In addition to their other offerings through Stanford on iTunes, Stanford University is offering this course for free through iTunes U on audio download. This Intro to Humanities course entitled "The Literature of Crisis" explores crisis when it occurs at the personal, familial, and societal levels through six major works of literature. Professor Martin Evans and Marsh McCall are both dynamic lecturers that lead listeners through these works.
While it seems a lot can be derived from the lectures without reading the works, you may want to read (or listen to) some of the works yourself in conjuction with listening to the lectures. Here are the works they examine (with links to these titles on audio book):
Apology by Plato
The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius
Oedipus the King by Sophocles
Hamlet by Shakespeare
The Aeneid by Virgil
Candide by Voltaire
This course is available to download through iTunes.