Customer Reviews

Great Speeches of 20th Century

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This 1991 box set, put together a bit after the Persian Gulf War is an important document of American History. All in all, Great Speeches of the 20th Century is a good collection that could have been even better. It in fact includes many of the great speeches of the 20th Century. It begins with the 27th president, William Howard Taft, and includes all of the 20th century presidents up until 1991 with the exception of McKinley, Harding, Hoover and Ford. But the presidential speeches are not the highlights of this collection. Dr. King's "I Have A Dream Speech" rightly stands out as the finest oration on the entire 4 disc set. However, his final speech given in Memphis the night before he was murdered, including the immortal words "I Have Been To The Mountaintop," is nowhere to be found. That is an unfortunate omission. A more substantial offering from Malcolm X, besides his one minute comment on Black Power, would have also improved this set. My biggest criticism though is not with the selection, but with the editing and liner notes. Some of the edits massacre the speeches-the worst is hearing the few second snippet of Gehrig's fairwell spreech to baseball. On the other hand, a number of key speeches are given in their entirety and they are really powerful-the brilliant and insightful Eisenhower farewell speech should be heard by every American in its entirety at least once- it is still highly relevent today. My beef with the liner notes is that they give short shrift to certain speeches that are really extraordinary. It doesn't even mention the context in which RFK delivers what stands out as perhaps the greatest off the cuff speech in American History. Hearing it and knowing the emotional context is almost worth the price of the 4 cd set itself. It is even more impressive in the context of all the other "great speeches" that were carefully crafted. My only other beefs are that I would have included a more articulate speech than Jerry Rubin's to represent the anti-war movement- it makes Spiro Agnew sound like a brilliant stateman- and I would have included Nixon's final farewell to the White House staff, which is a very revealing and fascinating speech. Still, all criticisms aside, Great Speeches of the 20th Century is a good collection- and it is really neat to hear the voices of Teddy Roosevelt, Taft and Wilson. Now if we only had a recording of Lincoln....

This is a must for any US History teacher. It's one thing to read a landmark speech, quite another to hear it as you read along. Studying history is much more interesting when students can "touch" "hear" "see" it. To have the actual voice putting inflection and feeling to the words makes it more memorable. Students today are so visual that merely listening to the speech is ineffective. (trust me, they will fall asleep.) Hand out a printed copy of the speech for them to read along with and highlight key points. It's also helpful when students are taking the AP US History exam to be able to quote speeches in their DBQs.

Particularly in this day of manufactured charisma on television, great public speaking has become a lost art--look at what we are using for President right now! This set will serve as a reminder of what we used to enjoy, particularly on the political scene. Certainly, a Franklin Roosevelt or a John Kennedy only comes once in a great moon and this is an opportunity to remember what we have had, and lost. I have had this set for several years and my only regret is that it isn't longer; I suppose for practicality's sake the entire texts of the speeches couldn't be included. Sound quality is remarkable, particularly for the old pre-electric recordings. It will probably be a surprise to many to actually hear the pre-FDR Presidents speak; again, they were not homogenized in the manner popular now.

This is a great 'starter' set for those who enjoy the spoken word for its own sake.

As a teacher this set is invaluable. The recordings are well-chosen and nicely mastered. It's a good survey of 20th century audio recordings.

It was what I needed for my high school public speaking class. The students are able to listen to great speeches. This way they had a reference to what makes an excellent speech.

I like it. I have a really good memory and by hearing these speech, I know where to put the empases on the word I say

I have to admit I bought this CD set mainly for Winston Churchills "Darkest Hour" speech,then thought "Hey I could get all sorts of great speeches at once. All the speeches are pretty impressive and some of them are a little creepy to hear. I mean to "HEAR" a President talk about the "Indians" when they were still living on the plains and in the mountains of America is just strange.
Some of the speeches are complete, however Churchills "Darkest Hour" was not one of them. Over all it was a great collection, but I wish that some of the speeches had not been trunkated. You might look for a CD that more accurately targets what you're looking for than trying to get a one stop shop with this set.

Hear those wise voices cry for redemption. Recall the power and emotion felt by a nation as these speaches were told. Remember how they impacted the course history, shaping the present. This CD captures the some of best and worst moments of our time. This is a great source of inspiration for anyone who cares to hear old, famous or dead people speak their mind.