are the usual round of misadventures, misunderstanding and general mayhem in between. When a boy like William wakes up un...
Aug 25, 2022•5 hr 30 min•Ep. 301
And Then the Town Took Off by Richard Wilson audiobook. Genre: scifi The town of Superior, Ohio, certainly was living up to its name! In what was undoubtedly the most spectacular feat of the century, it simply picked itself up one night and rose two full miles above Earth! Radio messages stated simply that Superior had seceded from Earth. But Don Cort, stranded on that rising town, was beginning to suspect that nothing was simple about Superior except its citizens. Calmly they accepted their ris...
Aug 25, 2022•3 hr 54 min•Ep. 300
Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini audiobook. Genre: adventure Set in pre-revolutionary France, Scaramouche follows Andre-Louis Moreau, a sharp-tongued young lawyer of uncertain birth who believes he can stay above politics - until injustice forces him into the widening conflict between privilege and the people. When a nobleman kills Andre-Louis' friend and the courts offer no remedy, Andre-Louis is driven from his quiet provincial life into a perilous journey through radical pamphleteering, politic...
Aug 25, 2022•17 hr 26 min•Ep. 299
