Audiobooks Like The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany

Grover Gardner narrates Shirer's monumental history with a gravity that matches the scale of the subject — at 57 hours, this is a listen that makes demands, and Gardner's voice carries the weight of testimony rather than performance, which is the only register appropriate for material drawn from Nazi records and the accounts of survivors. Eight of the recommendations are also narrated by Gardner, most of them serious historical and biographical works that share that same documentary authority.

10 audiobooks for fans of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany

  1. 1
    The Nightmare Years 1930-1940 cover

    The Nightmare Years 1930-1940

    20th Century Journey • Book 2

    by William L. Shirer

    Narrated by Grover Gardner

    4.23 ABR Score (2.0K ratings)
    ★ 4.35 Goodreads (1.7K) ★ 4.85 Audible (314)
    26h 56m listening time • Released 2020

    Grover Gardner's steady, measured narration transforms Shirer's firsthand account of 1930s Europe into an unnervingly intimate front-row seat to history's darkest decade—you're not just learning what happened, you're there with a witness who saw it coming.

  2. 2
    The Start: 1904-30 cover

    The Start: 1904-30

    20th Century Journey • Book 1

    by William L. Shirer

    Narrated by Grover Gardner

    3.93 ABR Score (522 ratings)
    ★ 4.16 Goodreads (326) ★ 4.62 Audible (196)
    22h 9m listening time • Released 2019

    Grover Gardner's steady, intimate narration makes Shirer's firsthand encounters with 20th-century luminaries feel like you're hearing them from an old friend who was actually there. A masterclass in memoir performance across 22 hours.

  3. 3
    The Path to Power cover

    The Path to Power

    The Years of Lyndon Johnson • Book 1

    by Robert A. Caro

    Narrated by Grover Gardner

    4.59 ABR Score (30.7K ratings)
    ★ 4.43 Goodreads (26.9K) ★ 4.82 Audible (3.8K)
    40h 29m listening time • Released 2013

    Grover Gardner's measured, commanding voice transforms Caro's masterwork into an irresistible deep dive into how raw ambition and political genius actually get built. Forty hours well spent.

  4. 4
    The Passage of Power cover

    The Passage of Power

    The Years of Lyndon Johnson • Book 4

    by Robert A. Caro

    Narrated by Grover Gardner

    4.53 ABR Score (23.5K ratings)
    ★ 4.41 Goodreads (19.9K) ★ 4.78 Audible (3.6K)
    32h 45m listening time • Released 2012

    Grover Gardner's measured, authoritative voice transforms Caro's masterwork into pure political theater—you'll hear the machinery of power grinding beneath every conversation about Johnson's rise and fall.

  5. 5
    Master of the Senate cover

    Master of the Senate

    The Years of Lyndon Johnson • Book 3

    by Robert A. Caro

    Narrated by Grover Gardner

    4.52 ABR Score (25.9K ratings)
    ★ 4.43 Goodreads (24.3K) ★ 4.81 Audible (1.6K)
    18h 29m listening time • Released 2005

    Grover Gardner's steady, commanding voice transforms Caro's dense political narrative into riveting storytelling—18 hours that feel essential once you grasp how Johnson actually bended the Senate to his will.

  6. 6
    Grant cover

    Grant

    by Ron Chernow

    Narrated by Mark Bramhall

    4.74 ABR Score (58.4K ratings)
    ★ 4.5 Goodreads (44.7K) ★ 4.87 Audible (13.8K)
    48h 2m listening time • Released 2017
  7. 7
    The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York cover

    The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York

    by Robert A. Caro

    Narrated by Robertson Dean

    4.63 ABR Score (34.6K ratings)
    ★ 4.53 Goodreads (29.7K) ★ 4.8 Audible (4.9K)
    66h 7m listening time • Released 2011

    Robertson Dean's measured, authoritative narration transforms this 1,300-page biography into a gripping political thriller—his pacing makes even dense urban planning decisions feel like calculated power moves. If you want to understand how cities actually get built (and broken), this is essential listening.

  8. 8
    Means of Ascent cover

    Means of Ascent

    The Years of Lyndon Johnson • Book 2

    by Robert A. Caro

    Narrated by Grover Gardner

    4.51 ABR Score (30.6K ratings)
    ★ 4.29 Goodreads (27.8K) ★ 4.82 Audible (2.9K)
    22h 8m listening time • Released 2013

    Grover Gardner's measured, penetrating narration transforms Caro's meticulous biography into a gripping portrait of raw ambition—you hear LBJ's desperation and cunning come alive across 22 hours in a way that makes his ruthlessness feel inevitable, not distant.

  9. 9
    Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. cover

    Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.

    by Ron Chernow

    Narrated by Grover Gardner

    4.40 ABR Score (47.5K ratings)
    ★ 4.15 Goodreads (38.2K) ★ 4.68 Audible (9.3K)
    35h 3m listening time • Released 2012

    Grover Gardner's measured, almost judicial delivery transforms Chernow's massive biography into a hypnotic deep-dive into American capitalism's founding villain, making 35 hours vanish entirely.

  10. 10
    The Age of Voltaire cover

    The Age of Voltaire

    The Story of Civilization • Book 9

    by Will Durant, Ariel Durant

    Narrated by Grover Gardner

    4.18 ABR Score (1.4K ratings)
    ★ 4.42 Goodreads (994) ★ 4.74 Audible (415)
    42h 55m listening time • Released 2015

    Grover Gardner's measured, conversational delivery makes this sprawling intellectual history feel like a brilliant friend walking you through Enlightenment Europe—43 hours that vanish because you're too captivated by Voltaire's world to stop.

How We Rank Audiobooks

Rankings are driven by listener ratings and review counts from Audible and Goodreads. Books with high ratings across a large number of listeners rank higher — a 4.5 with 50,000 ratings says more than a 4.8 with 200.

Unlike most book lists, we weight audiobook-specific factors: narrator performance, production quality, and how well a story translates to audio. A great book with a poor narration isn't a great audiobook.

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