Brian MacArthur brings together the words of over a hundred men and women - from Moses to Mandela - who changed the world through the sheer power of their oratory. Gladstone and Disraeli, and Pitt and Fox before them, forged the politics of their age through ferocious verbal combat in the House of Commons. Abraham Lincoln transformed forever the way Americans interpret the Civil War and their national destiny. Churchill, Kennedy and Martin Luther King inspired generations with their hopes and dreams. The world's most effective speakers, argues MacArthur, have always known how 'to move hearts or inspire great deeds, to uplift spirits or cast down enemies'. His definitive collection demonstrates that claim with many rousing examples.
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Editorial Reviews
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Impeccable. MacArthur prefaces each address with a short but scholarly historical explanation that sets the scene perfectly. An attractive volume with a splendidly pithy introducton
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Doesn't quite capture the imagination,
By Robbie Lewis (Canberra, Australia) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Penguin Book of Historic Speeches (Paperback)
Great speeches - and great books - can move mountains. This book has mountains of speeches and are all the great ones are there from Moses to Mandela. But something is missing. Despite the content matter, MacArthur's editorial contribution is too flat, too dry, too short. Compare his prose with that of Safire's in the latter's "Lend Me Your Ears". Safire sets fire to our senses, MacArthur fails to stoke the embers. If you only want to read the speeches than this book is fine. But this is not the book if you are looking for an editor who can take the raw material and then explain, instruct, inspire. A useful read but there are better.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Speeches Speak for Themselves,
By D. Harrington (NYC) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Penguin Book of Historic Speeches (Paperback)
Aren't the speeches in and of themselves, enough to inspire? Why would we need someone else's exhortation about the speeches themselves. They are their own best witnesses of the greatness of each of them. Whether we have a great commentary on them or a horrible one, or none at all, makes no difference to me personally. If I watch a film of a presidential speech, I usually do not stay tuned to have a news commentator tell me what I just heard :) So, these speeches are great in and of themselves, and need no commentary at all, whether good, bad or indifferent.
Do we watch a baseball game in its entirety and then immediately switch to a sports channel to find out from THEM how the game went???? We just saw the game!
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgements which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep and do them. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
most inexpressible calamity, most odious species, contaminated moral environment, redden the earth, indelible shame, cannot charge myself, right honourable gentleman, great pinnacle, world socialist revolution, demand our right Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, House of Commons, Great Britain, New York, New England, Declaration of Independence, Pitt the Younger, South Carolina, Great Spirit, Edmund Burke, French Revolution, Red Man, East India Company, House of Lords, John Bright, South Africa, Daniel O'Connell, Daniel Webster, George Washington, Lloyd George, Luther King, Almighty God, National Convention, Roman Catholics, British Empire New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgements which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep and do them. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
most inexpressible calamity, most odious species, contaminated moral environment, redden the earth, indelible shame, cannot charge myself, right honourable gentleman, great pinnacle, world socialist revolution, demand our right Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, House of Commons, Great Britain, New York, New England, Declaration of Independence, Pitt the Younger, South Carolina, Great Spirit, Edmund Burke, French Revolution, Red Man, East India Company, House of Lords, John Bright, South Africa, Daniel O'Connell, Daniel Webster, George Washington, Lloyd George, Luther King, Almighty God, National Convention, Roman Catholics, British Empire New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 54
books:
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7
books
cite this book:
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- French Revolution by Hilaire Belloc on page 162, and Back Matter
- Reflections on the Revolution in France & The Rights of Man by Edmund Burke on page 157, and page 166
- Reflections On The Revolution In France by Edmund Burke on page 157, and page 166
- Rights of Man (Dover Thrift Editions) by Thomas Paine on page 165, and page 166
- Abraham Lincoln (The Great Americans Series) by Jean F. Blashfield on page 356, and page 364
See all 54 books this book cites
- A World on Fire: A Heretic, an Aristocrat, and the Race to Discover Oxygen by Joe Jackson on 4 pages
- Hitler and Churchill: Secrets of Leadership by Andrew Roberts in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Unleashing Leaders by Hilarie Owen in Back Matter
- In Our Own Words: Extraordinary Speeches of the American Century by Andrew Carroll in Back Matter
- In Our Own Words: Extraordinary Speeches of the American Century by Senator Robert G. Torricelli in Back Matter
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