[Free eBook] Life Atomic: A History of Radioisotopes in Science and Medicine [Technology & Political History]

Life Atomic: A History of Radioisotopes in Science and Medicine by Angela H. N. Creager, a professor of History of Science at Princeton University, is a science and medical history book, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher The University of Chicago Press.

This is their featured Free eBook of the Month for August, and is an accessibly-written look at the history and politics surrounding the development and use of radioisotopes as government-sponsored tools for science and medicine from the mid-20th century onwards, while public perception of them shifted from more positive to negative due to growing societal concerns over the effects of radioactivity.

Offered worldwide through the month of August, available directly from the publisher’s website.

[Free Audiobooks] Freedom!: The Story of the Black Panther Party by Jetta Grace Martin et al. & Not Without Laughter by Langston Hughes [US 1960s Activism History & 1910s Classic Literary Novel]

The annual SYNC Summer of Listening program encouraging literacy among teens by giving away a themed weekly pair of audiobooks—usually 1 modern or non-fiction, 1 classic or drama—returns for another year, courtesy of sponsor AudioFile Magazine and participating publishers.

This 14th and final week’s selections have a theme of “Community Power Builds Our Future”, exploring historical efforts striving towards change, available from Thursday July 27th through Wednesday August 2nd:

• Freedom!: The Story of the Black Panther Party by Jetta Grace Martin, Joshua Bloom & Waldo E. Martin Jr. (a professor of history at the University of California, Berkeley) read by Dion Graham from Recorded Books. This is a history of the politically active and sometimes controversial Black Panther Party from its founding in the 1960s in Oakland California against the backdrop of the emerging civil rights and Black Power movements, to its community outreach and improvement programs and its assorted clashes with and eventual attempts by law enforcement to undermine the party leadership which it saw as a threat, to its final days in the 1980s.

• Not Without Laughter by the late Langston Hughes, an award-winning early 20th century author and activist who was a leading figure of the Harlem Renaissance cultural revival, read by Jamie Lincoln Smith from Tantor Media. This is his classic semi-autobiographical novel, published in 1930, depicting life for an African-American family and surrounding community during the 1910s in small town Kansas.

The freebies are available via Overdrive’s Sora service (listenable via browser on their website, or via their mobile app for iOS & Android devices). To claim them, you’ll need to register on the SYNC website with a valid email address to use in a Sora account, using the setup code and directions in the instructions in SYNC’s FAQ (no need to re-register if you’ve participated in previous years’ giveaways), clicking “Borrow” to add them to your Sora library as a permanent loan. NB: if you need to free up space on your device later, follow the instructions in the FAQ to only “delete files” and DO NOT “Return” the title, which would remove your future access.

Offered worldwide through Wednesday August 2nd until just before midnight Eastern Time, available via the Sora website and app. I hope you’ve all enjoyed another year of the SYNC Summer of Listening Program and were able to get whatever titles caught your interest.

[Free eBook] Made in America: A Social History of American Culture and Character by Claude S. Fischer [17th to 21st C US History & Sociology]

Made in America: A Social History of American Culture and Character by Claude S. Fischer, an award-winning professor of sociology at the University of California, is a social history book, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher the University of Chicago Press.

This is their featured Free eBook of the Month for July, and is an accessibly-written social history spanning three centuries, tracking the evolution of US culture and character over time, debunking common myths and also looking at the lives of ordinary people from the colonial era to modern suburbs via the personal stories of representative Americans.

Offered worldwide through the month of July, available directly from the publisher’s website.

[Free Audiobooks] The Woman Who Split the Atom by Marissa Moss & Bump by Chiara Atik [Award-Winning YA Science Biography & Pregnancy Drama Play]

The annual SYNC Summer of Listening program encouraging literacy among teens by giving away a themed weekly pair of audiobooks—usually 1 modern or non-fiction, 1 classic or drama—returns for another year, courtesy of sponsor AudioFile Magazine and participating publishers.

This 10th week’s theme is “Inventive People”, featuring technically-minded discoverers and tinkerers, available from Thursday June 29th through Wednesday July 5th:

• The Woman Who Split the Atom: The Life of Lise Meitner by award winning children’s book author and illustrator Marissa Moss, read by Sandy Rustin from Recorded Books. This is a YA level scientist biography of pioneering mid-20th century Austrian Jewish physicist Lise Meitner, who fled the Nazi regime and contributed significantly to the key discovery of nuclear fission, which would later lead to the development of the atomic bomb and nuclear reactors, and has the chemical element Meitnerium named after her. The audiobook reading of this was a recipient of AudioFile Magazine’s own Earphones Award.

• Bump by playwright Chiara Atik, a recipient of the Steinberg/ATCA Award, performed by a full cast from L. A. Theatre Works. This is a comedic social drama play focused on the experience of pregnancy and childbirth in three intertwining timelines: one with hilarious posts on a social media message board for moms, one an historical strand featuring interactions between a midwife and a first time mother in the late 18th century, and the core story of a young woman planning a home birth as her inventor father experiments with building a birthing gadget to help make the experience easier. This audiobook includes an interview with the playwright and a gynecologist.

The freebies are available via Overdrive’s Sora service (listenable via browser on their website, or via their mobile app for iOS & Android devices). To claim them, you’ll need to register on the SYNC website with a valid email address to use in a Sora account, using the setup code and directions in the instructions in SYNC’s FAQ (no need to re-register if you’ve participated in previous years’ giveaways), clicking “Borrow” to add them to your Sora library as a permanent loan. NB: if you need to free up space on your device later, follow the instructions in the FAQ to only “delete files” and DO NOT “Return” the title, which would remove your future access.

Offered worldwide through Wednesday July 5th until just before midnight Eastern Time, available via the Sora website and app. You can also browse AudioFile Magazine’s planned season list to see what will be offered in the weeks ahead and if there’s anything you’d especially like to get.

[Free eBook] Men Without Maps: Some Gay Males of the Generation Before Stonewall by John Ibson [LGBTQ 20th C History]

Men Without Maps: Some Gay Males of the Generation Before Stonewall by John Ibson, an emeritus professor of American Studies at California State University, is an LGBTQ+ studies history book, free for a limited time courtesy of the University of Chicago Press.

This is their featured Free Book of the Month for June, and is a history/sociology book examining the experiences of gay men during the timespan just before World War II through to the early 1970s, who had few positive role models for same-sex relationships and identities before the advent of the gay rights movements, exploring the various ways in which both couples and single men managed to express themselves in their private lives without the benefit of public guidance.

Offered worldwide through the month of June, available directly from the publisher’s website.

[Free Audiobooks] Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin & Loveless by Alice Oseman [Award-Winning YA LGBTQ+ Interviews & Coming of Age Novel]

The annual SYNC Summer of Listening program encouraging literacy among teens by giving away a themed weekly pair of audiobooks—1 modern or non-fiction, 1 classic or drama—returns for another year, courtesy of sponsor AudioFile Magazine and participating publishers.

This 9th week’s theme is “Celebrating the Rainbow Spectrum”, with stories about people of various different genders and sexual orientations, available from Thursday June 22nd through Wednesday June 28th:

• Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin, read by a full cast, from Brilliance Audio/Candlewick. This is a non-fiction narrative pieced together from interviews with six transgender and non-binary teens about their lives and identities before and after coming out and transitioning. The book won three awards according to its Wikipedia entry, including the Lambda Literary Award, as well as being a finalist or selection for several other honours, and frequently appearing on challenged and banned books lists.
• Loveless by Alice Oseman, read by Billie Fulford-Brown and others from Scholastic Audiobooks. This is a standalone YA contemporary coming of age novel starring a sheltered teen with no previous dating experience heading off to begin university, and finally exploring her feelings and the possibility of an asexual/aromantic identity as she makes friends and learns about the various forms of love, platonic, romantic, and otherwise. The book was a recipient of The Bookseller Awards’ YA Book of the Year.

The freebies are available via Overdrive’s Sora service (listenable via browser on their website, or via their mobile app for iOS & Android devices). To claim them, you’ll need to register on the SYNC website with a valid email address to use in a Sora account, using the setup code and directions in the instructions in SYNC’s FAQ (no need to re-register if you’ve participated in previous years’ giveaways), clicking “Borrow” to add them to your Sora library as a permanent loan. NB: if you need to free up space on your device later, follow the instructions in the FAQ to only “delete files” and DO NOT “Return” the title, which would remove your future access.

Offered worldwide through Wednesday June 28th until just before midnight Eastern Time, available via the Sora website and app. You can also browse AudioFile Magazine’s planned season list to see what will be offered in the weeks ahead and if there’s anything you’d especially like to get.

[Free Audiobooks] Spearhead by Adam Makos & Tommy: The Gun That Changed America by Karen Blumenthal [WWII Military Biography & YA Invention History]

The annual SYNC Summer of Listening program encouraging literacy among teens by giving away a themed weekly pair of audiobooks—1 modern or non-fiction, 1 classic or drama—returns for another year, courtesy of sponsor AudioFile Magazine and participating publishers.

This 8th week’s theme is “Weapons of War”, spotlighting real life deeds of reluctant soldiers and armed civilians, available from Thursday June 15th through Wednesday June 21st:

• Spearhead: An American Tank Gunner, His Enemy, and a Collision of Lives in World War II (Adapted for Young Adults) by military historian Adam Makos, read by Johnathan McClain from Listening Library. This is a YA version of his bestselling history/biography of the life and times of American tank gunner Clarence Smoyer whose crew was instrumental to the 1945 Battle of Cologne, and a key encounter during it with his German counterpart, tank radioman Gustav Schaefer, both reluctant soldiers caught up in a conflict beyond their youthful imagining.
• Tommy: The Gun That Changed America by the late journalist Karen Blumenthal, read by Maggi-Meg Reed from Listening Library. This is a YA-level history of the [Thompson submachine gunhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thompson_submachine_gun], from its invention during World War I by a Spanish-American army officer, who was dismayed when it became the favoured weapon of US gangsters and other outlaws during the 1920s and 1930s, leading to Congress’ eventual attempt to take it off the streets and igniting an early national debate on gun control.

The freebies are available via Overdrive’s Sora service (listenable via browser on their website, or via their mobile app for iOS & Android devices).

To claim them, you’ll need to register on the SYNC website with a valid email address to use in a Sora account, using the setup code and directions in the instructions in SYNC’s FAQ (no need to re-register if you’ve participated in previous years’ giveaways), clicking “Borrow” to add them to your Sora library as a permanent loan. NB: if you need to free up space on your device later, follow the instructions in the FAQ to only “delete files” and DO NOT “Return” the title, which would remove your future access.

Offered worldwide through Wednesday June 21st until just before midnight Eastern Time, available via the Sora website and app. You can also browse AudioFile Magazine’s planned season list to see what will be offered in the weeks ahead and if there’s anything you’d especially like to get.

[Free eBook] Framing Finance: The Boundaries of Markets and Modern Capitalism by Alex Preda [Economics & Social History]

Framing Finance: The Boundaries of Markets and Modern Capitalism by Alex Preda, a Professor of Professions, Markets, and Technology at King’s College London, is an economics and social history book, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher The University of Chicago Press.

This is their featured Free eBook of the Month for May, and is a combined economics and sociology book looking at the history of the stock market, and the changes in public perception over time as groups associated the 18th and 19th century stock exchanges in London, New York, and Paris managed to redefine finance as a data-based scientific pursuit, while manipulative speculators also emerged to take advantage of the limited understanding of this, and exploring how these and other factors contributed to the current state of the modern market and its issues, advocating for better public financial education.

Offered worldwide through the month of May, available directly from the publisher’s website.

[Free Audiobooks] The School That Escaped the Nazis by Deborah Cadbury & The Republic by Plato [1930s Germany Jewish History & Classic Philosophy]

The annual SYNC Summer of Listening program encouraging literacy among teens by giving away a themed weekly pair of audiobooks—1 modern or non-fiction, 1 classic or drama—returns for another year, courtesy of sponsor AudioFile Magazine and participating publishers.

This 3rd week’s theme is “Life Lessons” involving both real life and speculative historical takes on justice, morality, and ethical behaviour, available from Thursday May 11th through Wednesday May 17th:

• The School That Escaped the Nazis: The True Story of the Schoolteacher Who Defied Hitler by British historian and award-winning documentarian Deborah Cadbury, read by Julie Teal from Hachette Audio. This is a history book about the daring escape from 1930s Nazi Germany of an entire school full of mostly Jewish children to safety in England, and its headmistress, Anna Essinger who planned and led it. You can also read an article about this topic and its accompanying book by the author in Smithsonian Magazine.
• The Republic by ancient Greek philosopher Plato, translated by 19th century British scholar Benjamin Jowett, read by Leighton Pugh from Naxos Audiobooks. This is his influential classic work of philosophy concerning the meaning and nature of justice, contemplating the character of the just man and rulership and speculating on imaginary city-states, as well as touching upon other topics such as love and lust, ageing and immortality, poetry, and societal roles, done in the form of a Socratic dialogue between assorted characters.

The freebies are available via Overdrive’s Sora service (listenable via browser on their website, or via their mobile app for iOS & Android devices).

To claim them, you’ll need to register on the SYNC website with a valid email address to use in a Sora account, using the setup code and directions in the instructions in SYNC’s FAQ (no need to re-register if you’ve participated in previous years’ giveaways), clicking “Borrow” to add them to your Sora library as a permanent loan. NB: if you need to free up space on your device later, follow the instructions in the FAQ to only “delete files” and DO NOT “Return” the title, which would remove your future access.

Offered worldwide through Wednesday May 17th until just before midnight Eastern Time, available via the Sora website and app. You can also browse AudioFile Magazine’s planned season list to see what will be offered in the weeks ahead and if there’s anything you’d especially like to get.

[Free Audiobooks] Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers & You Can’t Say That!: Writers For Young People Talk About Censorship etc. [Award-Winning 1970s History Drama & YA Storyteller Interviews]

The annual SYNC Summer of Listening program encouraging literacy among teens by giving away a themed weekly pair of audiobooks—1 modern or non-fiction, 1 classic or drama—returns for another year, courtesy of sponsor AudioFile Magazine and participating publishers.

This 1st week’s theme is “Freedom to Know”, with works focusing on the importance of access to information and freedom of expression, and obstacles placed in their way, available from Thursday April 27th through Wednesday May 3rd:

• Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers by Geoffrey Cowan, a professor at the University of Southern California, & the late Leroy Aarons, a journalist at the Washington Post who reported on the original story, read by a full cast from L. A. Theatre Works. This is an historical docudrama, recorded from a performance in front of a live audience, about The Washington Post newspaper’s struggle with U.S. President Richard Nixon’s administration over the publication of the Pentagon Papers, documents detailing the extent of the government’s actions in the Vietnam War, previously unknown to the public. The audiobook recording for this was a winner of the Earphones Award, and the play itself won the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s Gold Award.
• You Can’t Say That!!: Writers for Young People Talk about Censorship, Free Expression, and the Stories They Have to Tell compiled and edited by Leonard S. Marcus, read by an assorted cast from Brilliance Audio/Candlewick. This audiobook uses actors to reenact interviews between the editor and 13 writers of controversial books for kids and young adults, including notable authors of prize-winning vintage and modern YA classics like Katherine Paterson (Bridge to Terabithia) and Angie Thomas (The Hate U Give) and bestsellers such as David Levithan.

The freebies are available via Overdrive’s Sora service (listenable via browser on their website, or via their mobile app for iOS & Android devices).

To claim them, you’ll need to register on the SYNC website with a valid email address to use in a Sora account, using the setup code and directions in the instructions in SYNC’s FAQ (no need to re-register if you’ve participated in previous years’ giveaways), clicking “Borrow” to add them to your Sora library as a permanent loan. NB: if you need to free up space on your device later, follow the instructions in the FAQ to only “delete files” and DO NOT “Return” the title, which would remove your future access.

Offered worldwide through Wednesday May 3rd until just before midnight Eastern Time, available via the Sora website and app. You can also browse AudioFile Magazine’s planned season list to see what will be offered in the weeks ahead and if there’s anything you’d especially like to get.