What historical non-fiction should I listen to next?

July 19, 2024 6:15 PM

Audiobooks are a must. I am not picky about subject, but I am picky about how it's presented. I prefer a psychological or sociological style.

Focusing on the thoughts and feelings of an individual is my preference, but it's not always practical for history since we don't really know. Focusing on how society worked is runner up as far as holding my interest. I can deal with a lot of facts just being listed out if I feel like it makes me feel like I'm getting a better idea of what people's lives were like and how they may have felt about events. I don't want to read something unreliable, but I'm OK with some speculation from the author in this vein as long as they aren't presenting it as firm fact.

Some examples I've enjoyed:

The Six Wives of Henry VIII

A New World Begins: The History of the French Revolution

The Hidden Lives of Tudor Women: A Social History

In the past, I've read more about royalty, which I do like. I think most of the reason I find it more interesting is because there tends to be more documentation to go on to make a detailed character analysis of the person, but I do feel like I'm missing something mostly reading about people with immense privilege.

posted by Eyelash to Society & Culture (13 answers total)

I recommend Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel. Drawn from Galileo's correspondence with his daughter, Maria Celeste, it paints an interesting picture of convent life. (Only Maria Celeste's letters to her father survived. The Church burned the letters from Galileo that his daughter had kept out of fear of his "heretical views.")
posted by SPrintF at 6:28 PM on July 19

Normal Women, by Phillipa Gregory ticks your boxes as well as filling in information that doesn't come out in the general biographies.

Ghostland, by Edward Parnell, is a memoir but it's wrapped in the origins of ghost stories, not so much to tell you the stories as it is to tell you the atmosphere. When I realized how much of a memoir it is, I was taken back and then really loved it.
posted by janey47 at 6:40 PM on July 19

I e-read this (not audiobook, so can’t recommend the specific narration or anything) Four Lost Cities and quite enjoyed it.
posted by leastlikelycowgirl at 6:44 PM on July 19

I'm not sure it it exactly is what you are asking for, but I feel sure will scratch that itch. It's the aspect I like, and in researching I think I have found it's in the area of "cultural history".

A bite sized history of France.
posted by beccaj at 7:25 PM on July 19

A National Crime by John Milloy on the topic of residential schools in Canada. Dark though
posted by shock muppet at 7:47 PM on July 19

I don't do audiobooks, but if I did I would love to hear a decent narrator read Ulysses S. Grant's memoirs.
posted by ovvl at 9:35 PM on July 19

This makes me think of God’s Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible by Adam Nicholson. It has a lot of Jacobean context, and also character sketches of the various men on the translation committee, with facts and some well-researched speculation about how their life experiences shaped the end result. Not religious in outlook, very much more cultural and social history. I enjoyed the audiobook years ago and maybe now I’ll give it another listen. (I’m not religious,
posted by xueexueg at 10:03 PM on July 19

The Making of the English Working Class by E P Thompson was available via audiobook from my library [g]
posted by HearHere at 10:42 PM on July 19

Take the opportunity to venture into history outside of Europe and the Western Hemisphere!

God's Shadow: Sultan Selim, his Ottoman empire, and the making of the modern world. Why was Columbus so eager to explore the Western Hemisphere, and why were Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain so eager to fund his expedition? The author posits that fear and loathing of the powerful Ottoman Empire was a major driving force, and Sultan Selim was at the forefront of making that Empire mighty. I'm linking to WorldCat to avoid Amazon, but there is definitely an excellent audiobook. Guaranteed to blow your mind (God willing). It certainly did that for me.

Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World. Similar title, but focused a few thousand kilometers to the East and a few centuries before the book on Sultan Selim! This book exploded some of my preconceived notions about Genghis Khan and his family and indeed does make a very good case for how the Mongols shaped the world we live in today. Sorry for the Apple link but there's no WorldCat for audiobooks, sadly.
posted by rabia.elizabeth at 12:38 AM on July 20

I'm currently really enjoying Fall of Civilisations by Paul Cooper. It feels very personal and anecdotal about the periods it covers, while also drawing patterns and conclusions across multiple examples. He also has a podcast on the same topic if that's of interest.
posted by terretu at 1:19 AM on July 20

You could try The Five, which is a comprehensive , well-researched biography of each of Jack the Ripper's "canonical five" victims.

The author puts each of these women into historical perspective and treats them as human beings in their own right, living in challenging times, instead of focusing on the murderer.
posted by champers at 2:11 AM on July 20

I can’t speak to the audiobook quality, but Seabiscuit: An American Legend is the book that got me into historical nonfiction. Since the horse himself obviously couldn’t record what he was thinking for posterity, a lot of the focus is on the varied and colorful biographies of Seabiscuit’s owner, trainer and jockey, as well as the cultural context in which they lived. It takes a full four chapters before Seabiscuit shows up and I didn’t even mind because I wanted to know more about the travails of a bicycle repairman in early 20th century San Francisco.
posted by bettafish at 5:22 AM on July 20

Charles C Mann’s The Wizard and the Prophet explores 20th century theorists of our future. Subtitled Two Remarkable Scientists and Their Dueling Visions to Shape Tomorrow’s World it offers insight into the personal lives, philosophies, and personalities of prophet William Vogt, who predicted overpopulation and runaway pollution, and wizard Norman Borlaug, who contributed greatly to the green revolution—food crops which multiply land productivity to feed the growing population. Bronson Pinchot’s narration is stellar.
posted by Jesse the K at 3:16 PM on July 20