Audiobooks by Kelly Mass

Sulla: The Roman General, Statesman, and Ruthless Dictator

This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice. Rome in the late Republic was a city in crisis. Political rivalries had escalated into outright violence, and the balance of power between the Senate and ambitious generals was collapsing. The Republic’s institutions, once designed to prevent tyranny, were proving unable to control the ambitions of men who sought absolute power. It was in this unstable environment that Lucius Cornelius Sulla rose to prominence. A skilled military commander and ruthless politician, Sulla would reshape Rome in ways that historians still debate today. His legacy is marked by both strategic brilliance and unparalleled brutality, making him one of the most controversial figures in Roman history. Sulla’s rise was not an inevitable one. Born into a patrician family that had fallen into relative obscurity, his early years were spent in a world of limited political influence. However, his fortunes changed dramatically when he served as a quaestor under Gaius Marius during the Jugurthine War. His role in securing the surrender of the Numidian king Jugurtha brought him into the spotlight, earning him both praise and powerful enemies. As Sulla climbed the political ladder, his relationship with Marius—once an ally—deteriorated into bitter rivalry. Their conflict would culminate in a series of brutal power struggles that left Rome in chaos. The defining moment of Sulla’s career came when he marched his legions on Rome, an unprecedented act that shattered the traditional boundaries of Roman politics. This bold move was not simply a show of strength but a clear signal that military force had become the ultimate arbiter of power in the Republic.

Kelly Mass (Author), Digital Voice Alistair G (Narrator)

Audiobook

Scientists: Inventors and Discoverers from History (6 in 1)

This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice. Discover the remarkable lives and transformative achievements of six visionaries who have profoundly shaped our understanding of the world and driven human progress. This book delves into the groundbreaking contributions of Alexander Graham Bell, Charles Babbage, Charles Darwin, Copernicus, Samuel Colt, and Thomas Jefferson—each a pioneer in their field, whose collective impact has left an indelible mark on history. Alexander Graham Bell's invention of the telephone revolutionized communication, connecting people across vast distances and shrinking the world. His innovative spirit and dedication to improving human life through technology continue to inspire generations. Charles Babbage, often hailed as the 'father of the computer,' envisioned a future where machines could perform complex calculations. His pioneering work laid the foundation for the digital age, demonstrating that the potential of human ingenuity is limited only by the imagination. Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection shook the very foundations of science and society. His meticulous observations and groundbreaking insights challenged long-held beliefs, reshaping our understanding of the natural world and our place within it. Copernicus dared to challenge the geocentric model of the universe, proposing instead that the Earth and other planets revolve around the sun. His heliocentric theory not only revolutionized astronomy but also sparked a scientific revolution that continues to this day. Samuel Colt's invention of the revolver transformed warfare and personal defense, introducing a new era of technological innovation in firearms. His contributions to the field of arms manufacturing highlighted the complex interplay between technology and society. Thomas Jefferson, a polymath and statesman, was a driving force behind the American Revolution and the author of the Declaration of Independence.

Kelly Mass (Author), Digital Voice Alistair G (Narrator)

Audiobook

Alexander Graham Bell: The First Telephone, Metal Detector, and Other Inventions

This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice. The gentle Scottish brogue of Alexander Melville Bell filled the parlor of the family home in Edinburgh as he worked with his young son, carefully positioning the boy's fingers on his throat to feel the vibrations of speech. This intimate scene from 1850 would prove prophetic, for seven-year-old Alexander Graham Bell was experiencing firsthand the physical nature of sound that would later revolutionize human communication. His father's pioneering work in speech instruction for the deaf, combined with his mother's gradual hearing loss, created an environment where the mysteries of sound, speech, and human communication were not merely academic subjects but urgent personal realities that would shape one of history's most transformative inventions. Alexander Graham Bell was born on March 3, 1847, into a family where the science of speech was both profession and passion. His grandfather, Alexander Bell, had been a renowned elocution teacher in London, establishing a family tradition of working with speech and hearing that would influence three generations. His father, Alexander Melville Bell, had built upon this foundation to become one of the foremost authorities on speech instruction in Britain, developing innovative methods for teaching proper pronunciation and articulation that attracted students from across Europe. The influence of Bell's mother, Eliza Grace Symonds Bell, proved equally formative, though in ways that would not become apparent until later in his life. A accomplished painter and musician, she possessed a keen artistic sensibility and intellectual curiosity that she passed on to her son. Her gradual hearing loss, which began when Alexander was still a child, created a household where alternative forms of communication became necessary and where the challenges faced by the deaf were immediate and personal rather than abstract concerns.

Kelly Mass (Author), Digital Voice Alistair G (Narrator)

Audiobook

Copernicus: The Man Who Proposed the Heliocentric Theory

This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice. The bells of St. John's Cathedral rang out across the medieval city of Toruń on February 19, 1473, marking the birth of a child who would one day move the Earth from the center of the universe and set it spinning around the Sun. Mikołaj Kopernik, as he was christened in the Polish tongue, entered a world poised between the dying embers of the Middle Ages and the dawning light of the Renaissance, where ancient wisdom competed with new learning and the Catholic Church's authority faced challenges from humanist scholars who dared to question received truths. Born into a prosperous merchant family in this thriving Hanseatic trading city on the banks of the Vistula River, young Nicolaus would inherit not only material comfort but also the intellectual curiosity and independence of thought that would enable him to challenge the very foundations of medieval cosmology. The cultural landscape of late fifteenth-century Poland provided a unique environment for intellectual development, as the Kingdom of Poland had become a crossroads where Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, and emerging Protestant traditions mingled with the humanistic learning that was spreading northward from Renaissance Italy. Toruń itself embodied this cultural synthesis, as German merchants, Polish nobles, and immigrant scholars from across Europe created a cosmopolitan atmosphere that valued both practical success and scholarly achievement. The city's position along major trade routes connecting Northern and Southern Europe exposed its residents to diverse ideas and influences while its relative political independence from both the Holy Roman Empire and the Polish crown created space for intellectual experimentation that might have been more difficult in territories subject to more rigid religious or political control.

Kelly Mass (Author), Digital Voice Archie G (Narrator)

Audiobook

Charles Darwin: The Man Who Came up with the Idea of Evolution

This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice. The ancient stone walls of Shrewsbury School echoed with the footsteps of a restless young man who would rather be collecting beetles than conjugating Latin verbs, as sixteen-year-old Charles Darwin gazed out the classroom window toward the countryside that called to his naturalist's soul. Born on February 12, 1809, the same day as Abraham Lincoln, Charles Robert Darwin entered a world on the cusp of revolutionary change, where industrial progress and scientific inquiry were beginning to challenge age-old assumptions about the natural world and humanity's place within it. The comfortable Darwin household at The Mount overlooked the River Severn, providing young Charles with both the security of upper-middle-class privilege and the freedom to pursue his passionate curiosity about the living world that surrounded him. The Darwin family legacy created an intellectual atmosphere that nurtured scientific inquiry and independent thinking, as Charles's grandfather Erasmus Darwin had been one of England's most prominent natural philosophers, writing extensively about evolution and transformation in nature decades before his grandson would make such ideas scientifically respectable. Dr. Robert Darwin, Charles's father, was a successful physician whose imposing physical presence and sharp intellect commanded respect throughout Shrewsbury, while his mother Susannah Wedgwood came from the famous pottery family that had revolutionized ceramic manufacturing through the application of scientific principles to industrial processes. This combination of medical, industrial, and intellectual influences exposed young Charles to methodical observation and systematic thinking that would prove essential for his later scientific achievements.

Kelly Mass (Author), Digital Voice Ava G (Narrator)

Audiobook

Charles Babbage: The Inventor of the First Computer

This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice. The gas lamps flickered in the Trinity College library as young Charles Babbage bent over his mathematics texts on a cold Cambridge evening in 1811, his mind wrestling with the errors that plagued the astronomical and mathematical tables upon which sailors, engineers, and scientists depended for their calculations. The tedious process of computing logarithms by hand inevitably led to mistakes that could send ships off course or undermine engineering projects, and Babbage found himself wondering whether machines might calculate more accurately than humans. This moment of inspiration, occurring when he was barely twenty years old, would eventually lead to concepts that anticipated the computer age by more than a century. Charles Babbage was born on December 26, 1791, into an era when the Industrial Revolution was transforming British society through mechanical innovation and scientific advancement. His father, Benjamin Babbage, was a prosperous banker in Totnes, Devon, whose wealth provided the family with access to excellent education and the cultural refinements of Georgian society. The intellectual atmosphere of the Babbage household encouraged curiosity and learning, while the family's financial security would later enable Charles to pursue expensive experimental projects without the immediate pressure of earning a living through conventional employment. The educational journey that shaped Babbage's mathematical genius began at home with private tutors who recognized his exceptional abilities in mathematics and encouraged his natural inclination toward systematic thinking and problem-solving. His early fascination with mechanical devices, including clocks, watches, and automata, revealed both technical aptitude and the analytical mindset that would characterize his later scientific work.

Kelly Mass (Author), Digital Voice Chris G (Narrator)

Audiobook

Henry Ford: Biography of a Businessman and Industrialist

This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice. Henry Ford was born on July 30, 1863, on a prosperous farm in what is now Dearborn, Michigan, to William and Mary Ford, Irish immigrants who had established themselves as successful farmers in the fertile lands west of Detroit. The timing of his birth was significant, occurring during the height of the Civil War when the nation was undergoing profound transformation and industrialization was beginning to reshape American society. The Ford family farm represented the traditional agricultural economy that had dominated American life since the colonial period, but young Henry would grow up to become the architect of a new industrial age that would fundamentally alter the relationship between Americans and their environment. William Ford was a methodical and hardworking man who had built his 90-acre farm into one of the most productive in Wayne County. He expected his eldest son to follow in his footsteps and eventually inherit the family agricultural enterprise. However, Henry showed little interest in farming from an early age, displaying instead an insatiable curiosity about mechanical devices and an intuitive understanding of how machines worked. This fascination with machinery would set him apart from his rural contemporaries and ultimately lead him away from the agricultural life his father had planned for him. The defining moment of Henry's childhood occurred in 1876 when he encountered his first steam-powered road engine while traveling with his father to Detroit. The thirteen-year-old boy was mesmerized by the machine and immediately began questioning its operator about how it functioned. This encounter ignited a passion for mechanical engineering that would dominate the rest of his life. Henry later recalled this moment as the beginning of his understanding that machines could replace animal power and human labor, a revelation that would drive his lifelong quest to mechanize and improve industrial processes.

Kelly Mass (Author), Digital Voice Marcus G (Narrator)

Audiobook

Aaron Burr: Biography of the Third President of the United States

This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice. Aaron Burr Jr. was born on February 6, 1756, in Newark, New Jersey, into a family that embodied the intellectual and religious ferment of colonial America. His father, Aaron Burr Sr., served as the second president of Princeton University, following in the footsteps of Jonathan Edwards, the great theologian who was both his predecessor and grandfather to young Aaron through his mother, Esther Edwards Burr. This lineage placed Aaron at the intersection of Enlightenment thought and Puritan tradition, influences that would shape his complex worldview throughout his life. Tragedy struck early in Aaron's life, leaving indelible marks on his character. His father died when Aaron was barely two years old, followed by his mother's death just a year later. His grandfather Jonathan Edwards died shortly thereafter, leaving Aaron and his sister Sally orphans by the age of four. They were taken in by their uncle Timothy Edwards, but this arrangement proved less than nurturing. Timothy Edwards was a stern disciplinarian who showed little warmth toward his charges, creating an environment that may have contributed to Aaron's later reputation for emotional detachment and self-reliance. The young Burr displayed remarkable intellectual precocity, entering Princeton University at age thirteen in 1769. This was not entirely unusual for the era, but Aaron's academic performance was exceptional even by the standards of colonial higher education. He studied classical languages, philosophy, mathematics, and theology, though he showed little interest in following the family tradition of religious ministry. Instead, he was drawn to secular learning and the emerging ideas about natural rights and government that were beginning to permeate colonial intellectual circles.

Kelly Mass (Author), Digital Voice Martin G (Narrator)

Audiobook

Thomas Jefferson: American Founding Father and Author of the Declaration of Independence

This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice. The rolling hills of Albemarle County, Virginia stretched endlessly beyond the windows of Shadwell plantation as young Thomas Jefferson bent over his books in the spring of 1757, his fourteen-year-old mind already grappling with ideas that would one day reshape the world. Born on April 13, 1743, into the Virginia planter aristocracy, Jefferson entered a society built on contradictions that would haunt him throughout his life: a world that celebrated liberty while depending on slavery, that proclaimed equality while maintaining rigid social hierarchies, that embraced Enlightenment ideals while preserving traditional privileges. The death of his father Peter Jefferson that year left young Thomas with vast landholdings, substantial wealth, and the independence of thought that would enable him to challenge the very foundations of the colonial order into which he had been born. The educational foundation that shaped Jefferson's revolutionary thinking began in the classical tradition of Virginia gentlemen but expanded far beyond conventional boundaries through his voracious reading and intellectual curiosity. His early tutor, Reverend William Douglas, introduced him to Latin, Greek, and French, while his later studies with Reverend James Maury exposed him to mathematics, natural philosophy, and the broader intellectual currents of the Enlightenment that were transforming European thought. The emphasis on classical learning that characterized colonial education provided Jefferson with models of republican virtue and civic responsibility drawn from ancient Greece and Rome, while his exposure to contemporary European philosophy introduced him to radical ideas about natural rights, popular sovereignty, and the social contract that would later inform his political theory.

Kelly Mass (Author), Digital Voice Mary G (Narrator)

Audiobook

Samuel Colt: Biography of the Inventor of the Revolver

This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice. The acrid smoke of black powder drifted across the Connecticut River as sixteen-year-old Samuel Colt pulled the trigger of his crude wooden revolver for the sixth consecutive time, each shot fired without the laborious reloading that plagued every other firearm of his era. The year was 1830, and while his schoolmates at Amherst Academy were struggling with Latin conjugations and mathematical theorems, young Colt was consumed by a vision that would revolutionize warfare, law enforcement, and the very character of American expansion: a pistol that could fire multiple shots in rapid succession without reloading. This moment of inspiration, whether sparked by observing a ship's wheel during a voyage to India or simply by his mechanical intuition, would drive him to create not just a new type of weapon but an entirely new approach to manufacturing that would help establish America as an industrial power. Samuel Colt was born on July 19, 1814, in Hartford, Connecticut, into a family that embodied both the entrepreneurial spirit and the restless ambition that characterized the young American republic. His father, Christopher Colt, was a textile manufacturer whose business ventures reflected the economic volatility of the early industrial period, experiencing both success and failure as he navigated the uncertain waters of American commerce. The family's comfortable but unstable circumstances exposed young Samuel to both the possibilities of industrial enterprise and the risks inherent in innovation and business development, lessons that would prove crucial as he later struggled to establish his own manufacturing empire.

Kelly Mass (Author), Digital Voice Mason G (Narrator)

Audiobook

John D. Rockefeller: The Life and Career of the Richest Man in Modern History

This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice. John Davison Rockefeller was born on July 8, 1839, in Richford, New York, to William Avery Rockefeller and Eliza Davison Rockefeller, in circumstances that would profoundly shape his character and worldview. His father, known as 'Big Bill,' was a traveling salesman who sold patent medicines and various tonics, often disappearing for months at a time on mysterious business ventures that left the family in financial uncertainty. This irregular income and frequent absence of the family patriarch created an environment of economic instability that taught young John the importance of thrift, self-reliance, and careful financial planning from an early age. Eliza Rockefeller provided the moral and spiritual foundation that would guide her son throughout his life. A devout Baptist who instilled strong religious principles in her children, she emphasized the virtues of hard work, honesty, and frugality while teaching that worldly success was a sign of divine favor when used responsibly. Her influence was particularly profound because of her husband's frequent absences, making her the primary moral authority in the household. The combination of financial uncertainty from his father's irregular business practices and moral certainty from his mother's religious teachings created a unique personality that would blend shrewd business acumen with genuine philanthropic conviction. The family's move to Moravia, New York, in 1843 and later to Owego in 1850 exposed young John to various communities and business environments that broadened his understanding of commerce and human nature.

Kelly Mass (Author), Digital Voice Mason G (Narrator)

Audiobook

Buffalo Bill: The Life, Mission, and Deeds of a Bison Hunter

This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice. William Frederick Cody was born on February 26, 1846, in a log cabin near LeClaire, Iowa Territory, to Isaac and Mary Ann Cody. His birth occurred during one of the most transformative periods in American history, as the nation was rapidly expanding westward and grappling with the question of slavery that would soon tear it apart. The Cody family embodied the restless spirit of westward migration that characterized mid-nineteenth-century America, moving frequently in search of better opportunities and new beginnings. This constant movement would shape young William's character and prepare him for a life that would span the transition from frontier wilderness to modern civilization. Isaac Cody was a man of strong convictions who opposed slavery at a time when such views were dangerous in many parts of the expanding nation. His anti-slavery stance would eventually force the family to flee their home in Kansas Territory after receiving death threats from pro-slavery neighbors. This early exposure to political violence and the need for constant vigilance taught William valuable lessons about survival and the harsh realities of frontier life. The family's struggles also instilled in him a deep understanding of the precarious nature of existence on the edge of civilization, where survival often depended on quick thinking, physical courage, and the ability to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances. The death of Isaac Cody in 1857, when William was just eleven years old, thrust the boy into premature adulthood and responsibility for helping support his family. The loss of his father was both a personal tragedy and a practical catastrophe, as it left the family without their primary breadwinner in an era when social safety nets were virtually nonexistent.

Kelly Mass (Author), Digital Voice Matt G (Narrator)

Audiobook