What is Beasts, Men and Gods about?

Ossendowski's breathless flight from Bolshevik Russia through Siberia, Mongolia, and Tibet — outlaw camps, lama prophecies, the court of the Living Buddha, and the shadow of the Bloody Baron over Urga. Written by Ferdinand Ossendowski and first published in 1922.

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Sonsoo narrates each book with a natural AI voice. The text is cleaned by hand from its original public-domain source first, so the narration follows a careful edition rather than a raw scan.

Is the text of Beasts, Men and Gods in the public domain?

Yes. Beasts, Men and Gods (1922) is in the public domain; the full text is available from the original source, and Sonsoo narrates it end to end.

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Beasts, Men and Gods

Ferdinand Ossendowski

Published 1922
7 hrs 24 min
55 chapters
AI narration

Adventure
Travel
History
Mongolia

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SampleChapter 1: Into the Forests · 9 min. Listen before you ask for an invitation.

In the winter of 1920 Ferdinand Ossendowski, a Polish scientist on the losing side of the Russian civil war, fled into the Siberian forest with a rifle and a price on his head. This is his account of the escape that followed: across the Yenisei and the Sayan mountains, through revolution-torn Urianhai and Mongolia, riding for Tibet and turned back at its border.

It is one of the strangest travel books of its century: bandits and lamas, prophecies and the legend of the King of the World, and at its center the Mad Baron Ungern-Sternberg, whose brief and bloody reign in Urga Ossendowski witnessed at first hand. A sensation when it appeared in 1922, it remains a gripping classic of escape literature.

Author: Ferdinand Ossendowski
Source: gutenberg.org

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Chapters

Explanatory Note1 min
Part 1: Drawing Lots with Death<1 min
Chapter 1: Into the Forests9 min
Chapter 2: The Secret of My Fellow Traveler9 min
Chapter 3: The Struggle for Life7 min
Chapter 4: A Fisherman1 min
Chapter 5: A Dangerous Neighbor6 min
Chapter 6: A River in Travail7 min

Show all 55 chaptersShow fewer chapters

Chapter 7: Through Soviet Siberia4 min
Chapter 8: Three Days on the Edge of a Precipice8 min
Chapter 9: To the Sayans and Safety12 min
Chapter 10: The Battle on the Seybi13 min
Chapter 11: The Barrier of Red Partisans6 min
Chapter 12: In the Country of Eternal Peace13 min
Chapter 13: Mysteries, Miracles and a New Fight11 min
Chapter 14: The River of the Devil9 min
Chapter 15: The March of Ghosts7 min
Chapter 16: In Mysterious Tibet12 min
Part 2: The Land of Demons<1 min
Chapter 17: Mysterious Mongolia19 min
Chapter 18: The Mysterious Lama Avenger13 min
Chapter 19: Wild Chahars5 min
Chapter 20: The Demon of Jagisstai14 min
Chapter 21: The Nest of Death6 min
Chapter 22: Among the Murderers10 min
Chapter 23: On a Volcano13 min
Chapter 24: A Bloody Chastisement7 min
Chapter 25: Harassing Days19 min
Chapter 26: The Band of White Hunghutzes5 min
Chapter 27: Mystery in a Small Temple7 min
Chapter 28: The Breath of Death12 min
Part 3: The Straining Heart of Asia<1 min
Chapter 29: On the Road of Great Conquerors24 min
Chapter 30: Arrested!4 min
Chapter 31: Traveling by “Urga”11 min
Chapter 32: An Old Fortune Teller6 min
Chapter 33: “Death from the White Man Will Stand Behind You”7 min
Chapter 34: The Horror of War!8 min
Chapter 35: In the City of Living Gods, of 30,000 Buddhas and 60,000 Monks10 min
Chapter 36: A Son of Crusaders and Privateers18 min
Chapter 37: The Camp of Martyrs7 min
Chapter 38: Before the Face of Buddha17 min
Chapter 39: “The Man with a Head Like a Saddle”5 min
Part 4: The Living Buddha<1 min
Chapter 40: In the Blissful Garden of a Thousand Joys14 min
Chapter 41: The Dust of Centuries6 min
Chapter 42: The Books of Miracles4 min
Chapter 43: The Birth of the Living Buddha3 min
Chapter 44: A Page in the History of the Present Living Buddha5 min
Chapter 45: The Vision of the Living Buddha of May 17, 19213 min
Part 5: Mystery of Mysteries — The King of the World<1 min
Chapter 46: The Subterranean Kingdom11 min
Chapter 47: The King of the World Before the Face of God4 min
Chapter 48: Reality or Religious Fantasy?4 min
Chapter 49: The Prophecy of the King of the World in 18905 min

Questions

What is Beasts, Men and Gods about?: Ossendowski's breathless flight from Bolshevik Russia through Siberia, Mongolia, and Tibet — outlaw camps, lama prophecies, the court of the Living Buddha, and the shadow of the Bloody Baron over Urga. Written by Ferdinand Ossendowski and first published in 1922.
Is Beasts, Men and Gods free on Sonsoo?: Sonsoo is free for members. Listening is invitation only; join the waitlist and we'll reach out when a place opens.
Who narrates Beasts, Men and Gods?: Sonsoo narrates each book with a natural AI voice. The text is cleaned by hand from its original public-domain source first, so the narration follows a careful edition rather than a raw scan.
Is the text of Beasts, Men and Gods in the public domain?: Yes. Beasts, Men and Gods (1922) is in the public domain; the full text is available from the original source, and Sonsoo narrates it end to end.

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