The Audie Award for History or Biography is one of the Audie Awards presented annually by the Audio Publishers Association (APA). It awards excellence in narration, production, and content for a history or biography audiobook released in a given year. Before 2015 this was given as two distinct awards, the Audie Award for Biography or Memoir (awarded since 2003; also split into the modern Audie Award for Autobiography or Memoir) and the Audie Award for History (awarded since 2009).
Winners are listed first and highlighted in green.
| Year | Title | Author(s) | Narrator(s) | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015[1] | (2013) | Simon & Schuster Audio | ||
| Enduring Courage: Ace Pilot Eddie Rickenbacker and the Dawn of the Age of Speed (2014) | Macmillan Audio | |||
| Enemy Coast Ahead: Uncensored (2003) | Tantor Audio | |||
| In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette (2014) | Penguin Random House Audio | |||
| Lincoln's Gamble: The Tumultuous Six Months That Gave America the Emancipation Proclamation and Changed the Course of the Civil War (2014) | Brilliance Audio | |||
| (2014) | Penguin Random House Audio | |||
| 2016[2] | (1994) | and Tom Hanks | Audiobooks.com Publishing | |
| In Search of Sir Thomas Browne: The Life and Afterlife (2015) | HighBridge Audio/Recorded Books | |||
| Operation Nemesis: The Assassination Plot that Avenged the Armenian Genocide (2015) | Hachette Audio | |||
| Pacific: Silicon Chips and Surfboards, Coral Reefs and Atom Bombs, Brutal Dictators, Fading Empires, and the Coming Collision of the World's Superpowers (1991) | HarperAudio | |||
| Texas Rising: The Epic True Story of the Lone Star Republic (2015) | HarperAudio | |||
| 2017[3] | In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors (2001) | Audible | ||
| Paul McCartney: The Life (2016) | Recorded Books | |||
The Untold Story of the Kursk Tragedy (2002) | Dreamscape | |||
| Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution (2016) | Penguin Random House Audio/Books on Tape | |||
Shakespeare in 1606 (2015) | Tantor Audio | |||
| 2018[4] | Loving vs. Virginia: A Documentary Novel of the Landmark Civil Rights Case (2017) | and MacLeod Andrews | Dreamscape | |
| (1989) | Graymalkin Media | |||
| Born Survivors: Three Young Mothers and Their Extraordinary Story of Courage, Defiance, and Hope (2015) | Tantor Audio | |||
| Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II (2017) | Hachette Audio | |||
Life in America During World War II (2017) | , Martin Sheen, and Dan Gediman | Audible Originals | ||
| My Life, My Love, My Legacy (2017) | and Barbara Reynolds | and January LaVoy | Macmillan Audio | |
| 2019[5] | Darkest Hour: How Churchill Brought Us Back from the Brink (2018) | HarperAudio | ||
The Life and Work of Fred Rogers (2018) | Oasis Audio | |||
| Indianapolis: The True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in U.S. Navy History and the Fifty-Year Fight to Exonerate an Innocent Man (2018) | and Sara Vladic | Simon & Schuster Audio | ||
| Robin (2018) | and Dave Itzkoff | Macmillan Audio | ||
| We Were Soldiers Once… and Young (1992) | and Joseph L. Galloway | Tantor Audio |
| Year | Title | Author(s) | Narrator(s)(s) | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020[6] | American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race (2019) | HarperAudio | ||
The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington (2019) | and Josh Mensch | Macmillan Audio | ||
| Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee (2019) | Penguin Random House Audio | |||
| (2019) | Hachette Audio | |||
| Theodore Roosevelt for the Defense (2019) | and David Fisher | and Dan Abrams | Harlequin | |
| 2021[7] | His Truth Is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope (2020) | Penguin Random House Audio | ||
The Life of Malcolm X (2020) | and Tamara Payne | Recorded Books | ||
| Deep Delta Justice: A Black Teen, His Lawyer, and Their Groundbreaking Battle for Civil Rights in the South (2020) | Hachette Audio | |||
| J. R. R. Tolkien: The Making of a Legend (2012) | Oasis Audio | |||
| Just Us: An American Conversation (2020) | Audible | |||
| (1977) | and Josh Mensch | Macmillan Audio | ||
| 2022[8] | Clanlands: Whisky, Warfare, and a Scottish Adventure Like No Other | and Graham McTavish | and Graham McTavish | Hodder & Stoughton |
| Music Is History | (Questlove) | (Questlove) | Recorded Books | |
| Somersett: Benjamin Franklin and the Masterminding of American Independence | , Joe Morton, Simon Jones, Euan Morton, Nicola Barber, and the author (Author's note and afterword) | Blackstone Publishing and May Wuthrich Productions | ||
| (2021) | with Walter Isaacson | Simon & Schuster Audio | ||
| L.A. Theatre Works | ||||
| 2023[9] | Summer of '85 | , Kevin Hart, Tara Thomas, Nicole Shelton, Charlamagne Tha God, Marc Gerald, Dave Becky, Mike Stein, Thai Randolph, Bryan Smiley, and Karen Kinney | Audible Originals | |
| Beacon Press Audio | ||||
| His Name is George Floyd (2022) | and Toluse Olorunnipa | , Robert Samuels, and Toluse Olorunnipa | Penguin Random House Audio | |
| Simon & Schuster Audio | ||||
| Undelivered | , Brian Bowles, Elisa Roth, Garrick Hagon, Glen McCready, Greg Lockett, James Lailey, Jeff Nussbaum, Johnny Heller, Kathleen Chalfant, Kurt Kanazawa, and Lance Blair | Macmillan Audio | ||
| 2024[10] | Goodbye Christopher Robin: A.A. Milne and the Making of Winnie-the-Pooh | , preface by Frank Cottrell-Boyce | Tantor Audio | |
| Elon Musk | and Walter Isaacson | Simon & Schuster Audio | ||
| Empire of Ice and Stone: The Disastrous and Heroic Voyage of the Karluk | Macmillan Audio | |||
| (2023) | with David Grann | Penguin Random House Audio | ||
| Macmillan Audio |
| Award Year | Title | Author | Narrator(s) | Title Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003[11] | Lucky Man: A Memoir (2002) | Simon & Schuster Audio | ||
| Getting to Know William Shakespeare (2001) | Echo Peak Productions | |||
| Legacy (2002) | and David Holt | and David Holt | High Windy Audio | |
| Theodore Rex (2001) | Random House Audio | |||
| Touch the Top of the World: A Blind Man's Journey to Climb Farther Than the Eye Can See (2002) b | The Audio Partners Publishing Corp. | |||
| 2004[12] | How One Jewish Woman Survived the Holocaust (1999) | Jewish Contemporary Classics | ||
Growing Up in the American Heartland (2002) | Random House Audio | |||
| (2003) | Simon & Schuster Audio | |||
| Hannibal: One Man Against Rome (1958) | Audio Connoisseur | |||
| My Invented Country: A Nostalgic Journey Through Chile (2003) | HarperAudio | |||
| 2005[13] | (2004) | Simon & Schuster Audio | ||
| Big Russ and Me: Father and Son (2004) | Hyperion AudioBooks | |||
| Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America (2003) | Audible | |||
| Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure (2002) | Bolinda Audio | |||
| (2003) | Blackstone Audio | |||
| Mornings on Horseback (1981) | Simon & Schuster Audio | |||
| (AD 121) | Audio Connoisseur | |||
| 2006[14] | Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise (2005) | Random House Audio | ||
| iCon: Steve Jobs, The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business (2005) | and William L. Simon | , Jeffrey S. Young, and William L. Simon | Penton Overseas | |
| (2005) | Time Warner AudioBooks | |||
| We Are All the Same: A Story of a Boy's Courage and a Mother's Love (2004) | Tantor Audio | |||
| (2005) | HighBridge Audio | |||
| 2007[15] | Teacher Man (2005) | Simon & Schuster Audio | ||
| Diana: Finally, the Complete Story (2006) | Penguin Audio | |||
| Dispatches from the Edge (2006) | HarperAudio | |||
| Elizabeth (2006) | Hachette Audio | |||
| Sound and Fury: Two Powerful Lives, One Fateful Friendship (2006) | Blackstone Audio | |||
Nine Jews Who Fled Hitler and Changed the World (2006) | Tantor Audio | |||
| 2008[16] [17] | (2007) | Simon & Schuster Audio | ||
| My Lobotomy (2007) | and Charles Fleming | Tantor Audio | ||
| Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography (2007) | HarperAudio | |||
| (2007) | HarperAudio | |||
| Tearing Down the Wall of Sound (2008) | Blackstone Audio | |||
| 2009[18] [19] | (2008) | HyperionAudio | ||
| Black Wave: A Family's Adventure at Sea and the Disaster (2008) | and Malcolm McConnell | and Joe Barrett | Blackstone Audio | |
| (2008) | HarperAudio | |||
| (2005) | Blackstone Audio | |||
| Waiter Rant (2008) | Brilliance Audio |
| Award Year | Title | Author(s) | Narrator(s) | Title Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010[20] | Anne Frank Remembered: The Story of the Woman Who Helped to Hide the Frank Family (1987) | and Leslie Gold | Oasis Audio | |
The Story of a Lifetime of Love (2009) | Oasis Audio | |||
The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister (2009) | and Denise George | Oasis Audio | ||
| True Compass (2009) | Hachette Audio | |||
| Valkyrie: The Story of the Plot to Kill Hitler by Its Last Member (2009) | and Florence and Jérôme Fehrenbach | Tantor Audio | ||
| 2011[21] | Life (2010) | and Joe Hurley | Hachette Audio | |
The True Story of How an American Teen Survived the World of Human Trafficking (2010) | ChristianAudio | |||
| Somewhere Inside (2010) | and Laura Ling | and Laura Ling | HarperAudio | |
| This Time Together (2010) | Random House Audio | |||
| Abigail Adams: A Life (2009) | Tantor Audio | |||
| 2012[22] [23] | Bossypants (2011) | Hachette Audio | ||
A Memoir of Farming, Food, and Love (2010) | Tantor Audio | |||
| (2011) | Hachette Audio | |||
| My Dog Tulip (1956) | Blackstone Audio | |||
| Until Tuesday: A Wounded Warrior and the Golden Retriever (2011) | Audible | |||
| 2013[24] | A Memoir of Survival (1999) | , Louise Loots Thornton, and Marlene Bernstein Samuels | Tantor Audio | |
| Cronkite (2012) | HarperAudio | |||
| Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey (2011) | , Lady Carnarvon | Tantor Audio | ||
| My Cross to Bear (2012) | and Alan Light | HarperAudio | ||
| Two Rings: A Story of Love and War (2012) | and Eve Keller | and Eve Keller | HighBridge Audio | |
| 2014[25] | My Life with the Herd in the African Wild (2009) | and Graham Spence | Tantor Audio | |
| [sic] A Memoir (2011) | Audible | |||
| My Beloved World (1992) | Random House Audio/Books on Tape | |||
| World on a String (2012) | Audible | |||
| I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban (2013) | Hachette Audio |
| Award Year | Title | Author | Narrator(s) | Title Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009[26] | Gandhi and Churchill: The Epic Rivalry That Destroyed an Empire and Forged Our Age (2008) | Recorded Books | ||
| Pictures at a Revolution (2008) | Tantor Audio | |||
| (2008) | Brilliance Audio | |||
| (2007) | Tantor Audio | |||
| (2008) | Tantor Audio |
| Award Year | Title | Author | Narrator(s) | Title Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Tears in the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March and Its Aftermath (2009) | and Elizabeth M. Norman | Tantor Audio | |
| 1864: Lincoln at the Gates of History (2009) | Tantor Audio | |||
A Financial History of the World (2008) | Tantor Audio | |||
| Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West (1970) | Blackstone Audio | |||
| (2008) | Blackstone Audio | |||
| 2011 | Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic (2009) | Audible | ||
| 1959: The Year Everything Changed (2009) | Audible | |||
| , Volume 1 (9 BC) | Audio Connoisseur | |||
| (1980) | Harper Audio | |||
| Vikings of the Ice: Being the Log of a Tenderfoot on the Great (1924) | Rattling Books | |||
| 2012 | 1861: The Civil War Awakening (2011) | Audible | ||
| 1812: The Navy's War (2011) | Audible | |||
| Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (1963) | Tantor Audio | |||
A Biography of Cancer (2010) | Tantor Audio | |||
| In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin (2011) | Random House Audio/Books on Tape | |||
| 2013 | (2012) | Tantor Audio | ||
| Da Vinci's Ghost: Genius, Obsession, and How Leonardo Created the World in His Own Image (2012) | Tantor Audio | |||
| L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America's Most Seductive City (2009) | Tantor Audio | |||
| Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941–1942 (2011) | Audible | |||
| (2012) | Brilliance Audio | |||
| Twelve Desperate Miles: The Epic World War II Voyage of the SS Contessa (2013) | AudioGo | |||
| 2014 | (2012) | HarperAudio | ||
| C. C. Pyle's Amazing Foot Race: The True Story of the 1928 Coast-to-Coast Run Across America (2007) | Tantor Audio | |||
| Frozen in Time: An Epic Story of Survival and a Modern Quest for Lost Heroes of World War II (2013) | HarperAudio | |||
The Secret Plot to Murder Lincoln Before the Civil War (2013) | Macmillan Audio | |||
| Nero's Killing Machine: The True Story of Rome's Remarkable 14th Legion (2005) | Audible | |||
| (2013) | Random House Audio/Books on Tape |