Classic Audiobook Collection

The Four Last Things - Death, Judgement, Hell, Heaven by Fr. Martin Von Cochem audiobook. Genre: religion Written by Capuchin priest Fr. Martin von Cochem, The Four Last Things confronts the great horizons that Christian tradition says shape every human life: Death, Judgement, Hell, and Heaven. In four sustained meditations, von Cochem speaks with the urgency of a pastor and the imagination of a storyteller, drawing on Scripture, the Church Fathers, and moral theology to make these realities feel immediate rather than abstract. He begins with the fragility of life and the inevitability of death, pressing the reader to examine habits, attachments, and neglected duties. He then turns to the particular and general judgement, exploring conscience, accountability, and the meaning of repentance. The book does not shy away from stark descriptions of sin's consequences in hell, yet it also insists that fear is not the final word, setting that warning beside an extended vision of heaven as the fulfillment of love, communion, and joy in God. Throughout, the central conflict is spiritual: the struggle between complacency and conversion, despair and hope, self-will and grace. Designed to be read slowly, it aims to awaken seriousness, encourage confession and amendment of life, and strengthen a steady desire for holiness. Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (00:10:57) Chapter 02 (00:20:21) Chapter 03 (00:24:21) Chapter 04 (00:29:19) Chapter 05 (00:42:27) Chapter 06 (00:54:04) Chapter 07 (01:12:07) Chapter 08 (01:20:05) Chapter 09 (01:26:09) Chapter 10 (01:35:12) Chapter 11 (01:47:28) Chapter 12 (02:03:41) Chapter 13 (02:18:25) Chapter 14 (02:27:35) Chapter 15 (02:35:21) Chapter 16 (02:48:11) Chapter 17 (02:56:38) Chapter 18 (03:06:57) Chapter 19 (03:21:26) Chapter 20 (03:32:38) Chapter 21 (03:38:00) Chapter 22 (03:54:30) Chapter 23 (04:15:37) Chapter 24 (04:32:28) Chapter 25 (04:42:23) Chapter 26 (05:01:43) Chapter 27 (05:21:03) Chapter 28 (05:42:24) Chapter 29 (05:58:54) Chapter 30 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Narrative of My Captivity Among the Sioux Indians by Fanny Kelly audiobook. Genre: biography In Narrative of My Captivity Among the Sioux Indians, Fanny Kelly recounts her ordeal as a young woman traveling west with a wagon party when a sudden attack on the frontier tears her from the life she knows. Separated from her companions and thrust into an unfamiliar world, Kelly is forced to endure long marches, hunger, exhaustion, and the constant uncertainty of what will happen next. As she is carried deeper into Sioux country, she observes daily life in camp at close range - family routines, moving villages, ceremonies, trade, and the tense calculations of survival on the Plains - while also confronting the fear and grief that accompany loss and isolation. Written in a clear, urgent voice, her memoir blends eyewitness detail with the emotional reality of captivity: the struggle to keep dignity under coercion, the fragile bargains that can mean the difference between safety and violence, and the stubborn hope that refuses to die. Along the way, Kelly offers a window into a turbulent era of westward migration, cultural collision, and life lived under extreme pressure. Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 00 (00:02:55) Chapter 01 (00:14:45) Chapter 02 (00:28:24) Chapter 03 (00:41:20) Chapter 04 (00:52:43) Chapter 05 (00:57:22) Chapter 06 (01:16:51) Chapter 07 (01:31:42) Chapter 08 (02:01:41) Chapter 09 (02:22:14) Chapter 10 (02:30:52) Chapter 11 (02:42:11) Chapter 12 (02:54:01) Chapter 13 (03:03:44) Chapter 14 (03:19:36) Chapter 15 (03:30:03) Chapter 16 (03:37:33) Chapter 17 (03:44:00) Chapter 18 (03:59:43) Chapter 19 (04:23:52) Chapter 20 (04:34:28) Chapter 21 (04:52:40) Chapter 22 (05:01:06) Chapter 23 (05:07:30) Chapter 24 (05:14:04) Chapter 25 (05:28:47) Chapter 26 (05:45:53) Chapter 27 (05:52:54) Chapter 28 (06:12:01) Chapter 29 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bannertail - The Story of a Graysquirrel by Ernest Thompson Seton audiobook. Genre: family Ernest Thompson Seton invites listeners into the treetops and shadowed forest floors with Bannertail, a young gray squirrel born into a world ruled by seasons, hunger, and wary attention to every sound. From his first uncertain ventures outside the nest, Bannertail must learn the practical laws of wild living: how to read the wind, where to hide stores of food, which branches are safe, and which rustles mean danger. Guided by instinct, hard-won experience, and the watchful presence of older squirrels, he navigates a landscape filled with rival creatures, shifting weather, and sudden threats from above and below. As Bannertail grows, the forest becomes both home and battlefield, a place of beauty and constant testing, where quick decisions can mean survival. Seton blends vivid natural observation with a warm, story-driven focus on one animal's coming-of-age, exploring themes of courage, caution, learning, and the fierce pull of home. Bannertail is a compact, immersive classic of nature storytelling that makes the everyday drama of a squirrel's life feel urgent and unforgettable. Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 00 (00:01:30) Chapter 01 (00:05:35) Chapter 02 (00:07:55) Chapter 03 (00:09:32) Chapter 04 (00:13:08) Chapter 05 (00:15:33) Chapter 06 (00:20:24) Chapter 07 (00:28:20) Chapter 08 (00:33:12) Chapter 09 (00:37:32) Chapter 10 (00:39:46) Chapter 11 (00:43:08) Chapter 12 (00:47:29) Chapter 13 (00:50:14) Chapter 14 (00:54:13) Chapter 15 (00:57:43) Chapter 16 (01:00:59) Chapter 17 (01:06:03) Chapter 18 (01:11:19) Chapter 19 (01:18:33) Chapter 20 (01:20:42) Chapter 21 (01:24:35) Chapter 22 (01:26:40) Chapter 23 (01:30:56) Chapter 24 (01:34:52) Chapter 25 (01:41:19) Chapter 26 (01:47:25) Chapter 27 (01:48:54) Chapter 28 (01:51:13) Chapter 29 (01:57:25) Chapter 30 (02:00:55) Chapter 31 (02:05:53) Chapter 32 (02:10:42) Chapter 33 (02:16:38) Chapter 34 (02:28:04) Chapter 35 (02:33:56) Chapter 36 (02:40:41) Chapter 37 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

World-Power and Evolution by Ellsworth Huntington audiobook. Genre: history In World-Power and Evolution (1919), Yale geographer Ellsworth Huntington widens his famous climate-and-civilization argument from the map to the timeline, asking a sweeping question: if environment helps shape where civilization flourishes, can shifting weather and climate also help explain when nations surge, stall, or decline? Writing in the shadow of World War I, Huntington blends climatology, public health, economics, and early evolutionary thought to trace how year-to-year variability in weather may influence human vitality, disease, and productivity, and how those human changes ripple outward into trade, social stability, and the capacities that underpin world power. Moving between broad theory and pointed case studies, he considers the role of variability itself, the conditions that may favor mental development, and the long arc by which environments select for different traits in animals and people. He then tests his framework against historical and contemporary examples, including Rome and modern European rivalries, building a provocative portrait of history as a contest shaped not only by leaders and ideas, but also by heat, cold, rain, and the rhythms of health. Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 00 (00:05:05) Chapter 01 (00:25:49) Chapter 02 (00:56:20) Chapter 03 (01:11:17) Chapter 04 (01:24:47) Chapter 05 (01:53:14) Chapter 06 (02:24:49) Chapter 07 (03:00:48) Chapter 08 (03:46:40) Chapter 09 (04:17:57) Chapter 10 (05:02:38) Chapter 11 (05:44:22) Chapter 12 (06:21:52) Chapter 13 (06:53:28) Chapter 14 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Civilization and Climate by Ellsworth Huntington audiobook. Genre: history In Civilization and Climate, geographer and early climate thinker Ellsworth Huntington asks a bold question: how much of human history can be understood through the rhythms of weather, seasons, and long-term climatic change? Moving across regions and centuries, Huntington traces how temperature, rainfall, and variability may shape agriculture, health, migration, labor, and the rise and decline of societies. He connects everyday human energy and productivity to broader patterns of settlement and economics, arguing that climate is not just background scenery but an active force that can amplify opportunity or intensify hardship. Along the way, he draws on travel observations, historical records, and the scientific ideas available in his era to build a sweeping interpretation of civilization as a living system responding to environmental pressures. The book blends big-picture historical storytelling with an investigator's desire to measure, compare, and explain, inviting listeners to weigh evidence, question assumptions, and consider how climate influences culture and power. Even when you disagree, Huntington's provocative framework makes the past feel newly dynamic and raises unsettling questions about resilience and vulnerability in any age. Chapters (Approximate) (00:00:00) Chapter 01 (01:04:31) Chapter 02 (01:55:56) Chapter 03 (02:38:39) Chapter 04 (03:40:24) Chapter 05 (04:25:53) Chapter 06 (04:58:41) Chapter 07 (05:37:51) Chapter 08 (06:12:38) Chapter 09 (06:57:31) Chapter 10 (07:38:28) Chapter 11 (08:30:15) Chapter 12 (08:58:19) Chapter 13 (09:42:52) Chapter 14 (10:24:24) Chapter 15 (10:45:09) Chapter 16 (11:22:43) Chapter 17 (12:05:44) Chapter 18 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices