Classic Audiobook Collection

The Boise Survey by Jesse Brundage Sears audiobook.
Genre: history
Commissioned by the Boise Independent School District and carried out over an intensive two-week field study, The Boise Survey is Jesse Brundage Sears' clear-eyed investigation into how a growing Western city runs its public schools - and how it could run them better. Drawing on visits, records, and observations gathered by Sears and his survey staff, the report walks listeners through the machinery of a city school system: how the district is organized and administered, how teachers are selected and supported, what the curriculum asks of students, and how effectively instruction is working in practice. Along the way, the survey traces student progress and achievement, considers individual differences among children, and examines the often-overlooked backbone of schooling - buildings, grounds, educational records, and the financing that keeps everything operating. Specific sections focus on the high school and on educational and vocational guidance, showing how policy decisions shape real classroom outcomes. Written to be understood not only by specialists but by ordinary citizens, this book blends data with pointed conclusions and practical recommendations, capturing a pivotal moment in early 20th-century American education reform.

Chapters (Approximate)
(00:00:00) Chapter 00
(00:04:36) Chapter 01
(00:30:15) Chapter 02
(01:01:46) Chapter 03
(01:35:30) Chapter 04
(02:05:35) Chapter 05
(02:58:56) Chapter 06
(03:14:18) Chapter 07
(03:51:42) Chapter 08
(04:33:03) Chapter 09
(05:20:44) Chapter 10
(05:58:54) Chapter 11
(06:23:36) Chapter 12
(06:52:06) Chapter 13
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Three Men on the Bummel by Jerome K. Jerome audiobook.
Genre: comedy
In Three Men on the Bummel, Jerome K. Jerome reunites the good-natured trio first seen in Three Men in a Boat - the quick-witted narrator J., the unflappable George, and the magnificently chaotic Harris - as they flee the strain of modern city life for a holiday on the continent. Their grand plan is simple: a cycling tour through Germany, with fresh air, picturesque towns, and the freedom of the open road. Reality, of course, has other ideas. From baffling timetables and bewildering rules to stubborn bicycles, unfamiliar customs, and the small indignities of travel, the friends lurch from one comic complication to the next, meeting an assortment of locals and fellow tourists along the way. Woven through the mishaps is Jerome's sharp, affectionate satire on work, progress, national habits, and the restless urge to turn leisure into another kind of labor. Part travelogue, part character comedy, and part reflection on how people try - and fail - to truly relax, this is a witty, warm escapade powered by observation and misadventure.

Chapters (Approximate)
(00:00:00) Chapter 01
(00:26:34) Chapter 02
(00:52:01) Chapter 03
(01:18:52) Chapter 04
(01:53:10) Chapter 05
(02:24:03) Chapter 06
(02:54:40) Chapter 07
(03:16:52) Chapter 08
(03:47:21) Chapter 09
(04:20:52) Chapter 10
(04:45:56) Chapter 11
(05:14:41) Chapter 12
(05:41:56) Chapter 13
(06:12:35) Chapter 14
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The People of the Abyss by Jack London audiobook.
Genre: history
In 1902, celebrated American writer Jack London crosses the Atlantic and disappears into the slums of Londons East End, determined to see what polite society refuses to notice. With little money, plain clothes, and a borrowed accent, he moves among the homeless and the working poor, sleeping in casual wards, queuing for a scrap of bread, and searching for day labor that vanishes as quickly as it appears. What begins as an experiment in observation becomes a relentless tour of overcrowded lodging houses, hunger, sickness, and the bureaucratic machinery meant to manage misery rather than end it. London introduces the reader to men and women ground down by low wages and bad luck, and he records their routines with a reporters eye and a reformers anger. The book is both immersion journalism and moral indictment, asking how a modern empire can tolerate such deprivation in its own capital. Tense, immediate, and often unsettling, The People of the Abyss invites listeners to confront the human cost of poverty, and to question the stories societies tell themselves about merit, blame, and survival.

Chapters (Approximate)
(00:00:00) Chapter 01
(00:20:07) Chapter 02
(00:28:05) Chapter 03
(00:34:58) Chapter 04
(00:50:47) Chapter 05
(01:02:18) Chapter 06
(01:14:47) Chapter 07
(01:25:23) Chapter 08
(01:47:38) Chapter 09
(02:14:16) Chapter 10
(02:22:38) Chapter 11
(02:43:45) Chapter 12
(03:09:05) Chapter 13
(03:18:45) Chapter 14
(03:33:37) Chapter 15
(03:41:02) Chapter 16
(03:50:26) Chapter 17
(04:02:20) Chapter 18
(04:13:53) Chapter 19
(04:39:28) Chapter 20
(04:57:19) Chapter 21
(05:15:51) Chapter 22
(05:29:49) Chapter 23
(05:41:24) Chapter 24
(05:48:07) Chapter 25
(06:02:40) Chapter 26
(06:16:34) Chapter 27
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The Diary of a Superfluous Man by Ivan Turgenev audiobook.
Genre: drama
Written as a final confession, The Diary of a Superfluous Man follows a minor Russian landowner, Chulkaturin, who begins a diary when he senses his life is nearing its close. Alone with his thoughts, he looks back on the moments that shaped him: a youth spent observing rather than acting, a sharp awareness of his own awkwardness in society, and a longing to matter in a world that seems to have no place for him. His memories gather around a pivotal summer in the country, where a bright young woman, the routines of provincial visits, and the arrival of a more confident rival pull him into a quiet but devastating emotional contest. As Chulkaturin records each recollection, the diary becomes both a portrait of love and jealousy and a self-indictment of paralysis, pride, and self-deception. Turgenev's classic novella captures the ache of unrealized potential and the loneliness of a man who can describe life with piercing clarity, yet struggles to truly live it.

Chapters (Approximate)
(00:00:00) Chapter 01
(00:31:10) Chapter 02
(00:54:50) Chapter 03
(01:24:07) Chapter 04
(01:57:11) Chapter 05
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The Old Maids Club by Israel Zangwill audiobook.
Genre: comedy
In late-Victorian London, seventeen-year-old Lillie Dulcimer is brilliant, beautiful, and far too self-aware for polite society's comfort. With a millionaire father determined to see her safely married, Lillie answers pressure with paradox: she founds the Old Maids' Club, a proudly exclusive refuge for young women who refuse to treat matrimony as a duty or a bargain. Part manifesto, part social prank, the club's tongue-in-cheek rules and public posturing turn Lillie into a minor celebrity - and a lightning rod for every matchmaker, moralist, and curious onlooker in town. As word spreads, a parade of suitors, friends, rivals, and fellow skeptics circle the club, including Lord Silverdale, whose presence tests whether Lillie's theories about love and independence can survive contact with real feeling. Told with Zangwill's brisk wit and satirical eye, The Old Maids' Club skewers the era's marriage market while letting its heroine chase a harder question: how to stay true to herself in a world that insists a woman's story must end at the altar.

Chapters (Approximate)
(00:00:00) Chapter 01
(00:19:30) Chapter 02
(00:31:58) Chapter 03
(00:59:33) Chapter 04
(01:10:00) Chapter 05
(02:16:22) Chapter 06
(02:35:48) Chapter 07
(03:25:43) Chapter 08
(03:37:41) Chapter 09
(04:02:08) Chapter 10
(04:27:04) Chapter 11
(05:16:38) Chapter 12
(05:32:04) Chapter 13
(06:18:06) Chapter 14
(06:51:51) Chapter 15
(07:27:56) Chapter 16
(07:49:59) Chapter 17
(08:14:38) Chapter 18
(08:47:46) Chapter 19
(09:03:15) Chapter 20
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