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 and finalists 2010s Year Title Author Narrator(s) Publisher Result 2015 (2013) Simon & Schuster AudioWinner Enduring Courage: Ace Pilot Eddie Rickenbacker and the Dawn of the Age of Speed (2014) Macmillan AudioFinalist Enemy Coast Ahead: Uncensored (2003) Tantor AudioFinalist In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette (2014) Penguin Random House AudioFinalist Lincoln's Gamble: The Tumultuous Six Months That Gave America the Emancipation Proclamation and Changed the Course of the Civil War (2014) Brilliance AudioFinalist (2014)Penguin Random House AudioFinalist2016 (1994) and Tom Hanks Audiobooks.com PublishingWinner In Search of Sir Thomas Browne: The Life and Afterlife (2015) HighBridge Audio/Recorded BooksFinalist Operation Nemesis: The Assassination Plot that Avenged the Armenian Genocide (2015) Hachette AudioFinalist Pacific: Silicon Chips and Surfboards, Coral Reefs and Atom Bombs, Brutal Dictators, Fading Empires, and the Coming Collision of the World's Superpowers (1991) HarperAudioFinalist Texas Rising: The Epic True Story of the Lone Star Republic (2015) HarperAudioFinalist2017 In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors (2001) AudibleWinner Paul McCartney: The Life (2016) Recorded BooksFinalist : The Untold Story of the Kursk Tragedy (2002) DreamscapeFinalist Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution (2016) Penguin Random House Audio/Books on TapeFinalist : Shakespeare in 1606 (2015) Tantor AudioFinalist2018 Loving vs. Virginia: A Documentary Novel of the Landmark Civil Rights Case (2017) and MacLeod Andrews DreamscapeWinner Bette and Joan: The Divine Feud (1989) Graymalkin MediaFinalist Born Survivors: Three Young Mothers and Their Extraordinary Story of Courage, Defiance, and Hope (2015) Tantor AudioFinalist Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II (2017) Hachette AudioFinalist : Life in America During World War II (2017), Martin Sheen, and Dan Gediman Audible OriginalsFinalistMy Life, My Love, My Legacy (2017) and Barbara Reynolds and January LaVoyMacmillan AudioFinalist2019 Darkest Hour: How Churchill Brought Us Back from the Brink (2018) HarperAudioWinner : The Life and Work of Fred Rogers (2018) Oasis AudioFinalist 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 AudioFinalist Robin (2018) and Dave Itzkoff Macmillan AudioFinalist We Were Soldiers Once… and Young (1992) and Joseph L. Galloway Tantor AudioFinalist
2020s Year Title Author Narrator(s) Publisher Result 2020 American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race (2019) HarperAudioWinner : The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington (2019) and Josh Mensch Macmillan AudioFinalist Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee (2019) Penguin Random House AudioFinalist (2019) Hachette AudioFinalist Theodore Roosevelt for the Defense (2019) and David Fisher and Dan Abrams HarlequinFinalist2021 His Truth Is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope (2020) Penguin Random House AudioWinner : The Life of Malcolm X (2020) and Tamara Payne Recorded BooksFinalist Deep Delta Justice: A Black Teen, His Lawyer, and Their Groundbreaking Battle for Civil Rights in the South (2020) Hachette AudioFinalist J. R. R. Tolkien: The Making of a Legend (2012) Oasis AudioFinalist Just Us: An American Conversation (2020) AudibleFinalist (1977) and Josh Mensch Macmillan AudioFinalist2022Clanlands: Whisky, Warfare, and a Scottish Adventure Like No Other and Graham McTavish and Graham McTavishHodder & StoughtonWinnerMusic Is History (Questlove) (Questlove)Recorded BooksFinalistSomersett: 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 ProductionsFinalist (2021) with Walter IsaacsonSimon & Schuster AudioFinalist L.A. Theatre WorksFinalist2023Summer of '85, Kevin Hart, Tara Thomas, Nicole Shelton, Charlamagne Tha God, Marc Gerald, Dave Becky, Mike Stein, Thai Randolph, Bryan Smiley, and Karen KinneyAudible OriginalsWinnerBeacon Press AudioFinalistHis Name is George Floyd (2022) and Toluse Olorunnipa, Robert Samuels, and Toluse OlorunnipaPenguin Random House AudioFinalistSimon & Schuster AudioFinalistUndelivered, Brian Bowles, Elisa Roth, Garrick Hagon, Glen McCready, Greg Lockett, James Lailey, Jeff Nussbaum, Johnny Heller, Kathleen Chalfant, Kurt Kanazawa, and Lance BlairMacmillan AudioFinalist2024Goodbye Christopher Robin: A.A. Milne and the Making of Winnie-the-Pooh, preface by Frank Cottrell-BoyceTantor AudioWinnerElon Musk and Walter IsaacsonSimon & Schuster AudioFinalistEmpire of Ice and Stone: The Disastrous and Heroic Voyage of the KarlukMacmillan AudioFinalist (2023) with David GrannPenguin Random House AudioFinalistKing: A LifeMacmillan AudioFinalist2025Simon & Schuster AudioWinnerChallenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space Simon & Schuster AudioFinalistCodename NemoDreamscape Media LLCFinalist and Erik LarsonPenguin Random House AudioFinalistHarperAudioFinalist2026Baldwin: A Love Story Macmillan AudioWinner and Rick AtkinsonPenguin Random House AudioFinalistMark TwainPenguin Random House AudioFinalistHighBridge AudioFinalistMacmillan AudioFinalist
Biography/Memoir winners and finalists 2003–2014
2000s Year Title Author Narrator(s) Publisher Result 2003 Lucky Man: A Memoir (2002) Simon & Schuster AudioWinner Getting to Know William Shakespeare (2001) Echo Peak ProductionsFinalist Legacy (2002) and David Holt and David Holt High Windy AudioFinalist Theodore Rex (2001) Random House AudioFinalist 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.Finalist2004 : How One Jewish Woman Survived the Holocaust (1999) Jewish Contemporary ClassicsWinner : Growing Up in the American Heartland (2002) Random House AudioFinalist Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (2003) Simon & Schuster AudioFinalist Hannibal: One Man Against Rome (1958) Audio ConnoisseurFinalist My Invented Country: A Nostalgic Journey Through Chile (2003) HarperAudioFinalist2005 Chronicles: Volume One (2004) Simon & Schuster AudioWinner Big Russ and Me: Father and Son (2004) Hyperion AudioBooksFinalist Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America (2003) AudibleFinalist Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure (2002) Bolinda AudioFinalist (2003) Blackstone AudioFinalist Mornings on Horseback (1981) Simon & Schuster AudioFinalist (AD 121) Audio ConnoisseurFinalist2006 Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise (2005) Random House AudioWinner 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 OverseasFinalist (2005) Time Warner AudioBooksFinalist We Are All the Same: A Story of a Boy's Courage and a Mother's Love (2004) Tantor AudioFinalist (2005) HighBridge AudioFinalist2007 Teacher Man (2005) Simon & Schuster AudioWinner Diana: Finally, the Complete Story (2006) Penguin AudioFinalist Dispatches from the Edge (2006) HarperAudioFinalist Elizabeth (2006) Hachette AudioFinalist Sound and Fury: Two Powerful Lives, One Fateful Friendship (2006) Blackstone AudioFinalist : Nine Jews Who Fled Hitler and Changed the World (2006) Tantor AudioFinalist2008 Einstein: His Life and Universe (2007) Simon & Schuster AudioWinner My Lobotomy (2007) and Charles Fleming Tantor AudioFinalist Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography (2007) HarperAudioFinalist Shakespeare: The World As Stage (2007) HarperAudioFinalist Tearing Down the Wall of Sound (2008) Blackstone AudioFinalist2009 (2008) HyperionAudioWinner Black Wave: A Family's Adventure at Sea and the Disaster (2008) and Malcolm McConnell and Joe Barrett Blackstone AudioFinalist (2008) HarperAudioFinalist (2005) Blackstone AudioFinalist Waiter Rant (2008) Brilliance AudioFinalist
2010s Year Title Author Narrator(s) Publisher Result 2010 Anne Frank Remembered: The Story of the Woman Who Helped to Hide the Frank Family (1987) and Leslie Gold Oasis AudioWinner : The Story of a Lifetime of Love (2009) Oasis AudioFinalist : The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister (2009) and Denise George Oasis AudioFinalist True Compass (2009) Hachette AudioFinalist Valkyrie: The Story of the Plot to Kill Hitler by Its Last Member (2009) and Florence and Jérôme Fehrenbach Tantor AudioFinalist2011 Life (2010) and Joe Hurley Hachette AudioWinner : The True Story of How an American Teen Survived the World of Human Trafficking (2010) ChristianAudioFinalist Somewhere Inside (2010) and Laura Ling and Laura Ling HarperAudioFinalist This Time Together (2010) Random House AudioFinalist Abigail Adams: A Life (2009) Tantor AudioFinalist2012 Bossypants (2011) Hachette AudioWinner : A Memoir of Farming, Food, and Love (2010) Tantor AudioFinalist Here Comes Trouble: Stories from My Life (2011) Hachette AudioFinalist My Dog Tulip (1956) Blackstone AudioFinalist Until Tuesday: A Wounded Warrior and the Golden Retriever (2011) AudibleFinalist2013 : A Memoir of Survival (1999), Louise Loots Thornton, and Marlene Bernstein Samuels Tantor AudioWinner Cronkite (2012) HarperAudioFinalist Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey (2011), Lady Carnarvon Tantor AudioFinalist My Cross to Bear (2012) and Alan Light HarperAudioFinalist Two Rings: A Story of Love and War (2012) and Eve Keller and Eve Keller HighBridge AudioFinalist2014 : My Life with the Herd in the African Wild (2009) and Graham Spence Tantor AudioWinner [sic]: A Memoir (2011) AudibleFinalist My Beloved World (1992) Random House Audio/Books on TapeFinalist World on a String (2012) AudibleFinalist I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban (2013) Hachette AudioFinalist
History winners and finalists 2009–2014 2000s Year Title Author Narrator(s) Publisher Result 2009 Gandhi and Churchill: The Epic Rivalry That Destroyed an Empire and Forged Our Age (2008) Recorded BooksWinner Pictures at a Revolution (2008) Tantor AudioFinalist (2008) Brilliance AudioFinalist (2007) Tantor AudioFinalist (2008) Tantor AudioFinalist 2010s