Audio only
Length4h 30m
About this audiobook
The definitive biography of the founder of the Shaker movement, whose remarkable life is the subject of a new film, The Testament of Ann Lee.
This acclaimed, accessible, and thoroughly researched biography documents the life of Ann Lee, a controversial, religious leader and early feminist figure. Lee established the Shaker movement in 1770 in Manchester, England. The core principles of the Shakers were radical: in an era when wives were the possession of their husband, Lee proclaimed the equality of men and women. The Shakers were dedicated to beliefs in absolute pacifism, equality of the sexes, absolute celibacy, and the cleansing of sin through dancing and chanting to shake away the past.
The Shakers sought inner peace and harmony, but their unusual beliefs, including total abstinence from sex and their exhibitions of mystical ecstasy were considered suspect and led to the imprisonment of Lee and her followers. While jailed, Lee experienced a blinding, soul-splitting vision which reaffirmed her belief in celibacy and named her the second coming of Christ. Seeking religious freedom, she led her followers, known as the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, from England to settle in upstate New York, near Albany.
Mother Ann Lee died in 1784, but her movement continued to grow into the nineteenth century with at least eighteen utopian Shaker communities in Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Ohio. Today many of those Shaker settlements are museums. The last remaining Shaker community is at Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village near Poland, Maine. The Testament of Ann Lee, starring Amanda Seyfried, drew on this book among other sources to tell Lee’s story.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 4.2 (68)
Includes Goodreads, Amazon
GenreBiography and Memoir, Spirituality and Religion, Psychology
Length4 hrs 30 mins
Narrated byLauren Pedersen
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateMar 10, 2026
LanguageEnglish
The Happiest Man on EarthEddie Jaku3h 48m4.6 (178K)$7 · $0.00
MotherlandJulia Ioffe17h 52m4.7 (2.5K)$40 · $0.00
Evidence Not SeenDarlene Deibler Rose11h 11m4.6 (11.9K)$29 · $0.00
Where Cowards Go to DieBenjamin Sledge8h 42m4.7 (351)$20 · $0.00
Will You Love Me?Cathy Glass9h 5m4.6 (9.3K)$29 · $0.00
Designing Terry Pratchett’s DiscworldPaul Kidby3h 52m4.7 (343)$20 · $0.00
HostageEli Sharabi5h 25m4.6 (10.8K)$24 · $0.00
Finding MeViola Davis9h 15m4.6 (256.4K)$29 · $0.00
The Dangerous Truth about Today’s MarijuanaLaura Stack CSP, MBA9h 57m4.7 (385)$20 · $0.00
Birdie & HarlowTaylor Wolfe7h 50m4.6 (6.5K)$26 · $0.00
The Lives of BrianBrian Johnson9h 45m4.6 (3.5K)$29 · $0.00
I Am The StormJanice Dean9h4.6 (1.5K)$8 · $0.00
Black History CollectionFrederick Douglass, Harriet Ann Jacobs, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois27h 9m4.6 (2.6K)$18 · $0.00
Just as I AmCicely Tyson16h 8m4.6 (99K)$33 · $0.00
Unbroken Bonds of BattleJohnny Joey Jones8h 31m4.6 (2.6K)$8 · $0.00
The Daughter of AuschwitzTova Friedman, Malcolm Brabant7h 54m4.6 (16.7K)$26 · $0.00
My Bondage and My Freedom (Annotated)Frederick Douglass15h 30m4.6 (2.4K)$2 · $0.00
Lily's PromiseLily Ebert, Dov Forman8h 54m4.6 (16.1K)$29 · $0.00
CrossroadsKaleb Dahlgren7h 56m4.6 (4.9K)$26 · $0.00
Across the RiverKent Babb11h 40m4.6 (927)$29 · $0.00
The Secret of the RosaryLouis de Montfort6h 1m4.7 (16K)$2 · $0.00
The Holy Qur-an: Text, Translation and CommentaryAbdullah Yusuf Ali22h 16m4.7 (133K)$1 · $0.00
All of Grace (Annotated)Charles Spurgeon5h 1m4.7 (1.3K)$1.99 · $0.00
Steps to ChristEllen G. White3h 12m4.7 (13.8K)$2 · $0.00
The Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Annotated)Joseph Smith13h 57m4.7 (575)$2 · $0.00
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God & Other Sermons (Annotated)Jonathan Edwards7h 51m4.7 (1.5K)$2 · $0.00
Swayam Ki AwaazPrem Rawat8h 34m4.7 (1.1K)$26 · $0.00
Behind the BadgeAdam Davis10h 18m4.7 (2.7K)$10 · $0.00
The New Human Revolution, vol. 1Daisaku Ikeda7h 46m4.7 (669)$12 · $0.00
You Are Worth ItKyle Carpenter, Don Yaeger8h 53m4.7 (4.8K)$29 · $0.00
Praying GraceDavid A. Holland3h 2m4.7 (658)$10 · $0.00
Evidence Not SeenDarlene Deibler Rose11h 11m4.6 (11.9K)$29 · $0.00
The Christ KeyChad Bird, Chad Bird7h 33m4.7 (592)$17.40 · $0.00
He and IGabrielle Bossis10h 12m4.7 (554)$17 · $0.00
Your Body Already KnowsNidhi Pandya Bhanshali9h 7m4.7 (360)$16 · $0.00
The Complete WorksFlorence Scovel Shinn7h 59m4.6 (6.6K)$2 · $0.00
Driven by EternityJohn Bevere3h 50m4.6 (3.2K)$10 · $0.00
Spiritual AnatomyDaaji Kamlesh D. Patel9h 47m4.7 (319)$29 · $0.00
The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa Translated into English ProseAnonymous8h 1m4.7 (1.9K)$2 · $0.00
The Chosen Book OneAmanda Jenkins, Kristen Hendricks, Dallas Jenkins3h 8m4.6 (4.9K)$10 · $0.00
What to Make of a LifeJim Collins13h 31m4.4 (794)$33 · $0.00
Braving the TruthRachel Held Evans11h 31m4.7 (359)$29 · $0.00
Level UpRob Dial7h 42m4.6 (3.3K)$26 · $0.00
As a JewSarah Hurwitz8h 36m4.6 (1.2K)$26 · $0.00
Saint Joan (Annotated)George Bernard Shaw6h 20m4.6 (1.2K)$1.20 · $0.00
Burn the HaystackJennie Young, PhD9h 30m4.6 (543)$29 · $0.00
Woman and the New Race (Annotated)Margaret Sanger6h 30m4.6 (1K)$1.99 · $0.00
Good InsideBecky Kennedy9h 55m4.5 (59.3K)$29 · $0.00
The Mis-Education of the NegroCarter Godwin Woodson5h 4m4.5 (29.4K)$1.20 · $0.00
Du Bois: EssaysW.E.B. Du Bois6h 22m4.6 (1.5K)$1 · $0.00
The North American Indian (Illustrated Edition)Edward S. Curtis, Frederick Webb Hodge5h 59m4.6 (1.4K)$2 · $0.00
Valley of the BirdtailAndrew Stobo Sniderman, Douglas Sanderson10h 1m4.6 (2.4K)$29 · $0.00
Lies My Therapist Told MeGreg E. Gifford9h 3m4.6 (503)$29 · $0.00
Disturbed in Their NestsAlephonsion Deng, Judy A. Bernstein11h 22m4.6 (595)$23 · $0.00
No Name in the StreetJames Baldwin5h4.5 (8.5K)$20 · $0.00
Narrative of the Life of Frederick DouglassFrederick Douglass4h 13m4.5 (309.9K)$1.20 · $0.00
Magic SeasonWade Rouse6h 41m4.6 (855)$24 · $0.00
Consent Laid BareChanel Contos7h 11m4.5 (1.7K)$24 · $0.00
The Big RevealSasha Velour6h 15m4.5 (2.1K)$24 · $0.00
EssaysGeorge Orwell26h 38m4.5 (8.4K)$4 · $0.00
You may also like
History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (The Complete Seven-Volume Edition)Joseph Smith188h 53m4.5 (265)$1 · $0.00
History of Joseph Smith, the Prophet and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Annotated)Joseph Smith188h 53m4.5 (449)$1.99 · $0.00
MuhammadDeepak Chopra8h 25m3.8 (2.1K)$22
History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (The Complete Seven-Volume Edition)Joseph Smith188h 48m4.6 (432)$1 · $0.00
The Life of ElijahArthur W. Pink11h 44m4.4 (851)$23
Sketches from the Life of PaulEllen Gould White11h 32m4.6 (341)$1 · $0.00
Jews, God, and HistoryMax I. Dimont17h 55m4.2 (2.1K)$28
The Complete History of the Christian Church (With Bible)Philip Schaff398h4.6 (783)$1.99 · $0.00
The Fifth MountainPaulo Coelho5h 34m3.8 (55.5K)$24 · $0.00
The Chosen: And I Will Give You RestJerry B. Jenkins10h 48m4.8 (1.5K)$10 · $0.00
The martyr of the catacombsJames De Mille3h 43m4.3 (467)$2.30 · $0.00
Foundations of the Latter-day Saint Faith – 3 Classic LDS Historical WorksJoseph Smith, B. H. Roberts, James E. Talmage192h 51m$2
Walking in the Elijah MandateKenneth C. Spears5h 32m$6
SaxumJohn F. Coverdale7h 18m4.7 (142)$19.99
The History of the Christian Church According to Eusebius & Philip SchaffPhilip Schaff, Eusebius353h 15m4.5 (122)$1.99 · $0.00
The Wentworth LetterJr. Joseph Smith1h 37m4.5 (193)$1 · $0.00
Essentials in Church HistoryJoseph Fielding Smith27h 3m4.1 (51)$2 · $0.00
Weymouth New Testament in Modern Speech, ActsRichard Francis Weymouth3h 48m$1 · $0.00
TPT The Books of 1 & 2 ThessaloniansBrian Simmons3h 52m4.8 (160)$10 · $0.00
The Early Mormon History Collection - 3 Classic LDS Historical WorksJoseph Smith, B. H. Roberts, James E. Talmage192h 52m$2