Presidential Inaugural Addresses

by Editors of Canterbury Classics

America’s incoming presidents set the tone for each term in office.

This book offers a complete, up-to-date collection of the inaugural speeches of each president’s term in office. With quotes such as Thomas Jefferson’s “Every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle” and John F. Kennedy’s “Ask not what your country can do for you,” you’ll find the speeches that have inspired, united, and fired up the American population as our nation’s leaders embark on their service to the public.

Genres: History, Politics, Classics, Nonfiction

402 pages, Flexibound

Published April 16, 2019

Reviews

[gage sugden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perhaps the best quality book I've ever purchased, - durable flex cover, thick bright paper, shockingly legible compact print, sewn binding, etc - and for only $9 at that. If you're interested in the addresses, this is an amazing book to own and I wholeheartedly recommend purchasing it. To be clear, this book contains only the addresses themselves, no academic analysis, introduction, etc. So this is purely for reference.

Anyway, it took me 10 months to read, because alongside it I read every wikipedia article of every president. This book is about 140,000 words. Those articles add up to about 600,000 words. It was a long project but well worth the time. It gave each and every address in this book its proper context and depth - I would've missed so much meaning had I simply read the book on its own.

((And to clarify, I'm not saying reading wikipedia is a good education - I'd describe my approach more as a very long "brushing up" on presidents/history that's unfamiliar, that's all.))

Now if only I could track reading those 600k words on goodreads... it's like when you walk a ton and realize you aren't wearing your fitbit - you want those steps/pages to count darnit!

[Ben Truong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Presidential Inaugural Addresses is an anthology of the first forty-five inaugural speeches given by those who reached the office of President of the United States of America. It is collection of inaugural speeches, which shows the inspiration and hopes that each and every of these forty-five men had for the country at the beginning of their terms.

For the most part, I rather like most if not all of these contributions. Presidential Inaugural Addresses is an anthology that collected all Presidential Inaugural Addresses from George Washington to Donald Trump. Unlike most speeches, Inaugural Addresses is always hopeful – sometimes inspirational and shows what each individual have hopes for the nation.

Like most anthologies there are weaker contributions and Presidential Inaugural Addresses is no exception. Comparatively, some speeches are better written than others, but all are just as wonderful and inspirational. It is just a collection of speeches with no notes of what is happening around the nation to give context to each speech, but it never promised that. However, if one should wish to purchase a book of inaugural address it should be this one, because it is handsomely constructed.

All in all, Presidential Inaugural Addresses is a wonderful collection of inaugural address in an equally wonderful package.

[Vin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outside of three speeches (that were SUPER depressing) these were great

[Pei-jean Lu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aside from one speech which was a load of absolute bullshit (and no prizes for which president I thought that was), all others were from past presidents who considered it an honour to serve the office to which they were elected to.
It was a great experience to read the words of past presidents and seeing how each evolved with time and the circumstances to which they were elected to America’s highest office.