The World's Famous Orations: Volume I, Greece

The World's Famous Orations #1

by William Jennings Bryan (Editor)

*Illustrated with pictures of Bryan and statues of the Greek orators in Volume I
*Includes Table of Contents with link to all 20 speeches in Volume I

William Jennings Bryan (March 19, 1860 – July 26, 1925) was a tour de force in American politics around the end of the 19th century. Bryan had a long, distinguished career in politics as a liberal in the Democratic Party, including serving as Secretary of State and presidential candidate. He advocated for democracy, sought peace, and embraced evolution even while opposing the idea of Social Darwinism. Bryan came to be known as "The Great Commoner.".
Bryan gave 500 speeches in his life and all but invented the idea of stumping for president, so who better than the brilliant, eloquent statesman to edit a compilation of the world’s most famous orations? Bryan covered the most famous speeches given by the most famous people in Western civilization from Ancient Greece to contemporary times. The World’s Famous Orations include speeches from the likes of Socrates, Cicero, Caesar, Antony, Sir Walter Raleigh, Oliver Cromwell, Tecumseh, Ben Franklin, Patrick Henry, Abraham Lincoln, and many more. In all, Bryan included 281 speeches by 213 speakers.

Chosen by the best orator of his age, these orations offer readers a glimpse into history’s turning points as well as being a fantastic reference point. This edition includes Volume 1, which covers the speeches of Ancient Greece. This includes speeches attributed to Socrates, Isocrates, Demosthenes, Pericles, Homer, Alcibiades, and others. It is specially formatted with a Table of Contents and includes pictures of the speakers.

116 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1906

About the author

William Jennings Bryan was the Democratic Party nominee for President of the United States in 1896, 1900 and 1908, a lawyer, and the 41st United States Secretary of State under President Woodrow Wilson. One of the most popular speakers in American history, he was noted for a deep, commanding voice. Bryan was a devout Presbyterian, a supporter of popular democracy, a critic of banks and railroads, a leader of the silverite movement in the 1890s, a leading figure in the Democratic Party, a peace advocate, a prohibitionist, an opponent of Darwinism, and one of the most prominent leaders of populism in the late 19th - and early 20th century. Because of his faith in the goodness and rightness of the common people, he was called "The Great Commoner."

In the intensely fought 1896 and 1900 elections, he was defeated by William McKinley but retained control of the Democratic Party. For presidential candidates, Bryan invented the national stumping tour. In his three presidential bids, he promoted Free Silver in 1896, anti-imperialism in 1900, and trust-busting in 1908, calling on Democrats, in cases where corporations are protected, to abandon states' rights, to fight the trusts and big banks, and embrace populist ideas. President Woodrow Wilson appointed him Secretary of State in 1913, but Wilson's handling of the Lusitania crisis in 1915 caused Bryan to resign in protest.

He was a strong supporter of Prohibition in the 1920s, and energetically attacked Darwinism and evolution, most famously at the Scopes Trial in 1925. Five days after winning the case but getting bad press, he died in his sleep.

Reviews

[Genesis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Attention: The order of the contents is undesirable in one place: Demosthenes' speeches followed by Aeschines' speech. You must read Aeschines' speech first, and then Demosthenes' third speech (On the Crown). This is because said third speech is the immediate reply to Aeschines' speech.

Some speeches are written with an English style that is difficult to understand.

Worth reading nonetheless.