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In Our Own Words: Extraordinary Speeches of the American Century
 
 
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In Our Own Words: Extraordinary Speeches of the American Century [Hardcover]

Senator Robert G. Torricelli (Author), Andrew Caroll (Author)
3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

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Book Description

1568362919 978-1568362915 November 10, 1999 1
ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF EXTRAORDINARY SPEECHES, ONE TIMELESS COLLECTION.

In Our Own Words is a record of the most impassioned, inspirational, and infuriating orations ever given by Americans in this century. Featured here are the words of poets and politicians, artists and astronauts, scoundrels and sports heroes, Native Americans and Nobel laureates, soldiers and civil rights activists, humorists and hellraisers. The most comprehensive collection of American oratory ever assembled, In Our Own Words includes over 150 speeches, sermons, eulogies, radio broadcasts, courtroom pleas, fireside chats, public tributes, and commencement addresses.

Beginning on the eve of the twentieth century, this collection spans the Progressive Era, the Depression, two World Wars, the civil rights movement, McCarthyism, Vietnam, feminism, the Reagan years, and the technological revolution, bringing us right up to the threshold of the new millennium, The words of these men and women, known and unknown, challenged the conscience of this country, summoned the nation to wan brought down tyrants, paid homage to fallen heroes, gave a voice to the poor and oppressed, and energized the soul and spirit of America in its most desperate times.

To hear the voices of these extraordinary Americans once again or for the first time is to sit in the front row of the history of this century, decade by decade. We find both well-known and little-known speeches by the Roosevelts and the Kennedys, Mark Twain, General George S. Patton, Ronald Reagan, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Helen Keller, Billy Graham, Malcolm X, Clarence Darrow, Rachel Carson, Will Rogers, Betty Friedan, Orson Welles, Lou Gehrig, Jane Fonda, Carl Sagan, Jackie Robinson, Charlton Heston, Pearl Buck, Vince Lombardi, Elie Wiesel, and Duke Ellington. Over a hundred more visionaries and villains, leaders and preachers, radicals and revolutionaries tell the story of their age from their bully pulpits and convention halls, their soapboxes and podiums. These are the voices of our nation.

No other century could have produced such dramatic oratory.

No other collection could have captured it more powerfully.

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Bill Clinton's televised confession in the tawdry matter of Monica Lewinsky may not qualify as a sterling political moment, or even as a particularly inspired act of oratory. Whether seen as a gesture of remorse or an evasion, that apology was certainly extraordinary by any measure, and Senator Robert Torricelli rightly includes it here. In Our Own Words is his anthology of what he deems to be exceptional American speechifying. (Clinton's first draft was a more accomplished piece of writing and pleading forgiveness than the truculent final version; Torricelli and coeditor Andrew Carroll include both texts.)

Torricelli and Carroll's working definition of what constitutes a speech is broad, and arguably so. It encompasses not only such fine moments of public rhetoric as Notre Dame president Charles O'Donnell's eulogy to football coach Knute Rockne and Dwight Eisenhower's warning about the growing power of what he called the "military-industrial complex," but also actress Jane Fonda's wartime radio broadcasts from Hanoi and Frank Zappa's congressional testimony against proposed measures to initiate a national rating system for recorded music--not exactly speeches, a purist might object, but still useful primary sources for students of the recent past.

A practiced speechmaker himself, Torricelli brings in the voices not only of legislators and politicians, but also of ordinary people moved to heights of eloquence. The result is an eminently readable collection spanning the last hundred years, useful to students of history and of public discourse. --Gregory McNamee

From School Library Journal

YA-Arranged by decade from the Progressive Era to the '90s Technological Revolution, this book includes eulogies, sermons, fireside chats, public tributes, commencement addresses, and more. The editors have gathered together words of architects, artists, astronauts, poets, presidents, environmentalists, scoundrels, sports figures, soldiers, civil-rights activists, and scientists. Entries are attributed to Jane Addams, Clarence Darrow, Al "Scarface" Capone, General George S. Patton, Jack Kerouac, Vince Lombardi, Jane Fonda, Ronald Reagan, and others. Each reading is two or three pages in length with a brief note at the beginning to describe the historical context of the speech. It is an eclectic collection that is humorous, serious, riveting, infuriating, and inspirational. Read cover to cover, it presents a chronological look at the events of the century by the people in the news. This volume could turn out to be a favorite book of quotations. No high school library should be without it.
Linda A. Vretos, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, VA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 480 pages
  • Publisher: Kodansha USA; 1 edition (November 10, 1999)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1568362919
  • ISBN-13: 978-1568362915
  • Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 2.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #519,146 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

 

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3.8 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars In Our Own Words, December 31, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: In Our Own Words: Extraordinary Speeches of the American Century (Hardcover)
The twentieth century has been called the American Century. Not only has American economic and military might molded of the history century, but at its conclusion, American ideas of democracy and freedom dominate the political discourse of the globe. In Our Own Words by Senator Robert Torricelli is a remarkable anthology of 150 speeches, which captures the pulse of this tumultuous time. Some of these speeches created history, others reflect the temper of the time, but all are engrossing; giving body to the American idea, in triumph and tragedy, humor and sorrow. this book belongs in the library of any serious student of history.
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19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent collection of speeches ..., December 31, 1999
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This review is from: In Our Own Words: Extraordinary Speeches of the American Century (Hardcover)
History has never been made so alive than in this excellent collection of speeches. What makes this book so powerful is that the events are not filtered through the eyes of a historian - the words speak for themselves. This book is an absolute must for anyone who loves history!
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66 of 82 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Must for Students of the Spoken Word, December 10, 1999
This review is from: In Our Own Words: Extraordinary Speeches of the American Century (Hardcover)
This is powerful and balanced collection that belongs in the collection of any serious student of history and the spoken word.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
TONIGHT WHEN THE CLOCK STRIKES TWELVE, THE PRESENT century will have come to an end. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
speech copyright, honest graft, practical statesmanship, white nationalism, muck rake
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, New York, Soviet Union, White House, Martin Luther King, South Vietnam, African American, Great Society, Republican Party, San Francisco, George Washington, Second Amendment, North Vietnam, President Nixon, President Reagan, Ronald Reagan, President Johnson, Beat Generation, President Clinton, President Kennedy, Robert Frost, Brady Bill, Democratic Party, League of Nations, President Roosevelt
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