The Audie Award for History or Biography is one of the Audie Awards presented annually by the Audio Publishers Association (APA). It awards excellence in narration, production, and content for a history or biography audiobook released in a given year. Before 2015 this was given as two distinct awards, the Audie Award for Biography or Memoir (awarded since 2003; also split into the modern Audie Award for Autobiography or Memoir) and the Audie Award for History (awarded since 2009).
Winners are listed first and highlighted in green.
Year | Title | Author(s) | Narrator(s) | Publisher |
---|---|---|---|---|
2015
[1] 20th |
The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism (2013) | Doris Kearns Goodwin | Edward Herrmann | Simon & Schuster Audio |
Enduring Courage: Ace Pilot Eddie Rickenbacker and the Dawn of the Age of Speed (2014) | John F. Ross | Edward Herrmann | Macmillan Audio | |
Enemy Coast Ahead: Uncensored (2003) | Guy Gibson | Simon Vance | Tantor Audio | |
In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette (2014) | Hampton Sides | Arthur Morey | Penguin Random House Audio | |
Lincoln's Gamble: The Tumultuous Six Months That Gave America the Emancipation Proclamation and Changed the Course of the Civil War (2014) | Todd Brewster | Todd Brewster | Brilliance Audio | |
A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal (2014) | Ben Macintyre | John Rafter Lee | Penguin Random House Audio | |
2016
[2] 21st |
A A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts (1994) | Andrew Chaikin and Tom Hanks | Bronson Pinchot | Audiobooks.com Publishing |
In Search of Sir Thomas Browne: The Life and Afterlife (2015) | Hugh Aldersey-Williams | Simon Vance | HighBridge Audio/Recorded Books | |
Operation Nemesis: The Assassination Plot that Avenged the Armenian Genocide (2015) | Eric Bogosian | Eric Bogosian | Hachette Audio | |
Pacific: Silicon Chips and Surfboards, Coral Reefs and Atom Bombs, Brutal Dictators, Fading Empires, and the Coming Collision of the World's Superpowers (1991) | Simon Winchester | Simon Winchester | HarperAudio | |
Texas Rising: The Epic True Story of the Lone Star Republic (2015) | Stephen L. Moore | P. J. Ochlan | HarperAudio | |
2017
[3] 22nd |
In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors (2001) | Doug Stanton | Mark Boyett | Audible |
Paul McCartney: The Life (2016) | Philip Norman | Jonathan Keeble | Recorded Books | |
A Time to Die: The Untold Story of the Kursk Tragedy (2002) | Robert Moore | Pete Cross | Dreamscape | |
Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution (2016) | Nathaniel Philbrick | Scott Brick | Penguin Random House Audio/Books on Tape | |
The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606 (2015) | James S. Shapiro | Robert Fass | Tantor Audio | |
2018
[4] 23rd |
Loving vs. Virginia: A Documentary Novel of the Landmark Civil Rights Case (2017) | Patricia Hruby Powell | Adenrele Ojo and MacLeod Andrews | Dreamscape |
Bette and Joan: The Divine Feud (1989) | Shaun Considine | January LaVoy | Graymalkin Media | |
Born Survivors: Three Young Mothers and Their Extraordinary Story of Courage, Defiance, and Hope (2015) | Wendy Holden | Elizabeth Wiley | Tantor Audio | |
Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II (2017) | Liza Mundy | Erin Bennett | Hachette Audio | |
The Home Front: Life in America During World War II (2017) | Audible Originals, Martin Sheen, and Dan Gediman | Martin Sheen | Audible Originals | |
My Life, My Love, My Legacy (2017) | Coretta Scott King and Barbara Reynolds | Phylicia Rashad and January LaVoy | Macmillan Audio | |
2019
[5] 24th |
Darkest Hour: How Churchill Brought Us Back from the Brink (2018) | Anthony McCarten | John Rafter Lee | HarperAudio |
The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers (2018) | Maxwell King | LeVar Burton | Oasis Audio | |
Indianapolis: The True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in U.S. Navy History and the Fifty-Year Fight to Exonerate an Innocent Man (2018) | Lynn Vincent and Sara Vladic | John Bedford Lloyd | Simon & Schuster Audio | |
Robin (2018) | Dave Itzkoff | Fred Berman and Dave Itzkoff | Macmillan Audio | |
We Were Soldiers Once… and Young (1992) | Harold G. Moore and Joseph L. Galloway | Jonathan Davis | Tantor Audio |
Year | Title | Author(s) | Narrator(s)(s) | Publisher |
---|---|---|---|---|
2020
[6] 25th |
American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race (2019) | Douglas Brinkley | Stephen Graybill | HarperAudio |
The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington (2019) | Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch | Scott Brick | Macmillan Audio | |
Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee (2019) | Casey Cep | Hillary Huber | Penguin Random House Audio | |
The Queen: The Forgotten Life Behind an American Myth (2019) | Josh Levin | January LaVoy | Hachette Audio | |
Theodore Roosevelt for the Defense (2019) | Dan Abrams and David Fisher | Roger Wayne and Dan Abrams | Harlequin | |
2021
[7] 26th |
His Truth Is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope (2020) | Jon Meacham | JD Jackson | Penguin Random House Audio |
The Dead Are Arising : The Life of Malcolm X (2020) | Les Payne and Tamara Payne | Dion Graham | Recorded Books | |
Deep Delta Justice: A Black Teen, His Lawyer, and Their Groundbreaking Battle for Civil Rights in the South (2020) | Matthew Van Meter | Brad Sanders | Hachette Audio | |
J. R. R. Tolkien: The Making of a Legend (2012) | Colin Duriez | Simon Vance | Oasis Audio | |
Just Us: An American Conversation (2020) | Claudia Rankine | Janina Edwards | Audible | |
The Lincoln Conspiracy (1977) | Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch | Scott Brick | Macmillan Audio | |
2022
[8] 27th |
Clanlands: Whisky, Warfare, and a Scottish Adventure Like No Other | Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish | Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish | Hodder & Stoughton |
Music Is History | Ahmir Khalib Thompson (Questlove) | Ahmir Khalib Thompson (Questlove) | Recorded Books | |
Somersett: Benjamin Franklin and the Masterminding of American Independence | Philip Goodrich | Robert Petkoff , Joe Morton, Simon Jones, Euan Morton, Nicola Barber, and the author (Author's note and afterword) | Blackstone Publishing and May Wuthrich Productions | |
The Code Breaker (2021) | Walter Isaacson | Kathe Mazur with Walter Isaacson | Simon & Schuster Audio | |
A Weekend with Pablo Picasso | Herbert Sigüenza | Herbert Sigüenza | L.A. Theatre Works | |
2023
[9] 27th |
Summer of '85 | Chris Morrow, Kevin Hart, Tara Thomas, Nicole Shelton, Charlamagne Tha God, Marc Gerald, Dave Becky, Mike Stein, Thai Randolph, Bryan Smiley, and Karen Kinney | Kevin Hart | Audible Originals |
An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States | Kyle T. Mays | Shaun Taylor-Corbett | Beacon Press Audio | |
His Name is George Floyd (2022) | Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa | Dion Graham, Robert Samuels, and Toluse Olorunnipa | Penguin Random House Audio | |
Last Slave Ship | Ben Raines | Kevin R. Free | Simon & Schuster Audio | |
Undelivered | Jeff Nussbaum | Adam Gifford, Brian Bowles, Elisa Roth, Garrick Hagon, Glen McCready, Greg Lockett, James Lailey, Jeff Nussbaum, Johnny Heller, Kathleen Chalfant, Kurt Kanazawa, and Lance Blair | Macmillan Audio | |
2024
[10]
29th |
Goodbye Christopher Robin: A.A. Milne and the Making of Winnie-the-Pooh | Ann Thwaite, preface by Frank Cottrell-Boyce | Simon Vance | Tantor Audio |
Elon Musk | Walter Isaacson | Jeremy Bobb and Walter Isaacson | Simon & Schuster Audio | |
Empire of Ice and Stone: The Disastrous and Heroic Voyage of the Karluk | Buddy Levy | Will Damron | Macmillan Audio | |
The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder (2023) | David Grann | Dion Graham with David Grann | Penguin Random House Audio | |
King: A Life | Jonathan Eig | Dion Graham | Macmillan Audio |
Award Year | Title | Author | Narrator(s) | Title Publisher |
---|---|---|---|---|
2003
[11] 8th |
Lucky Man: A Memoir (2002) | Michael J. Fox | Michael J. Fox | Simon & Schuster Audio |
Getting to Know William Shakespeare (2001) | Joy Wake | Fred Child | Echo Peak Productions | |
Legacy (2002) | Doc Watson and David Holt | Doc Watson and David Holt | High Windy Audio | |
Theodore Rex (2001) | Edmund Morris | Harry Chase | Random House Audio | |
Touch the Top of the World: A Blind Man's Journey to Climb Farther Than the Eye Can See (2002) b | Erik Weihenmayer | Nick Sullivan | The Audio Partners Publishing Corp. | |
2004
[12] 9th |
The Nazi Officer's Wife : How One Jewish Woman Survived the Holocaust (1999) | Edith Hahn Beer | Barbara Rosenblat | Jewish Contemporary Classics |
A Long Way from Home: Growing Up in the American Heartland (2002) | Tom Brokaw | Tom Brokaw | Random House Audio | |
Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (2003) | Walter Isaacson | Boyd Gaines | Simon & Schuster Audio | |
Hannibal: One Man Against Rome (1958) | Harold Lamb | Charlton Griffin | Audio Connoisseur | |
My Invented Country: A Nostalgic Journey Through Chile (2003) | Isabel Allende | Blair Brown | HarperAudio | |
2005
[13] 10th |
Chronicles: Volume One (2004) | Bob Dylan | Sean Penn | Simon & Schuster Audio |
Big Russ and Me: Father and Son (2004) | Tim Russert | Tim Russert | Hyperion AudioBooks | |
Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America (2003) | Firoozeh Dumas | Firoozeh Dumas | Audible | |
Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure (2002) | Sarah McDonald | Kate Hosking | Bolinda Audio | |
The House on Beartown Road (2003) | Elizabeth Cohen | Bernadette Dunne | Blackstone Audio | |
Mornings on Horseback (1981) | David McCullough | Edward Herrmann | Simon & Schuster Audio | |
The Twelve Caesars (AD 121) | Suetonius | Charlton Griffin | Audio Connoisseur | |
2006
[14] 11th |
Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise (2005) | Ruth Reichl | Ruth Reichl | Random House Audio |
iCon: Steve Jobs, The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business (2005) | Jeffrey S. Young and William L. Simon | Alan Sklar, Jeffrey S. Young, and William L. Simon | Penton Overseas | |
The Tender Bar (2005) | J. R. Moehringer | J. R. Moehringer | Time Warner AudioBooks | |
We Are All the Same: A Story of a Boy's Courage and a Mother's Love (2004) | Jim Wooten | Alan Sklar | Tantor Audio | |
The Year of Magical Thinking (2005) | Joan Didion | Barbara Caruso | HighBridge Audio | |
2007
[15] 12th |
Teacher Man (2005) | Frank McCourt | Frank McCourt | Simon & Schuster Audio |
Diana: Finally, the Complete Story (2006) | Sarah Bradford | Katherine Kellgren | Penguin Audio | |
Dispatches from the Edge (2006) | Anderson Cooper | Anderson Cooper | HarperAudio | |
Elizabeth (2006) | J. Randy Taraborrelli | Lynne Maclean | Hachette Audio | |
Sound and Fury: Two Powerful Lives, One Fateful Friendship (2006) | David Kindred | Dick Hill | Blackstone Audio | |
The Great Escape : Nine Jews Who Fled Hitler and Changed the World (2006) | Kati Marton | Anna Fields | Tantor Audio | |
2008
[16]
[17] 13th |
Einstein: His Life and Universe (2007) | Walter Isaacson | Edward Herrmann | Simon & Schuster Audio |
My Lobotomy (2007) | Howard Dully and Charles Fleming | Johnny Heller | Tantor Audio | |
Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography (2007) | David Michaelis | Holter Graham | HarperAudio | |
Shakespeare: The World As Stage (2007) | Bill Bryson | Bill Bryson | HarperAudio | |
Tearing Down the Wall of Sound (2008) | Mick Brown | Ray Porter | Blackstone Audio | |
2009
[18]
[19] 14th |
The Last Lecture (2008) | Randy Pausch | Erik Singer | HyperionAudio |
Black Wave: A Family's Adventure at Sea and the Disaster (2008) | John and Jean Silverwood and Malcolm McConnell | Carrington MacDuffie and Joe Barrett | Blackstone Audio | |
The Legs Are the Last to Go (2008) | Diahann Carroll | Diahann Carroll | HarperAudio | |
The Middle Place (2005) | Kelly Corrigan | Tavia Gilbert | Blackstone Audio | |
Waiter Rant (2008) | Steve Dublanica | Dan John Miller | Brilliance Audio |
Award Year | Title | Author(s) | Narrator(s) | Title Publisher |
---|---|---|---|---|
2010
[20] 15th |
Anne Frank Remembered: The Story of the Woman Who Helped to Hide the Frank Family (1987) | Miep Gies and Leslie Gold | Barbara Rosenblat | Oasis Audio |
The Golden Willow: The Story of a Lifetime of Love (2009) | Harry Bernstein | Mike Kellogg | Oasis Audio | |
The Secret Holocaust Diaries: The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister (2009) | Nonna Bannister and Denise George | Rebecca Gallagher | Oasis Audio | |
True Compass (2009) | Edward Kennedy | John Bedford Lloyd | Hachette Audio | |
Valkyrie: The Story of the Plot to Kill Hitler by Its Last Member (2009) | Philipp Freiherr von Boeselager and Florence and Jérôme Fehrenbach | Michael Prichard | Tantor Audio | |
2011
[21] 16th |
Life (2010) | Keith Richards | Johnny Depp and Joe Hurley | Hachette Audio |
The Slave Across the Street: The True Story of How an American Teen Survived the World of Human Trafficking (2010) | Theresa Flores | Renee Raudman | ChristianAudio | |
Somewhere Inside (2010) | Lisa Ling and Laura Ling | Lisa Ling and Laura Ling | HarperAudio | |
This Time Together (2010) | Carol Burnett | Carol Burnett | Random House Audio | |
Abigail Adams: A Life (2009) | Woody Holton | Cassandra Campbell | Tantor Audio | |
2012
[22]
[23] 17th |
Bossypants (2011) | Tina Fey | Tina Fey | Hachette Audio |
The Dirty Life: A Memoir of Farming, Food, and Love (2010) | Kristin Kimball | Tavia Gilbert | Tantor Audio | |
Here Comes Trouble: Stories from My Life (2011) | Michael Moore | Michael Moore | Hachette Audio | |
My Dog Tulip (1956) | J. R. Ackerley | Ralph Cosham | Blackstone Audio | |
Until Tuesday: A Wounded Warrior and the Golden Retriever (2011) | Luis Carlos Montalvan | Luis Carlos Montalvan | Audible | |
2013
[24] 18th |
The Seamstress: A Memoir of Survival (1999) | Sara Tuvel Bernstein, Louise Loots Thornton, and Marlene Bernstein Samuels | Wanda McCaddon | Tantor Audio |
Cronkite (2012) | Douglas Brinkley | George Guidall | HarperAudio | |
Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey (2011) | Fiona Aitken, Lady Carnarvon | Wanda McCaddon | Tantor Audio | |
My Cross to Bear (2012) | Gregg Allman and Alan Light | Will Patton | HarperAudio | |
Two Rings: A Story of Love and War (2012) | Millie Werber and Eve Keller | Yelena Shmulenson and Eve Keller | HighBridge Audio | |
2014
[25] 19th |
The Elephant Whisperer : My Life with the Herd in the African Wild (2009) | Lawrence Anthony and Graham Spence | Simon Vance | Tantor Audio |
[sic]: A Memoir (2011) | Joshua Cody | Edoardo Ballerini | Audible | |
My Beloved World (1992) | Sonia Sotomayor | Rita Moreno | Random House Audio/Books on Tape | |
World on a String (2012) | John Pizzarelli | Joseph Cosgriff | Audible | |
I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban (2013) | Malala Yousafzai | Archie Panjabi | Hachette Audio |
Award Year | Title | Author | Narrator(s) | Title Publisher |
---|---|---|---|---|
2009
[18]
[26] 14th |
Gandhi and Churchill: The Epic Rivalry That Destroyed an Empire and Forged Our Age (2008) | Arthur Herman | John Curless | Recorded Books |
Pictures at a Revolution (2008) | Mark Harris | Lloyd James | Tantor Audio | |
The Bloody Shirt (2008) | Stephen Budiansky | Phil Gigante | Brilliance Audio | |
The Ghost Mountain Boys (2007) | James Campbell | Stephen Hoye | Tantor Audio | |
The Hemingses of Monticello (2008) | Annette Gordon-Reed | Karen White | Tantor Audio |
Award Year | Title | Author | Narrator(s) | Title Publisher |
---|---|---|---|---|
2010
[20] 15th |
Tears in the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March and Its Aftermath (2009) | Michael Norman and Elizabeth M. Norman | Michael Prichard | Tantor Audio |
1864: Lincoln at the Gates of History (2009) | Charles Bracelen Flood | Mel Foster | Tantor Audio | |
The Ascent of Money : A Financial History of the World (2008) | Niall Ferguson | Simon Prebble | Tantor Audio | |
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West (1970) | Dee Brown | Grover Gardner | Blackstone Audio | |
The Long Knives Are Crying (2008) | Joseph M. Marshall III | Joseph M. Marshall III | Blackstone Audio | |
2011
[21] 16th |
Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic (2009) | Gordon S. Wood | Robert Fass | Audible |
1959: The Year Everything Changed (2009) | Fred Kaplan | Joe Barrett | Audible | |
The History of Rome, Volume 1 (9 BC) | Livy | Charlton Griffin | Audio Connoisseur | |
A People's History of the United States (1980) | Howard Zinn | Jeff Zinn | Harper Audio | |
Vikings of the Ice: Being the Log of a Tenderfoot on the Great (1924) | George Allan England | Frank Holden | Rattling Books | |
2012
[22]
[23] 17th |
1861: The Civil War Awakening (2011) | Adam Goodheart | Jonathan Davis | Audible |
1812: The Navy's War (2011) | George C. Daughan | Marc Vietor | Audible | |
Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (1963) | Hannah Arendt | Wanda McCaddon | Tantor Audio | |
The Emperor of All Maladies : A Biography of Cancer (2010) | Siddhartha Mukherjee | Stephen Hoye | Tantor Audio | |
In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin (2011) | Erik Larson | Stephen Hoye | Random House Audio/Books on Tape | |
2013
[24] 18th |
The Wrecking Crew: The Inside Story of Rock and Roll's Best-Kept Secret (2012) | Kent Hartman | Dan John Miller | Tantor Audio |
Da Vinci's Ghost: Genius, Obsession, and How Leonardo Created the World in His Own Image (2012) | Toby Lester | Stephen Hoye | Tantor Audio | |
L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America's Most Seductive City (2009) | John Buntin | Kirby Heyborne | Tantor Audio | |
Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941–1942 (2011) | Ian W. Toll | Grover Gardner | Audible | |
Season of the Witch: Enchantment, Terror, and Deliverance in the City of Love (2012) | David Talbot | Arthur Morey | Brilliance Audio | |
Twelve Desperate Miles: The Epic World War II Voyage of the SS Contessa (2013) | Tim Brady | Joe Barrett | AudioGo | |
2014
[25] 19th |
Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America (2012) | Gilbert King | Peter Francis James | HarperAudio |
C. C. Pyle's Amazing Foot Race: The True Story of the 1928 Coast-to-Coast Run Across America (2007) | Geoff Williams | Robertson Dean | Tantor Audio | |
Frozen in Time: An Epic Story of Survival and a Modern Quest for Lost Heroes of World War II (2013) | Mitchell Zuckoff | Mitchell Zuckoff | HarperAudio | |
The Hour of Peril : The Secret Plot to Murder Lincoln Before the Civil War (2013) | Daniel Stashower | Edoardo Ballerini | Macmillan Audio | |
Nero's Killing Machine: The True Story of Rome's Remarkable 14th Legion (2005) | Stephen Dando-Collins | Robert Fass | Audible | |
One Summer: America, 1927 (2013) | Bill Bryson | Bill Bryson | Random House Audio/Books on Tape |
The Audie Award for History or Biography is one of the Audie Awards presented annually by the Audio Publishers Association (APA). It awards excellence in narration, production, and content for a history or biography audiobook released in a given year. Before 2015 this was given as two distinct awards, the Audie Award for Biography or Memoir (awarded since 2003; also split into the modern Audie Award for Autobiography or Memoir) and the Audie Award for History (awarded since 2009).
Winners are listed first and highlighted in green.
Year | Title | Author(s) | Narrator(s) | Publisher |
---|---|---|---|---|
2015
[1] 20th |
The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism (2013) | Doris Kearns Goodwin | Edward Herrmann | Simon & Schuster Audio |
Enduring Courage: Ace Pilot Eddie Rickenbacker and the Dawn of the Age of Speed (2014) | John F. Ross | Edward Herrmann | Macmillan Audio | |
Enemy Coast Ahead: Uncensored (2003) | Guy Gibson | Simon Vance | Tantor Audio | |
In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette (2014) | Hampton Sides | Arthur Morey | Penguin Random House Audio | |
Lincoln's Gamble: The Tumultuous Six Months That Gave America the Emancipation Proclamation and Changed the Course of the Civil War (2014) | Todd Brewster | Todd Brewster | Brilliance Audio | |
A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal (2014) | Ben Macintyre | John Rafter Lee | Penguin Random House Audio | |
2016
[2] 21st |
A A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts (1994) | Andrew Chaikin and Tom Hanks | Bronson Pinchot | Audiobooks.com Publishing |
In Search of Sir Thomas Browne: The Life and Afterlife (2015) | Hugh Aldersey-Williams | Simon Vance | HighBridge Audio/Recorded Books | |
Operation Nemesis: The Assassination Plot that Avenged the Armenian Genocide (2015) | Eric Bogosian | Eric Bogosian | Hachette Audio | |
Pacific: Silicon Chips and Surfboards, Coral Reefs and Atom Bombs, Brutal Dictators, Fading Empires, and the Coming Collision of the World's Superpowers (1991) | Simon Winchester | Simon Winchester | HarperAudio | |
Texas Rising: The Epic True Story of the Lone Star Republic (2015) | Stephen L. Moore | P. J. Ochlan | HarperAudio | |
2017
[3] 22nd |
In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors (2001) | Doug Stanton | Mark Boyett | Audible |
Paul McCartney: The Life (2016) | Philip Norman | Jonathan Keeble | Recorded Books | |
A Time to Die: The Untold Story of the Kursk Tragedy (2002) | Robert Moore | Pete Cross | Dreamscape | |
Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution (2016) | Nathaniel Philbrick | Scott Brick | Penguin Random House Audio/Books on Tape | |
The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606 (2015) | James S. Shapiro | Robert Fass | Tantor Audio | |
2018
[4] 23rd |
Loving vs. Virginia: A Documentary Novel of the Landmark Civil Rights Case (2017) | Patricia Hruby Powell | Adenrele Ojo and MacLeod Andrews | Dreamscape |
Bette and Joan: The Divine Feud (1989) | Shaun Considine | January LaVoy | Graymalkin Media | |
Born Survivors: Three Young Mothers and Their Extraordinary Story of Courage, Defiance, and Hope (2015) | Wendy Holden | Elizabeth Wiley | Tantor Audio | |
Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II (2017) | Liza Mundy | Erin Bennett | Hachette Audio | |
The Home Front: Life in America During World War II (2017) | Audible Originals, Martin Sheen, and Dan Gediman | Martin Sheen | Audible Originals | |
My Life, My Love, My Legacy (2017) | Coretta Scott King and Barbara Reynolds | Phylicia Rashad and January LaVoy | Macmillan Audio | |
2019
[5] 24th |
Darkest Hour: How Churchill Brought Us Back from the Brink (2018) | Anthony McCarten | John Rafter Lee | HarperAudio |
The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers (2018) | Maxwell King | LeVar Burton | Oasis Audio | |
Indianapolis: The True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in U.S. Navy History and the Fifty-Year Fight to Exonerate an Innocent Man (2018) | Lynn Vincent and Sara Vladic | John Bedford Lloyd | Simon & Schuster Audio | |
Robin (2018) | Dave Itzkoff | Fred Berman and Dave Itzkoff | Macmillan Audio | |
We Were Soldiers Once… and Young (1992) | Harold G. Moore and Joseph L. Galloway | Jonathan Davis | Tantor Audio |
Year | Title | Author(s) | Narrator(s)(s) | Publisher |
---|---|---|---|---|
2020
[6] 25th |
American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race (2019) | Douglas Brinkley | Stephen Graybill | HarperAudio |
The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington (2019) | Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch | Scott Brick | Macmillan Audio | |
Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee (2019) | Casey Cep | Hillary Huber | Penguin Random House Audio | |
The Queen: The Forgotten Life Behind an American Myth (2019) | Josh Levin | January LaVoy | Hachette Audio | |
Theodore Roosevelt for the Defense (2019) | Dan Abrams and David Fisher | Roger Wayne and Dan Abrams | Harlequin | |
2021
[7] 26th |
His Truth Is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope (2020) | Jon Meacham | JD Jackson | Penguin Random House Audio |
The Dead Are Arising : The Life of Malcolm X (2020) | Les Payne and Tamara Payne | Dion Graham | Recorded Books | |
Deep Delta Justice: A Black Teen, His Lawyer, and Their Groundbreaking Battle for Civil Rights in the South (2020) | Matthew Van Meter | Brad Sanders | Hachette Audio | |
J. R. R. Tolkien: The Making of a Legend (2012) | Colin Duriez | Simon Vance | Oasis Audio | |
Just Us: An American Conversation (2020) | Claudia Rankine | Janina Edwards | Audible | |
The Lincoln Conspiracy (1977) | Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch | Scott Brick | Macmillan Audio | |
2022
[8] 27th |
Clanlands: Whisky, Warfare, and a Scottish Adventure Like No Other | Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish | Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish | Hodder & Stoughton |
Music Is History | Ahmir Khalib Thompson (Questlove) | Ahmir Khalib Thompson (Questlove) | Recorded Books | |
Somersett: Benjamin Franklin and the Masterminding of American Independence | Philip Goodrich | Robert Petkoff , Joe Morton, Simon Jones, Euan Morton, Nicola Barber, and the author (Author's note and afterword) | Blackstone Publishing and May Wuthrich Productions | |
The Code Breaker (2021) | Walter Isaacson | Kathe Mazur with Walter Isaacson | Simon & Schuster Audio | |
A Weekend with Pablo Picasso | Herbert Sigüenza | Herbert Sigüenza | L.A. Theatre Works | |
2023
[9] 27th |
Summer of '85 | Chris Morrow, Kevin Hart, Tara Thomas, Nicole Shelton, Charlamagne Tha God, Marc Gerald, Dave Becky, Mike Stein, Thai Randolph, Bryan Smiley, and Karen Kinney | Kevin Hart | Audible Originals |
An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States | Kyle T. Mays | Shaun Taylor-Corbett | Beacon Press Audio | |
His Name is George Floyd (2022) | Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa | Dion Graham, Robert Samuels, and Toluse Olorunnipa | Penguin Random House Audio | |
Last Slave Ship | Ben Raines | Kevin R. Free | Simon & Schuster Audio | |
Undelivered | Jeff Nussbaum | Adam Gifford, Brian Bowles, Elisa Roth, Garrick Hagon, Glen McCready, Greg Lockett, James Lailey, Jeff Nussbaum, Johnny Heller, Kathleen Chalfant, Kurt Kanazawa, and Lance Blair | Macmillan Audio | |
2024
[10]
29th |
Goodbye Christopher Robin: A.A. Milne and the Making of Winnie-the-Pooh | Ann Thwaite, preface by Frank Cottrell-Boyce | Simon Vance | Tantor Audio |
Elon Musk | Walter Isaacson | Jeremy Bobb and Walter Isaacson | Simon & Schuster Audio | |
Empire of Ice and Stone: The Disastrous and Heroic Voyage of the Karluk | Buddy Levy | Will Damron | Macmillan Audio | |
The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder (2023) | David Grann | Dion Graham with David Grann | Penguin Random House Audio | |
King: A Life | Jonathan Eig | Dion Graham | Macmillan Audio |
Award Year | Title | Author | Narrator(s) | Title Publisher |
---|---|---|---|---|
2003
[11] 8th |
Lucky Man: A Memoir (2002) | Michael J. Fox | Michael J. Fox | Simon & Schuster Audio |
Getting to Know William Shakespeare (2001) | Joy Wake | Fred Child | Echo Peak Productions | |
Legacy (2002) | Doc Watson and David Holt | Doc Watson and David Holt | High Windy Audio | |
Theodore Rex (2001) | Edmund Morris | Harry Chase | Random House Audio | |
Touch the Top of the World: A Blind Man's Journey to Climb Farther Than the Eye Can See (2002) b | Erik Weihenmayer | Nick Sullivan | The Audio Partners Publishing Corp. | |
2004
[12] 9th |
The Nazi Officer's Wife : How One Jewish Woman Survived the Holocaust (1999) | Edith Hahn Beer | Barbara Rosenblat | Jewish Contemporary Classics |
A Long Way from Home: Growing Up in the American Heartland (2002) | Tom Brokaw | Tom Brokaw | Random House Audio | |
Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (2003) | Walter Isaacson | Boyd Gaines | Simon & Schuster Audio | |
Hannibal: One Man Against Rome (1958) | Harold Lamb | Charlton Griffin | Audio Connoisseur | |
My Invented Country: A Nostalgic Journey Through Chile (2003) | Isabel Allende | Blair Brown | HarperAudio | |
2005
[13] 10th |
Chronicles: Volume One (2004) | Bob Dylan | Sean Penn | Simon & Schuster Audio |
Big Russ and Me: Father and Son (2004) | Tim Russert | Tim Russert | Hyperion AudioBooks | |
Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America (2003) | Firoozeh Dumas | Firoozeh Dumas | Audible | |
Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure (2002) | Sarah McDonald | Kate Hosking | Bolinda Audio | |
The House on Beartown Road (2003) | Elizabeth Cohen | Bernadette Dunne | Blackstone Audio | |
Mornings on Horseback (1981) | David McCullough | Edward Herrmann | Simon & Schuster Audio | |
The Twelve Caesars (AD 121) | Suetonius | Charlton Griffin | Audio Connoisseur | |
2006
[14] 11th |
Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise (2005) | Ruth Reichl | Ruth Reichl | Random House Audio |
iCon: Steve Jobs, The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business (2005) | Jeffrey S. Young and William L. Simon | Alan Sklar, Jeffrey S. Young, and William L. Simon | Penton Overseas | |
The Tender Bar (2005) | J. R. Moehringer | J. R. Moehringer | Time Warner AudioBooks | |
We Are All the Same: A Story of a Boy's Courage and a Mother's Love (2004) | Jim Wooten | Alan Sklar | Tantor Audio | |
The Year of Magical Thinking (2005) | Joan Didion | Barbara Caruso | HighBridge Audio | |
2007
[15] 12th |
Teacher Man (2005) | Frank McCourt | Frank McCourt | Simon & Schuster Audio |
Diana: Finally, the Complete Story (2006) | Sarah Bradford | Katherine Kellgren | Penguin Audio | |
Dispatches from the Edge (2006) | Anderson Cooper | Anderson Cooper | HarperAudio | |
Elizabeth (2006) | J. Randy Taraborrelli | Lynne Maclean | Hachette Audio | |
Sound and Fury: Two Powerful Lives, One Fateful Friendship (2006) | David Kindred | Dick Hill | Blackstone Audio | |
The Great Escape : Nine Jews Who Fled Hitler and Changed the World (2006) | Kati Marton | Anna Fields | Tantor Audio | |
2008
[16]
[17] 13th |
Einstein: His Life and Universe (2007) | Walter Isaacson | Edward Herrmann | Simon & Schuster Audio |
My Lobotomy (2007) | Howard Dully and Charles Fleming | Johnny Heller | Tantor Audio | |
Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography (2007) | David Michaelis | Holter Graham | HarperAudio | |
Shakespeare: The World As Stage (2007) | Bill Bryson | Bill Bryson | HarperAudio | |
Tearing Down the Wall of Sound (2008) | Mick Brown | Ray Porter | Blackstone Audio | |
2009
[18]
[19] 14th |
The Last Lecture (2008) | Randy Pausch | Erik Singer | HyperionAudio |
Black Wave: A Family's Adventure at Sea and the Disaster (2008) | John and Jean Silverwood and Malcolm McConnell | Carrington MacDuffie and Joe Barrett | Blackstone Audio | |
The Legs Are the Last to Go (2008) | Diahann Carroll | Diahann Carroll | HarperAudio | |
The Middle Place (2005) | Kelly Corrigan | Tavia Gilbert | Blackstone Audio | |
Waiter Rant (2008) | Steve Dublanica | Dan John Miller | Brilliance Audio |
Award Year | Title | Author(s) | Narrator(s) | Title Publisher |
---|---|---|---|---|
2010
[20] 15th |
Anne Frank Remembered: The Story of the Woman Who Helped to Hide the Frank Family (1987) | Miep Gies and Leslie Gold | Barbara Rosenblat | Oasis Audio |
The Golden Willow: The Story of a Lifetime of Love (2009) | Harry Bernstein | Mike Kellogg | Oasis Audio | |
The Secret Holocaust Diaries: The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister (2009) | Nonna Bannister and Denise George | Rebecca Gallagher | Oasis Audio | |
True Compass (2009) | Edward Kennedy | John Bedford Lloyd | Hachette Audio | |
Valkyrie: The Story of the Plot to Kill Hitler by Its Last Member (2009) | Philipp Freiherr von Boeselager and Florence and Jérôme Fehrenbach | Michael Prichard | Tantor Audio | |
2011
[21] 16th |
Life (2010) | Keith Richards | Johnny Depp and Joe Hurley | Hachette Audio |
The Slave Across the Street: The True Story of How an American Teen Survived the World of Human Trafficking (2010) | Theresa Flores | Renee Raudman | ChristianAudio | |
Somewhere Inside (2010) | Lisa Ling and Laura Ling | Lisa Ling and Laura Ling | HarperAudio | |
This Time Together (2010) | Carol Burnett | Carol Burnett | Random House Audio | |
Abigail Adams: A Life (2009) | Woody Holton | Cassandra Campbell | Tantor Audio | |
2012
[22]
[23] 17th |
Bossypants (2011) | Tina Fey | Tina Fey | Hachette Audio |
The Dirty Life: A Memoir of Farming, Food, and Love (2010) | Kristin Kimball | Tavia Gilbert | Tantor Audio | |
Here Comes Trouble: Stories from My Life (2011) | Michael Moore | Michael Moore | Hachette Audio | |
My Dog Tulip (1956) | J. R. Ackerley | Ralph Cosham | Blackstone Audio | |
Until Tuesday: A Wounded Warrior and the Golden Retriever (2011) | Luis Carlos Montalvan | Luis Carlos Montalvan | Audible | |
2013
[24] 18th |
The Seamstress: A Memoir of Survival (1999) | Sara Tuvel Bernstein, Louise Loots Thornton, and Marlene Bernstein Samuels | Wanda McCaddon | Tantor Audio |
Cronkite (2012) | Douglas Brinkley | George Guidall | HarperAudio | |
Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey (2011) | Fiona Aitken, Lady Carnarvon | Wanda McCaddon | Tantor Audio | |
My Cross to Bear (2012) | Gregg Allman and Alan Light | Will Patton | HarperAudio | |
Two Rings: A Story of Love and War (2012) | Millie Werber and Eve Keller | Yelena Shmulenson and Eve Keller | HighBridge Audio | |
2014
[25] 19th |
The Elephant Whisperer : My Life with the Herd in the African Wild (2009) | Lawrence Anthony and Graham Spence | Simon Vance | Tantor Audio |
[sic]: A Memoir (2011) | Joshua Cody | Edoardo Ballerini | Audible | |
My Beloved World (1992) | Sonia Sotomayor | Rita Moreno | Random House Audio/Books on Tape | |
World on a String (2012) | John Pizzarelli | Joseph Cosgriff | Audible | |
I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban (2013) | Malala Yousafzai | Archie Panjabi | Hachette Audio |
Award Year | Title | Author | Narrator(s) | Title Publisher |
---|---|---|---|---|
2009
[18]
[26] 14th |
Gandhi and Churchill: The Epic Rivalry That Destroyed an Empire and Forged Our Age (2008) | Arthur Herman | John Curless | Recorded Books |
Pictures at a Revolution (2008) | Mark Harris | Lloyd James | Tantor Audio | |
The Bloody Shirt (2008) | Stephen Budiansky | Phil Gigante | Brilliance Audio | |
The Ghost Mountain Boys (2007) | James Campbell | Stephen Hoye | Tantor Audio | |
The Hemingses of Monticello (2008) | Annette Gordon-Reed | Karen White | Tantor Audio |
Award Year | Title | Author | Narrator(s) | Title Publisher |
---|---|---|---|---|
2010
[20] 15th |
Tears in the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March and Its Aftermath (2009) | Michael Norman and Elizabeth M. Norman | Michael Prichard | Tantor Audio |
1864: Lincoln at the Gates of History (2009) | Charles Bracelen Flood | Mel Foster | Tantor Audio | |
The Ascent of Money : A Financial History of the World (2008) | Niall Ferguson | Simon Prebble | Tantor Audio | |
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West (1970) | Dee Brown | Grover Gardner | Blackstone Audio | |
The Long Knives Are Crying (2008) | Joseph M. Marshall III | Joseph M. Marshall III | Blackstone Audio | |
2011
[21] 16th |
Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic (2009) | Gordon S. Wood | Robert Fass | Audible |
1959: The Year Everything Changed (2009) | Fred Kaplan | Joe Barrett | Audible | |
The History of Rome, Volume 1 (9 BC) | Livy | Charlton Griffin | Audio Connoisseur | |
A People's History of the United States (1980) | Howard Zinn | Jeff Zinn | Harper Audio | |
Vikings of the Ice: Being the Log of a Tenderfoot on the Great (1924) | George Allan England | Frank Holden | Rattling Books | |
2012
[22]
[23] 17th |
1861: The Civil War Awakening (2011) | Adam Goodheart | Jonathan Davis | Audible |
1812: The Navy's War (2011) | George C. Daughan | Marc Vietor | Audible | |
Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (1963) | Hannah Arendt | Wanda McCaddon | Tantor Audio | |
The Emperor of All Maladies : A Biography of Cancer (2010) | Siddhartha Mukherjee | Stephen Hoye | Tantor Audio | |
In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin (2011) | Erik Larson | Stephen Hoye | Random House Audio/Books on Tape | |
2013
[24] 18th |
The Wrecking Crew: The Inside Story of Rock and Roll's Best-Kept Secret (2012) | Kent Hartman | Dan John Miller | Tantor Audio |
Da Vinci's Ghost: Genius, Obsession, and How Leonardo Created the World in His Own Image (2012) | Toby Lester | Stephen Hoye | Tantor Audio | |
L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America's Most Seductive City (2009) | John Buntin | Kirby Heyborne | Tantor Audio | |
Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941–1942 (2011) | Ian W. Toll | Grover Gardner | Audible | |
Season of the Witch: Enchantment, Terror, and Deliverance in the City of Love (2012) | David Talbot | Arthur Morey | Brilliance Audio | |
Twelve Desperate Miles: The Epic World War II Voyage of the SS Contessa (2013) | Tim Brady | Joe Barrett | AudioGo | |
2014
[25] 19th |
Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America (2012) | Gilbert King | Peter Francis James | HarperAudio |
C. C. Pyle's Amazing Foot Race: The True Story of the 1928 Coast-to-Coast Run Across America (2007) | Geoff Williams | Robertson Dean | Tantor Audio | |
Frozen in Time: An Epic Story of Survival and a Modern Quest for Lost Heroes of World War II (2013) | Mitchell Zuckoff | Mitchell Zuckoff | HarperAudio | |
The Hour of Peril : The Secret Plot to Murder Lincoln Before the Civil War (2013) | Daniel Stashower | Edoardo Ballerini | Macmillan Audio | |
Nero's Killing Machine: The True Story of Rome's Remarkable 14th Legion (2005) | Stephen Dando-Collins | Robert Fass | Audible | |
One Summer: America, 1927 (2013) | Bill Bryson | Bill Bryson | Random House Audio/Books on Tape |