Classic Audiobook Collection

Peace by Aristophanes audiobook. Genre: comedyThe 'Peace' was brought out four years after 'The Acharnians' (422 B.C.), when the War had already lasted ten years. The leading motive is the same as in the former play—the intense desire of the less excitable and more moderate-minded citizens for relief from the miseries of war.Trygaeus, a rustic patriot, finding no help in men, resolves to ascend to heaven to expostulate personally with Zeus for allowing this wretched state of things to continue. With this object he has fed and trained a gigantic dung-beetle, which he mounts, and is carried, like Bellerophon on Pegasus, on an aerial journey. Eventually he reaches Olympus, only to find that the gods have gone elsewhere, and that the heavenly abode is occupied solely by the demon of War, who is busy pounding up the Greek States in a huge mortar. However, his benevolent purpose is not in vain; for learning from Hermes that the goddess Peace has been cast into a pit, where she is kept a fast prisoner, he calls upon the different peoples of Hellas to make a united effort and rescue her, and with their help drags her out and brings her back in triumph to earth. The play concludes with the restoration of the goddess to her ancient honours, the festivities of the rustic population and the nuptials of Trygaeus with Opora (Harvest), handmaiden of Peace, represented as a pretty courtesan.Such references as there are to Cleon in this play are noteworthy. The great Demagogue was now dead, having fallen in the same action as the rival Spartan general, the renowned Brasidas, before Amphipolis, and whatever Aristophanes says here of his old enemy is conceived in the spirit of 'de mortuis nil nisi bonum.' In one scene Hermes is descanting on the evils which had nearly ruined Athens and declares that 'The Tanner' was the cause of them all. But Trygaeus interrupts him with the words:'Hold-say not so, good master Hermes; Let the man rest in peace where now he lies. He is no longer of our world, but yours.'Here surely we have a trait of magnanimity on the author's part as admirable in its way as the wit and boldness of his former attacks had been in theirs.For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate)(00:00:00) Chapter 01(00:13:00) Chapter 02(00:41:11) Chapter 03(01:03:06) Chapter 04 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lysistrata by Aristophanes audiobook. Genre: comedyIn war-weary Athens, the sharp-witted Lysistrata is done waiting for the men to come to their senses. With the Peloponnesian War grinding on and families strained by endless campaigning, she proposes an audacious plan: unite the women of Greece - even longtime rivals from Sparta - and use the one leverage the men cannot ignore to force peace talks. As reluctant friends like Calonice are drawn into the scheme, and formidable allies like the Spartan Lampito arrive, the women seize control of the city's treasury and set strict terms for ending the conflict. Their uprising sparks chaos in the streets, scandal in the council chamber, and a battle of wills inside the home, where desire, pride, and patriotism collide. Aristophanes' classic comedy mixes bold farce with biting political satire, lampooning leaders and citizens alike while asking serious questions about power, civic duty, and the human cost of war. Funny, provocative, and unexpectedly tender, Lysistrata turns domestic life into a stage for public change - and dares its characters to imagine a different kind of victory.For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate)(00:00:00) Chapter 01(00:20:48) Chapter 02(00:56:55) Chapter 03 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope audiobook. Genre: comedyThis is the second in Trollope’s ‘Barsetshire’ series of novels. The later novels in the series move away from Barchester itself but 'Barchester Towers' is very much a sequel to the first book ‘The Warden’, which is also available from Librivox.The old bishop dies, the archdeacon, Dr. Grantly fails to succeed him and a new bishop, Dr. Proudie is appointed. Dr. Grantly gains a worthy foe, not the new bishop but his wife, Mrs. Proudie, strict Sabbatarian and power behind the Episcopal throne together with the bishop’s chaplain, Mr. Slope.John Bold is also dead and Eleanor, now a wealthy young widow sets clerical hearts fluttering. The new bishop must deal with the wardenship of Hiram’s Hospital. Will it go to Mr. Harding? All is to play for. Then the old Dean dies and the stakes are raised.For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate)(00:00:00) Chapter 1(00:20:28) Chapter 2(00:40:58) Chapter 3(00:57:28) Chapter 4(01:17:26) Chapter 5(01:39:14) Chapter 6(02:07:47) Chapter 7(02:24:12) Chapter 8(02:40:41) Chapter 9(03:14:18) Chapter 10(03:36:57) Chapter 11(04:12:32) Chapter 12(04:30:41) Chapter 13(04:54:42) Chapter 14(05:11:25) Chapter 15(05:44:02) Chapter 16(06:14:29) Chapter 17(06:36:46) Chapter 18(06:55:30) Chapter 19(07:19:38) Chapter 20(07:49:22) Chapter 21(08:14:32) Chapter 22(08:47:01) Chapter 23(09:10:54) Chapter 24(09:35:00) Chapter 25(09:55:16) Chapter 26(10:27:52) Chapter 27(11:08:52) Chapter 28(11:52:14) Chapter 29(12:18:32) Chapter 30(12:47:39) Chapter 31(13:01:33) Chapter 32(13:36:51) Chapter 33(14:02:51) Chapter 34(14:23:39) Chapter 35(14:45:58) Chapter 36(15:20:37) Chapter 37(15:54:15) Chapter 38(16:27:22) Chapter 39(16:53:48) Chapter 40(17:22:42) Chapter 41(17:46:50) Chapter 42(18:15:52) Chapter 43(18:56:48) Chapter 44(19:20:22) Chapter 45(19:46:54) Chapter 46(20:11:59) Chapter 47(20:38:12) Chapter 48(21:05:04) Chapter 49(21:20:15) Chapter 50(21:37:02) Chapter 51(21:58:33) Chapter 52(22:17:28) Chapter 53 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope audiobook. Genre: adventureWhen English gentleman Rudolf Rassendyll arrives in the small European kingdom of Ruritania for a holiday, he makes a startling discovery: he is the near-perfect double of the soon-to-be-crowned King Rudolf V. What begins as an odd coincidence turns into a dangerous summons when the king is kidnapped on the eve of his coronation by his scheming half-brother, Duke Michael, who intends to seize the throne for himself. With the kingdom poised on the edge of chaos, Rassendyll is persuaded to impersonate the monarch long enough to preserve the crown and buy time for the king's loyal supporters to mount a rescue. Thrust into palace intrigue, swordplay, and secret plots, he must master royal etiquette while staying ahead of suspicious courtiers and ruthless enemies. Along the way, he forms a bond with the courageous Colonel Sapt and the sharp-witted Fritz von Tarlenheim, and he finds his resolve tested by loyalty, honor, and an unexpected romance that complicates every decision. A classic tale of adventure and sacrifice, The Prisoner of Zenda delivers high stakes, swift pacing, and old-world thrills.For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate)(00:00:00) Chapter 1(00:13:44) Chapter 2(00:28:19) Chapter 3(00:45:46) Chapter 4(00:59:22) Chapter 5(01:14:53) Chapter 6(01:29:21) Chapter 7(01:43:30) Chapter 8(02:00:56) Chapter 9(02:18:09) Chapter 10(02:34:42) Chapter 11(02:52:12) Chapter 12(03:07:28) Chapter 13(03:23:38) Chapter 14(03:38:59) Chapter 15(03:55:39) Chapter 16(04:10:58) Chapter 17(04:25:54) Chapter 18(04:39:08) Chapter 19(04:53:36) Chapter 20(05:10:50) Chapter 21(05:27:37) Chapter 22 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Citizen’s Almanac by Anonymous audiobook. Genre: historyThis is a recording of a booklet given to new naturalized American citizens, it contains an explanation of fundamental documents, symbols and anthems of the United States. 'Today you are a citizen of the United States of America— becoming “a peer of kings” as President Calvin Coolidge once said. This occasion is a defining moment that should not soon be forgotten, for it marks the beginning of a new era in your lifetime as a U.S. citizen. Naturalized citizens are an important part of our great democracy, bringing a wealth of talent, ability, and character to this Nation. Your fellow citizens recognize the sacrifices you have made to reach this milestone and with open arms we welcome you. The United States offers an abundance of freedom and opportunity for all its citizens and we wish you all the best along the way.' For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate)(00:00:00) Chapter 00(00:03:44) Chapter 01(00:13:54) Chapter 02(00:35:37) Chapter 03(01:04:49) Chapter 04(01:41:32) Chapter 05(01:58:18) Chapter 06(02:13:06) Chapter 07 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Three Thousand Dollars by Anna Katharine Green audiobook. Genre: mysteryIn bustling New York, a tidy office routine shatters when three thousand dollars vanishes from the secure keeping of Mr. Stoughton, a man whose business depends on discretion and control. The disappearance is more than a missing sum - it is a message that someone understands the office's habits, its quiet vulnerabilities, and the private pressures of the people who work there. At the center is Grace Lee, Mr. Stoughton's capable young assistant, whose careful competence makes her indispensable and, dangerously, well-informed. When Beau Johnson, a practiced criminal with a talent for reading weaknesses, fixes his attention on Grace, a tense battle of nerve begins: manipulation posed as opportunity, courtesy edged with threat. Caught between loyalty to her employer, concern for her ailing father, and the expectations closing in on her future, Grace must decide what she will risk to protect both her name and the truth. Anna Katharine Green builds the suspense through close observation, moral uncertainty, and the unsettling feeling that the real crime may be the one still being arranged.For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate)(00:00:00) Chapter 1(00:15:14) Chapter 2(00:34:29) Chapter 3(00:51:01) Chapter 4(01:12:02) Chapter 5 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lilac Fairy Book by Andrew Lang audiobook. Genre: folkloreAndrew Lang's Fairy Books or Andrew Lang's 'Coloured' Fairy Books are a twelve-book series of fairy tale collections. Although Andrew Lang did not collect the stories himself from the oral tradition, the extent of his sources (who had collected them originally), made them an immensely influential collection, especially as he used foreign-language sources, giving many of these tales their first appearance in English. As acknowledged in the prefaces, although Lang himself made most of the selections, his wife and other translators did a large portion of the translating and telling of the actual stories. Many of them were illustrated by Henry J. Ford. Lancelot Speed also did some illustrationsFor ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate)(00:00:00) Chapter 01(00:08:48) Chapter 02(00:33:45) Chapter 03(00:49:09) Chapter 04(01:03:06) Chapter 05(01:26:04) Chapter 06(01:36:29) Chapter 07(01:46:17) Chapter 08(02:05:45) Chapter 09(02:31:03) Chapter 10(02:37:02) Chapter 11(02:54:42) Chapter 12(03:08:15) Chapter 13(03:28:32) Chapter 14(03:45:53) Chapter 15(04:04:18) Chapter 16(04:21:26) Chapter 17(04:27:08) Chapter 18(04:42:35) Chapter 19(05:02:31) Chapter 20(05:31:41) Chapter 21(05:41:33) Chapter 22(06:09:12) Chapter 23(06:20:57) Chapter 24(06:37:25) Chapter 25(07:06:22) Chapter 26(07:30:44) Chapter 27(08:01:09) Chapter 28(08:19:43) Chapter 29(08:36:53) Chapter 30(08:53:53) Chapter 31(09:01:00) Chapter 32(09:10:03) Chapter 33(09:22:22) Chapter 34 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Voodoo Planet by Andre Norton audiobook. Genre: scifiWhen interstellar trader Dane Thorson signs on with the Free Trader ship Solar Queen, he expects tight margins, rough ports, and the usual risks of space commerce - not a desperate mission to a forbidden world. The crew has a contract to retrieve a valuable cargo from Khatka, a planet quarantined by authorities and surrounded by rumors of madness, lethal wildlife, and inexplicable forces that no scan can explain. Once planetside, Dane joins a small landing team as they navigate swamps, ruins, and a landscape that seems to watch them in return. But the real danger is not only the planet's hazards - it is the unseen influence that erodes confidence, turns crewmates against each other, and threatens to trap them far from the Solar Queen. As the clock runs down and the quarantine tightens, Dane must decide what kind of man he is becoming in the cold economy of the stars, where loyalty is priceless and fear can be weaponized. Voodoo Planet blends fast-paced adventure with eerie atmosphere, exploring survival, camaraderie, and the thin line between rational caution and paralyzing dread.For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate)(00:00:00) Chapter 01(00:21:08) Chapter 02(00:42:09) Chapter 03(01:02:51) Chapter 04(01:22:05) Chapter 05(01:41:57) Chapter 06(02:01:16) Chapter 07(02:20:56) Chapter 08 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Storm Over Warlock by Andre Norton audiobook. Genre: scifiThe Throg task force struck the Terran survey camp a few minutes after dawn, without warning, and with a deadly precision which argued that the aliens had fully reconnoitered and prepared that attack. Eye-searing lances of energy lashed back and forth across the base with methodical accuracy. And a single cowering witness, flattened on a ledge in the heights above, knew that when the last of those yellow-red bolts fell, nothing human would be left alive down there.And so Shann Lantee, most menial of the Terrans attached to the camp on the planet Warlock, was left alone and weaponless in the strange, hostile world, the human prey of the aliens from space and the aliens on the ground alike.For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate)(00:00:00) Chapter 01(00:22:45) Chapter 02(00:46:26) Chapter 03(01:07:18) Chapter 04(01:30:35) Chapter 05(01:54:36) Chapter 06(02:16:22) Chapter 07(02:40:49) Chapter 08(03:04:11) Chapter 09(03:26:57) Chapter 10(03:52:09) Chapter 11(04:18:18) Chapter 12(04:43:15) Chapter 13(05:08:36) Chapter 14(05:32:55) Chapter 15(05:56:41) Chapter 16(06:22:46) Chapter 17(06:46:06) Chapter 18 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Revolt of the Angels by Anatole France audiobook. Genre: philosophyAnatole France, in his satirical and allegorical fashion, weaves a tale of fantasy which finds a mischievous guardian angel stealing books from his earthly charge, who happens to be an archbishop in possession of a plethora of literature, mostly theological in nature. After voracious reading and then becoming a 'fallen' angel, he decides to search for and recruit other 'fallen' angels who devise a plan to attempt an overthrow of the rule which had set their fate, realizing that revolt is necessary and inevitable. What follows is preparation for a battle to revenge what has befallen them (and mankind itself). But surprises find their way into the plans, as well as the question that if they win the war, what will change?For ad-free listening try our premium subscription Chapters (Approximate)(00:00:00) Chapter 01(00:12:54) Chapter 02(00:29:28) Chapter 03(00:43:22) Chapter 04(00:49:25) Chapter 05(01:10:01) Chapter 06(01:18:03) Chapter 07(01:33:54) Chapter 08(01:51:35) Chapter 09(01:58:48) Chapter 10(02:19:23) Chapter 11(02:33:37) Chapter 12(02:49:24) Chapter 13(03:05:10) Chapter 14(03:28:49) Chapter 15(03:46:13) Chapter 16(04:12:56) Chapter 17(04:26:07) Chapter 18(04:56:40) Chapter 19(05:09:50) Chapter 20(05:33:27) Chapter 21(05:58:27) Chapter 22(06:17:46) Chapter 23(06:30:51) Chapter 24(06:36:42) Chapter 25(06:50:06) Chapter 26(07:06:47) Chapter 27(07:26:47) Chapter 28(07:35:21) Chapter 29(07:48:56) Chapter 30(08:10:40) Chapter 31(08:25:59) Chapter 32(08:44:15) Chapter 33(08:57:43) Chapter 34(09:24:11) Chapter 35 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices