Best History Audiobooks UK: 10 from £9.19

Quick picks

• Best overall: Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari, read by Derek Perkins, £12.69 to buy. How our species came to dominate the planet, in one listen.
• Best budget: Four Sisters by Helen Rappaport, read by Karen Cass, £9.19 to buy, the lowest price in this guide. The lives of the four daughters of the last Tsar of Russia.
• Best light-hearted history: Unruly by David Mitchell, read by the author, £13.49 to buy. England's kings and queens from the legend of King Arthur to Elizabeth I, told with humour.

The 10 history audiobooks in more detail

Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari, read by Derek Perkins. The whole human story in one book; read by Derek Perkins. Audiobook published 30 April 2015. Listening length 15 hours and 18 minutes, unabridged. £12.69 to buy outright on 5 November 2026. Yuval Noah Harari asks how one species among countless others, our own, came to dominate a planet that is 4.5 billion years old in only a fraction of that time. He explores who we are, how we got here and where we might be going. Read by Derek Perkins.

Four Sisters by Helen Rappaport, read by Karen Cass. Lowest-priced pick; built on the sisters' own letters and diaries (publisher description). Audiobook published 31 July 2014. Listening length 16 hours and 8 minutes, unabridged. £9.19 to buy outright on 5 November 2026. Helen Rappaport tells the story of Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia, the daughters of the last Tsar of Russia, who were killed with their parents and brother in a cellar in Ekaterinburg on 17 July 1918. Drawing on the sisters' own letters and diaries, she follows them from a privileged but sheltered childhood to young womanhood and the upheaval of the revolution. Read by Karen Cass, it is the lowest-priced pick here.

Unruly by David Mitchell, read by the author. Read by the author; England's monarchs from the legend of King Arthur to Elizabeth I. Audiobook published 28 September 2023. Listening length 11 hours and 39 minutes, unabridged. £13.49 to buy outright on 5 November 2026. David Mitchell tells the story of England's kings and queens, from the legend of King Arthur through post-Roman England to the reign of Elizabeth I. He asks how it all happened, who it happened to and why it still matters in modern Britain, and the publisher calls it a funny book about a serious subject. Mitchell reads it himself.

The Plantagenets by Dan Jones, read by the author. Read by the author; eight generations of English kings. Audiobook published 9 May 2019. Listening length 22 hours and 7 minutes, unabridged. £19.09 to buy outright on 5 November 2026. Dan Jones follows the Plantagenets, the royal dynasty that ruled England through eight generations of kings, as England grew from the Dark Ages into an organised kingdom with lands across much of Europe. The story runs from the Crusades and King John's humbling over Magna Carta to the reign of Richard II, the last Plantagenet. Jones reads it himself.

SPQR by Mary Beard, read by Phyllida Nash. 1,000 years of Roman history (publisher description). Audiobook published 11 November 2021. Listening length 18 hours and 30 minutes, unabridged. £20.49 to buy outright on 5 November 2026. Mary Beard looks at how Rome grew from an insignificant village in central Italy into a power that controlled territory from Spain to Syria, and at how the Romans thought about themselves. Covering 1,000 years of history, it takes in everyday Roman life from slavery to running water, alongside citizenship, migration and religious controversy. Read by Phyllida Nash.

The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan, read by Mike Grady. A new look at world history centred on Asia; read by Mike Grady. Audiobook published 28 August 2022. Listening length 25 hours and 7 minutes, unabridged. £19.79 to buy outright on 5 November 2026. Peter Frankopan retells world history from the region that stretches from eastern Europe across Central Asia to China and India. He follows the networks that linked continents and oceans, along which ideas, goods, disease and death travelled and where empires were won and lost, and links them to the world today. Read by Mike Grady.

The Second World War by Antony Beevor, read by Sean Barrett. Longest pick at 40 hours and 4 minutes; single-volume history. Audiobook published 12 June 2012. Listening length 40 hours and 4 minutes, unabridged. £20.79 to buy outright on 5 November 2026. Antony Beevor tells the whole of the Second World War in one volume, from its start in August 1939 on the edge of Manchuria to its end there six years later. The story moves between the North Atlantic and the South Pacific and from the steppe to the North African desert, while keeping sight of the ordinary soldiers and civilians caught up in it. Read by Sean Barrett, it is the longest pick in this guide.

Black and British by David Olusoga, read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith. From Roman Britain to both World Wars (publisher description). Audiobook published 3 November 2016. Listening length 24 hours and 27 minutes, unabridged. £13.09 to buy outright on 5 November 2026. David Olusoga shows how black British lives have been part of the nation's story for centuries, going back as far as Roman Britain. Drawing on new research and original records, it covers the medieval and Elizabethan periods, the slave-trading empire, and black Britons who fought at Trafalgar and in both World Wars. Read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith.

The Anglo-Saxons by Marc Morris, read by Roy McMillan. Second-lowest price; the origins of England (publisher description). Audiobook published 20 May 2021. Listening length 13 hours and 18 minutes, unabridged. £9.79 to buy outright on 5 November 2026. Marc Morris traces six centuries of Anglo-Saxon history, from the collapse that followed Britain leaving the Roman Empire to the making of a single English nation. Along the way come Viking attacks, the move from old gods to Christianity, the revival of towns and trade, and figures such as King Offa, Alfred the Great and Edward the Confessor. Read by Roy McMillan.

A Short History of England by Simon Jenkins, read by the author. Shortest pick at 9 hours and 36 minutes; read by the author. Audiobook published 6 January 2022. Listening length 9 hours and 36 minutes, unabridged. £15.69 to buy outright on 5 November 2026. Simon Jenkins tells England's story in one short account, from the invaders of the Dark Ages to the aftermath of the coalition government, picking out the key people, events and dates. It follows the country's birth, its rise to global prominence and its partial eclipse. Jenkins reads it himself, and it is the shortest listen in this guide.

How we chose these history audiobooks

• British and world history. Five picks are about Britain (Unruly, The Plantagenets, Black and British, The Anglo-Saxons and A Short History of England) and five range wider (Sapiens, Four Sisters, SPQR, The Silk Roads and The Second World War).
• Popular history, not textbooks. Every pick is written for a general listener, and each is by a different author.
• Different periods. Between them the 10 picks run from the rise of our species and ancient Rome through the Anglo-Saxons and the Middle Ages to the Russian Revolution, the Second World War and modern Britain.
• Not covered in our other guides. None of these 10 titles appears in our other audiobook guides. Memoirs and biographies have their own guide on 10Deals.
• The full recording. All 10 are listed as unabridged on Amazon UK. We left out an abridged edition we looked at.
• A real price. Each pick showed a price to buy the audiobook outright on its Amazon UK listing on 5 November 2026. We used the price shown in the Buy row, not any struck-through list price, and skipped anything without a price.
• Narrator shown, not judged. We list who reads each audiobook as the listing credits it. Three are read by the author and seven by professional narrators; play the free sample to see if the voice suits you.

How to choose a history audiobook

• Pick a period you already wonder about. For ancient Rome try SPQR; for medieval England, The Plantagenets or The Anglo-Saxons; for the 20th century, The Second World War or Four Sisters.
• Start broad, then go deep. Sapiens and A Short History of England give a wide overview, which can help you choose which period to explore next.
• Story or survey? Four Sisters follows four real people closely, and The Plantagenets moves through the reigns in order, which many people find easy to follow by ear. The Silk Roads and Black and British range across many centuries and places.
• Check the length. A Short History of England (9 hours and 36 minutes) and Unruly (11 hours and 39 minutes) suit a couple of weeks of commuting. The Second World War (40 hours and 4 minutes) is a long-term listen.
• Check the publication date. The dates above are when each audiobook was published on Amazon UK. Older editions reflect what was known and what had happened when they were written.
• Play the free sample. Each Amazon UK listing has a sample, so you can check the narrator's voice before you buy.

Buy outright or use a membership?

Each title above can be bought outright on Amazon UK, and you keep it. Prefer a membership? At the time of writing, eligible new Audible members can get Audible Standard for £0.99 a month for 3 months, then it renews at the standard monthly price shown on Amazon. Offer ends 17 December 2026; terms apply, cancel anytime. See the Audible offer box near the top of this page for the details.

Prices were checked on Amazon UK on 5 November 2026 and can change at any time. Check the current price on Amazon before you buy.