Classic Audiobook Collection

Latest Episodes:

The Actress in High Life - An Episode in Winter Quarters by Susan Petigru King-Bowen ~ Full Audiobook [romance] Aug 21, 2023

Show notes

The Actress in High Life - An Episode in Winter Quarters by Susan Petigru King-Bowen audiobook.

Genre: romance

Portugal, 1812: while the Peninsular War grinds on, a British brigade settles into winter quarters at Elvas, where officers and their families try to turn boredom, uncertainty, and old-world etiquette into something like a season. Into this charged half-peacetime steps Lady Mabel Stewart, newly arrived from Scotland at her father Lord Strathern's summons. Young, observant, and suddenly surrounded by uniforms, rank, and rumor, Mabel must learn the unwritten rules of camp society - and decide which ones are worth obeying. The arrival of the captivating Spaniard Colonel l'Isle brings glamour and danger in equal measure, stirring talk of allegiance, reputation, and forbidden attachment. But romance here is never private: every glance is witnessed, every kindness interpreted, and jealousies flare as quickly as flirtations. As theatricals, dinners, and petty rivalries play out against a landscape marked by marching armies, Mabel finds herself caught between duty and desire, family expectations and personal judgment. Part courtship tale, part social portrait, this episode asks what love can mean when war is only a few miles away.

For ad-free listening try our premium subscription

Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:17:48) Chapter 02

(00:43:16) Chapter 03

(01:09:28) Chapter 04

(01:33:12) Chapter 05

(01:54:38) Chapter 06

(02:19:17) Chapter 07

(02:56:13) Chapter 08

(03:07:59) Chapter 09

(03:30:23) Chapter 10

(04:01:37) Chapter 11

(04:45:20) Chapter 12

(05:02:03) Chapter 13

(05:36:48) Chapter 14

(06:05:51) Chapter 15

(06:50:39) Chapter 16

(07:07:52) Chapter 17

(07:41:24) Chapter 18

(08:28:31) Chapter 19

(08:49:22) Chapter 20

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Above the French Lines by Stuart Walcott ~ Full Audiobook [history] Aug 19, 2023

Show notes

Above the French Lines by Stuart Walcott audiobook.

Genre: history

Above the French Lines presents World War I through the intimate, immediate voice of Stuart Walcott, a young American who crosses the Atlantic in 1917 to learn to fly and serve with the French aviation forces. Told as a sequence of letters written between July 4 and December 8, 1917, the book traces his transformation from eager trainee to combat-ready pilot, capturing the routines and hazards of early airfields: punishing instruction, mechanical troubles, weather that can turn lethal in minutes, and the constant pressure to prove yourself in a brand-new kind of warfare. Walcott writes to friends and family with a mix of humor, longing, and hard-earned seriousness, painting vivid scenes of barracks life, friendships among fellow fliers, and the tightening suspense as he nears the front. As patrols begin to carry him above the trenches and into enemy-held skies, the letters become a record of courage under uncertainty, where ideals of service collide with the stark realities of combat. Part personal testimony and part wartime document, this is a moving portrait of youth, duty, and the cost of taking flight when the world is at war.

For ad-free listening try our premium subscription

Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 00

(00:07:30) Chapter 01

(00:14:48) Chapter 02

(00:51:52) Chapter 03

(01:30:05) Chapter 04

(01:31:22) Chapter 05

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane ~ Full Audiobook [history] Aug 18, 2023

Show notes

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane audiobook.

Genre: history

In Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage, a young farm boy named Henry Fleming leaves home to enlist in the Union Army, convinced that battle will reveal the heroic version of himself he has always imagined. But when his regiment is suddenly thrown into combat, Henry discovers that courage is not a simple, shining certainty - it is a shifting struggle of fear, pride, shame, and survival. As smoke, noise, and confusion swallow the battlefield, Henry measures himself against the reactions of other soldiers: the steady veterans, the frightened newcomers, and the blunt, relentless officers who drive men forward. Haunted by the question of whether he will stand firm or break, he becomes obsessed with earning proof of bravery - a 'red badge' that would silence doubt. Crane's stark, immersive style turns war into an intense psychological landscape, capturing how rumor, panic, and fleeting moments of resolve can reshape a person in an instant. More than a battle story, it is a coming-of-age journey under fire, tracing one soldier's fight to define honor and identity when nothing feels certain and the cost of self-deception can be as dangerous as the enemy.

For ad-free listening try our premium subscription

Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:22:33) Chapter 02

(00:40:09) Chapter 03

(00:58:16) Chapter 04

(01:05:12) Chapter 05

(01:18:43) Chapter 06

(01:32:17) Chapter 07

(01:40:46) Chapter 08

(01:51:56) Chapter 09

(02:03:24) Chapter 10

(02:12:46) Chapter 11

(02:26:36) Chapter 12

(02:39:47) Chapter 13

(02:51:34) Chapter 14

(03:02:27) Chapter 15

(03:09:36) Chapter 16

(03:21:10) Chapter 17

(03:30:50) Chapter 18

(03:40:05) Chapter 19

(03:51:29) Chapter 20

(04:02:51) Chapter 21

(04:14:51) Chapter 22

(04:25:23) Chapter 23

(04:36:05) Chapter 24

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

English Men of Science - Their Nature and Nurture by Sir Francis Galton ~ Full Audiobook [science] Aug 18, 2023

Show notes

English Men of Science - Their Nature and Nurture by Sir Francis Galton audiobook.

Genre: science

In English Men of Science - Their Nature and Nurture, Sir Francis Galton turns his trademark appetite for measurement toward a bold question that still echoes today: what makes a scientist? Writing in Victorian Britain, Galton gathers firsthand testimony from prominent men of science and uses it to probe the relative roles of inherited ability and personal environment in shaping intellectual achievement. Through questionnaires, comparative summaries, and pointed reflections, he examines family background, education, health, temperament, habits of work, and the early experiences that helped spark curiosity and perseverance. The result is part social survey, part early psychology of talent, and part argument about how a society might recognize and cultivate exceptional minds. Along the way, Galton reveals the assumptions of his era as clearly as its ambitions, inviting listeners to weigh his evidence, his reasoning, and his controversial conclusions. Clear, methodical, and often provocative, this short but influential work offers a revealing window into the origins of individual differences research and the long-running debate over nature versus nurture.

For ad-free listening try our premium subscription

Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 00

(00:05:00) Chapter 01

(00:45:59) Chapter 02

(01:23:28) Chapter 03

(02:33:05) Chapter 04

(03:17:15) Chapter 05

(04:08:35) Chapter 06

(04:31:23) Chapter 07

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Valley of Fear by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ~ Full Audiobook [mystery] Aug 18, 2023

Show notes

The Valley of Fear by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle audiobook.

Genre: mystery

In The Valley of Fear, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle returns to Victorian London with one of Sherlock Holmes' most perilous cases. A mysterious cipher and a chilling warning reach Baker Street, drawing Holmes and Dr. Watson into the investigation of a country-house murder that seems at once straightforward and impossible. As Holmes pieces together the victim's hidden connections, the trail widens beyond drawing rooms and railway timetables into a web of secret codes, surveillance, and violent loyalties. The story then opens onto an earlier life lived under an assumed name, where a lone man enters a tight-knit community shaped by fear and bound by an oath to a ruthless brotherhood. In this parallel narrative of infiltration and survival, every gesture is measured, every friendship risky, and every mistake potentially fatal. With Holmes' razor logic on one side and a brutal secret society on the other, the novel explores how power thrives in shadows and how the past can reach across an ocean to settle old debts. Taut, atmospheric, and morally charged, it is a tale of deduction, disguise, and the cost of standing alone against organized cruelty.

For ad-free listening try our premium subscription

Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:21:19) Chapter 02

(00:38:47) Chapter 03

(01:00:06) Chapter 04

(01:23:52) Chapter 05

(01:49:09) Chapter 06

(02:17:44) Chapter 07

(02:53:29) Chapter 08

(03:12:59) Chapter 09

(03:48:42) Chapter 10

(04:25:03) Chapter 11

(04:47:44) Chapter 12

(05:17:08) Chapter 13

(05:38:01) Chapter 14

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Trail of the Hawk by Sinclair Lewis ~ Full Audiobook [comedy] Aug 17, 2023

Show notes

The Trail of the Hawk by Sinclair Lewis audiobook.

Genre: comedy

Trail of the Hawk, narrated by Mike Vendetti aka Miketheauctioneer, is Sinclair Lewis’ second novel published under his own name. It was not at the time of release a smashing success as his later works, Babbitt, Elmer Gantry, and others, but his style and immense talent are certainly evident.

We travel with The Hawk, or Carl Ericson, son of Norwegian immigrants, born at the end of the 19th century through the first three adventurous periods of the young man’s life. We see him as an adventurous boy, running away with Gertie Cowels, the girl that lives in the big house in the better part of town, only to be rescued by Bone Stillman, a backwoods philosopher and influence on Carl.

We travel with him as he leaves his childhood, Gertie and Joralemon behind, for a short attempt at higher education, then to pursue the hobo life, a Bowery bartender, an engineer in Panama and an aviator. It is during the aviator phase that he becomes Hawk Ericson barnstorming his way across America, an exciting but dangerous lifestyle. Leaving aviation after too many close calls, and the loss of his best friend, he becomes an automobile man, and moves into phase three.

It is in phase three, love adventure, that we find The Hawk in New York, mingling with polite society quite by accident. He is smitten by Ruth Winslow, while riding on a streetcar after a fight with Gertie, and follows Ruth to a party which he crashes.

I truly enjoyed narrating this novel, and believe the listener will enjoy it, a trip into post Victorian, pre-Jazz Age America.

For ad-free listening try our premium subscription

Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:25:15) Chapter 02

(00:46:02) Chapter 03

(01:05:01) Chapter 04

(01:26:29) Chapter 05

(01:51:49) Chapter 06

(02:17:29) Chapter 07

(02:31:03) Chapter 08

(02:47:39) Chapter 09

(03:15:58) Chapter 10

(03:27:17) Chapter 11

(03:45:47) Chapter 12

(04:05:11) Chapter 13

(04:20:47) Chapter 14

(04:42:20) Chapter 15

(05:02:59) Chapter 16

(05:15:58) Chapter 17

(05:25:57) Chapter 18

(05:40:45) Chapter 19

(05:51:11) Chapter 20

(06:06:04) Chapter 21

(06:36:16) Chapter 22

(06:51:44) Chapter 23

(07:15:21) Chapter 24

(07:28:42) Chapter 25

(07:50:44) Chapter 26

(08:03:26) Chapter 27

(08:30:28) Chapter 28

(08:47:54) Chapter 29

(09:12:55) Chapter 30

(09:27:24) Chapter 31

(09:47:30) Chapter 32

(10:07:01) Chapter 33

(10:37:37) Chapter 34

(10:55:28) Chapter 35

(11:13:24) Chapter 36

(11:34:00) Chapter 37

(11:54:50) Chapter 38

(12:06:13) Chapter 39

(12:28:47) Chapter 40

(12:45:28) Chapter 41

(13:13:43) Chapter 42

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis ~ Full Audiobook [comedy] Aug 17, 2023

Show notes

Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis audiobook.

Genre: comedy

In the booming Midwestern city of Zenith, George F. Babbitt seems to have everything a successful American businessman should want: a solid home, a respectable family, a wide circle of civic-minded friends, and a thriving career selling real estate. He prides himself on being practical, optimistic, and up to date, repeating the slogans of prosperity and progress that surround him. But beneath the confident talk and the carefully maintained routines, Babbitt feels a nagging restlessness - a sense that his life is being lived according to rules he never chose. As the demands of business, social clubs, and public opinion tighten around him, he begins to question the values that once felt unquestionable. Drawn toward people and ideas labeled improper by Zenith's guardians of respectability, Babbitt tests the limits of conformity and discovers how quickly a community can reward obedience and punish deviation. With sharp wit and piercing observation, Sinclair Lewis turns one man's unease into a sweeping satire of status, consumer culture, and the cost of fitting in.

For ad-free listening try our premium subscription

Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:26:39) Chapter 02

(00:47:31) Chapter 03

(01:16:47) Chapter 04

(01:42:34) Chapter 05

(02:17:57) Chapter 06

(03:05:54) Chapter 07

(03:30:47) Chapter 08

(04:10:11) Chapter 09

(04:30:17) Chapter 10

(05:00:35) Chapter 11

(05:13:09) Chapter 12

(05:21:25) Chapter 13

(05:59:27) Chapter 14

(06:30:06) Chapter 15

(06:55:26) Chapter 16

(07:15:20) Chapter 17

(07:37:49) Chapter 18

(08:01:17) Chapter 19

(08:30:51) Chapter 20

(08:44:11) Chapter 21

(08:56:43) Chapter 22

(09:07:04) Chapter 23

(09:27:19) Chapter 24

(09:52:29) Chapter 25

(10:09:03) Chapter 26

(10:25:43) Chapter 27

(10:43:10) Chapter 28

(11:04:58) Chapter 29

(11:41:40) Chapter 30

(12:04:59) Chapter 31

(12:20:38) Chapter 32

(12:42:33) Chapter 33

(13:03:15) Chapter 34

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis ~ Full Audiobook [drama] Aug 17, 2023

Show notes

Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis audiobook.

Genre: drama

Sinclair Lewis' Arrowsmith follows Martin Arrowsmith, a restless young man from the American Midwest who is determined to become the kind of doctor who serves truth before comfort. From medical school lectures and small town practice to big city hospitals and elite research laboratories, Martin keeps running into the same question: is medicine a calling, a business, or a science? Guided and challenged by mentors, colleagues, and rivals - including the uncompromising researcher Max Gottlieb - he is pulled between competing worlds: the pressure to please patients, the lure of professional status, and the lonely discipline of laboratory work. At the same time, his marriage to the spirited and steadfast Leora provides both refuge and a mirror for his ambitions. As public health crises and institutional politics close in, Martin must decide what he is willing to sacrifice for discovery, and whether integrity can survive inside systems built on money, reputation, and power. Sharp, funny, and unsettling, Arrowsmith is a classic portrait of idealism tested by the modern world.

For ad-free listening try our premium subscription

Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:13:26) Chapter 02

(00:46:01) Chapter 03

(01:19:08) Chapter 04

(01:37:50) Chapter 05

(02:05:28) Chapter 06

(02:56:19) Chapter 07

(03:26:48) Chapter 08

(03:49:34) Chapter 09

(04:26:50) Chapter 10

(04:51:52) Chapter 11

(05:07:24) Chapter 12

(05:38:51) Chapter 13

(06:01:32) Chapter 14

(06:22:31) Chapter 15

(06:54:16) Chapter 16

(07:18:52) Chapter 17

(07:47:27) Chapter 18

(08:05:09) Chapter 19

(08:49:17) Chapter 20

(09:18:14) Chapter 21

(09:54:30) Chapter 22

(10:24:06) Chapter 23

(10:44:30) Chapter 24

(11:18:16) Chapter 25

(11:32:09) Chapter 26

(12:13:00) Chapter 27

(12:51:26) Chapter 28

(13:26:19) Chapter 29

(13:50:03) Chapter 30

(14:16:08) Chapter 31

(14:35:09) Chapter 32

(15:09:59) Chapter 33

(15:41:53) Chapter 34

(16:13:09) Chapter 35

(16:41:10) Chapter 36

(17:03:25) Chapter 37

(17:25:21) Chapter 38

(17:45:55) Chapter 39

(18:24:32) Chapter 40

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Daughter of Today by Sara Jeannette Duncan ~ Full Audiobook [drama] Aug 16, 2023

Show notes

A Daughter of Today by Sara Jeannette Duncan audiobook.

Genre: drama

In late-Victorian London and Paris, Elfrida Bell is determined to become more than a well-bred ornament. Brilliant, restless, and fiercely self-aware, she styles herself a modern woman of letters and art, chasing recognition in magazines, salons, and studios while measuring herself against the people who seem effortlessly at home in the world she wants to conquer. As Elfrida forms intense friendships and rivalries with writers, artists, and patrons, she learns that ambition comes with a cost: money is scarce, reputations are fragile, and the line between sincerity and performance can blur in the very circles that promise freedom. Sara Jeannette Duncan follows Elfrida through cramped rooms, glittering parties, and hard-won professional opportunities, capturing the hunger to create, the sting of criticism, and the complicated negotiations of love, independence, and belonging. Sharp, observant, and emotionally incisive, A Daughter of Today is a portrait of a young woman testing the limits of her talent and her era, as she tries to decide what success should look like - and what she is willing to sacrifice to claim it.

For ad-free listening try our premium subscription

Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 01

(00:18:30) Chapter 02

(00:42:30) Chapter 03

(01:07:24) Chapter 04

(01:28:30) Chapter 05

(01:40:30) Chapter 06

(02:00:06) Chapter 07

(02:16:47) Chapter 08

(02:32:54) Chapter 09

(02:47:22) Chapter 10

(03:07:47) Chapter 11

(03:36:52) Chapter 12

(03:57:20) Chapter 13

(04:18:25) Chapter 14

(04:39:45) Chapter 15

(04:51:55) Chapter 16

(05:11:59) Chapter 17

(05:30:04) Chapter 18

(05:36:18) Chapter 19

(05:53:35) Chapter 20

(06:03:43) Chapter 21

(06:18:01) Chapter 22

(06:35:45) Chapter 23

(06:51:28) Chapter 24

(07:19:12) Chapter 25

(07:37:32) Chapter 26

(07:55:12) Chapter 27

(08:13:06) Chapter 28

(08:27:42) Chapter 29

(08:32:43) Chapter 30

(08:58:05) Chapter 31

(09:18:52) Chapter 32

(09:27:34) Chapter 33

(09:42:01) Chapter 34

(10:02:10) Chapter 35

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Prayers and Meditations by Samuel Johnson ~ Full Audiobook [religion] Aug 16, 2023

Show notes

Prayers and Meditations by Samuel Johnson audiobook.

Genre: religion

Prayers and Meditations offers an intimate look into the private spiritual life of Samuel Johnson, the towering English writer and moralist best known for his essays, criticism, and dictionary. Drawn from his personal papers, these entries trace years of self-examination as Johnson faces recurring illness, grief, temptation, loneliness, and the relentless pressure of time. In plain yet powerful language, he records prayers for guidance and discipline, meditations on sin and mercy, and vows to reorder his days toward charity, study, and honest labor. The book is not a polished devotional manual so much as a candid diary of the soul: a brilliant, anxious mind wrestling with faith in the middle of ordinary obligations and extraordinary sorrow. As Johnson measures resolutions against failures, he returns again and again to themes of repentance, perseverance, and dependence on God, asking what it means to live well when strength and certainty falter. The result is a moving companion for listeners who value spiritual candor, moral seriousness, and the human struggle to align belief with daily life.

For ad-free listening try our premium subscription

Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 00

(00:11:43) Chapter 01

(00:18:48) Chapter 02

(00:26:49) Chapter 03

(00:35:56) Chapter 04

(00:47:35) Chapter 05

(00:53:08) Chapter 06

(01:04:44) Chapter 07

(01:11:39) Chapter 08

(01:22:46) Chapter 09

(01:33:44) Chapter 10

(01:45:48) Chapter 11

(02:00:04) Chapter 12

(02:12:19) Chapter 13

(02:21:33) Chapter 14

(02:27:36) Chapter 15

(02:37:48) Chapter 16

(02:45:21) Chapter 17

(02:53:25) Chapter 18

(02:58:05) Chapter 19

(03:09:58) Chapter 20

(03:22:01) Chapter 21

(03:28:56) Chapter 22

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Classic Audiobook Collection

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected