Customer Reviews

The Penguin Book of 20th-Century Speeches

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This is a compilation of some very important speeches from the twentieth century, and some not so important ones. The author has chosen speeches mainly from the Western world, especially the United States and Great Britain. Most of the orators are men (need that be pointed out?:)) Naturally, this has the consequence that the result is a very incomplete picture. Bearing that in mind, however, there are some really good speeches here, and some very interesting. Reading this book is like reading a book on recent history.

Since these texts are authentic speeches, you actually get the feeling of being THERE. Reading some speeches really gave me an idea of how it made the listeners feel ... and sometimes, that was a rather creepy feeling. There are some really thought-provoking speeches in this book, such as one of my favourites: what will happen when we start use planes to bomb entire cities? The speech is called "The bomber will always get through" and the orator was Stanley Baldwin. Most of us are so young that we do not remember a world where wars were fought differently; when that option did not exist.

Each speech has a short introduction where the orator is placed in his or her context, and often, at the end, a few lines about what happened next. The speeches are chronologically arranged, not thematically. Whereas these introductions are of a high quality, they are not sufficient for a reader who is not rather well acquainted with the history of the Western world of the 20th century. If that is the case, I would recommend to read a general introduction first.

This book focuses clearly on political speeches, although there are exceptions. Students of political science will undoubtedly find it useful as a general companion book, but it is interesting for anyone who is interested in the recent political development. These speeches are not the only factors that have influenced that development, but orators often pick up current trends and issues, even before television.

I recommend this book with the caution that it does not give a full picture, it does not even aim to give a full picture and reading this book solely would give anyone a very strange idea about the history of the 20th century in the Western world. Read it with other books, and do not take this as THE truth ... it is a good and interesting read, provided you have a good portion of healthy criticism.

I found this collection to be quite through and wide-ranging, overall very good. The only criticism I have is that the editor and publisher display a Great Britain bias. Numerous speeches by members of Parliamant, etc. are included, despite their seemingly limited subject matter and relative lack of eloquence. I would have preferred that other speakers from around the world have their presence included or increased or, simply, to have had these speeches omitted.

That said, however, I reiterate that it is a fine edition, worth the reader's time and money.

This book is a wonderful opportunity to go beyond the soundbites of famous quotes. "Ask not what your country can do for you," ask what else Kennedy said that day. This collection of speeches provides context to many of the most famous lines of the last century -- such as Churchill's Iron Curtain speech, King's I have a dream speech, and FDR's The only thing we have to fear speech. there are also lesser known speeches from the likes of Ghandi,Lloyd George and Henry Cabot Lodge. Pick this book up and add it to your collection.

The book was chronological which helped its readability. I really liked how it included speeches from around the world, not just those generic ones of America and the typical speeches with which we are all familiar. I've searched for a more thorough book, but this book includes the major speeches of the 20th century.

What kind of compendium of speeches can consider itself complete when it omits any mention of the following passage:

We shall go on to the end;
we shall fight in France,
we shall fight on the seas and oceans,
we shall fight with growing confidence
and growing strength in the air,
we shall defend our island,
whatever the cost may be,
we shall fight on the beaches,
we shall fight on the landing grounds,
we shall fight in the fields and in the streets,
we shall fight in the hills--we shall never surrender!

I purchased this book in 2001 and looked specifically for these lines by Winston Churchill,
and the speech was omitted.
No mention of it existed in the book.

On the other hand, the book includes numerous speeches
by British Labour leaders like Aneurin Bevan (?!)
and Neil Kinnock. Is that some kind of JOKE?!

Until that omission is corrected, this book must forever be considered an afterthought,
if not an outright insult.

I picked up this book for couple of speeches I was particularly interested in and wanted to have a reference - in printed form. Never imagined I would find it so interesting, not just in terms of the brilliance of each individual speech, but also the way speeches have been chosen and connect with each other. Brief synopsis of the background to the issue, followed by counter-speeches in same context give you a good lesson in history. Even if containing only one side of the story - or facts not stated, it makes a great read - cover to cover.
Yes, I wish some obscure ones (eg clinton apologizing..) etc are deleted and instead great speeches from other parts of the world - China, Russia etc included.

We all have learned or heard phrases from many of the speeches contained in this book. It was a pleasure to read them in their entirety and find that the emotion of the time came through - even in print - even after decades had passed. They certainly offer a more interesting, inspirational view of history than a dry academic text. The only downside - my English husband was disappointed that one of Churchill's best, "We will fight them on the beaches", was not included.

Amazing how some journalists like Brian MacArthur can so shamelessly abandon any pretence of objectivity even when compiling some data as straight forward as outstanding speeches. Thus in his 525 pages of speeches from leaders that span the world of the 20th Century, there isn't even one speech from any leaders of the Middle East and North Africa, such as Nasser, or of any of some of the outstanding orators which that region delegated to the UN, like Baroudy. By contrast of course the relatively obscure Zionist leaders Chaim Weizmann and Chaim Herzog are given more space than Winston Churchill and almost five times the space given to Charles de Gaulle. The same prejudice and inaccurate information can also be found in MacArthur's introductory remarks to some of the speeches. He states that Israel was created in 1946 when it is public knowledge that Israel was carved out of Arab Palestine in 1948 by expelling 800,000 Palestinians out of their homes and land.
It is not a credit to Penguin books to have published such a book containing some obvious distortions and fallacies.

Well written. This book is definitely an eye opener. The kinds of speeches offered give the reader an in depth look at what the speaker was really trying to say.

This book has excellent speeches - from the famous personalities (Kennedy and Churchill) and the infamous ones(Hitler and other Nazis). However, almost all speeches are from America and Europe and including several rather mediocre speeches of rather obscure personalities. For instance there are no speeches from orators in Russia. Just because Russia was the enemy during the cold war does not mean they were short of orators. And the number of speeches of African and Asian statesmen are so few that it is almost disrespectful.

Good book, but could have been much better.