The best history audiobooks

A rich and revealing exploration of the extraordinarily long relationship between the British Isles and the people of Africa, this historical audiobook accompanies the landmark BBC Two series.

Unflinching, confronting taboos and revealing hitherto unknown scandals, David Olusoga describes how black and white Britons have been intimately entwined for centuries.

Recounting the deep legacy and sweeping consequences of the ‘Little Ice Age’ of the 1600s, acclaimed historian Philipp Blom reveals how this crisis ineradicably changed the European landscape by the mid-seventeenth century. While apocalyptic weather patterns destroyed entire harvests and incited mass migrations, Blom brilliantly shows how they also gave rise to the growth of European cities, the appearance of early capitalism, and the vigorous stirrings of the Enlightenment.

George Orwell’s last novel, 1984, has become one of the most iconic modern novels in the world. In The Ministry of Truth, Dorian Lynskey explores Orwell’s influences, from his experiences in the Spanish Civil War to classic utopian and dystopian fiction. He also examines the phenomenon the book has become, and how the ways it has been read have changed over time. This remarkable and original book is a must for anyone with an interest in Orwell or how our culture has developed.

In an ambitious and impressive feat of historical writing, Andrew Marr guides us from the earliest civilizations to the 21st century on a global journey through human history. Fresh, exciting and vividly listenable, this historical audiobook is popular history at its very best.

Award-winning and critically acclaimed historian Helen Rappaport turns to the tragic story of the daughters of the last Tsar of all the Russias. Much has been written about Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra and their tragic fate, as it has about the Russian Revolutions of 1917, but little attention has been paid to the Romanov princesses, Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia.

Compellingly listenable, meticulously researched, and deeply moving, this history audiobook gives these young women a voice and allows their story to resonate for listeners almost a century after their death.

Douglas Smith's definitive biography separates fact from fiction to reveal the true life of one of history's most alluring figures.

 More than just the story of an extraordinary life, Rasputin offers a fascinating portrait of the twilight of Imperial Russia as it lurched towards catastrophe.