Outspoken: 50 Speeches by Incredible Women

by Deborah Coughlin

History didn’t listen to women, but that never stopped them from speaking out …

A lot of history is made up of speeches. Speeches about big ideas, celebratory speeches, rousing speeches to inspire soldiers to fight to the death, comic speeches to help us see the funny side to life. From Jesus to Winston Churchill to Martin Luther King Jr. and even Donald Trump, we’ve been raised with the words of important men ringing in our ears …

But where are all the women?

Unless you’re the type of person who loves researching suffrage speeches, you are unlikely to know many soundbites from women throughout history. 50 Speeches by Incredible Women is going to change that. From Joan of Arc and Virginia Wolf, to Michelle Obama and Ariana Grande, this is a celebration of outstanding and outspoken women everywhere.

Genres: Nonfiction, Feminism, Womens

320 pages, Hardcover

Published November 7, 2019

Reviews

[Corrie Mwende]

Every woman should read this #book. It's a cocktail of topics from women across the 🌍. Famous women. Hated women. Loved women. Admired women.

Dating back to the 1st century BC, Outspoken captures speeches that changed lives, formed movements & informed policies.


Reading the voices of these women who were not shy to speak truths of injustices, bias and reinventions, got me thinking that the fight for equality is far from being won. The pace was set and each one of us has a responsibility to influence change- with our voice and actions.

Words have changed nations. They have claimed spaces for men and women to be liberated. Words have started wars. They have brought love.

Thank you Deborah Coughlin for compiling these great speeches.

"History didn’t listen to women, but that never stopped them from speaking out …"

[Hannah]

Short speeches by a bunch of incredible women. Many I’d heard of (Michelle Obama, Joan of Arc, Greta Thunberg, Audre Lorde, Margaret Sanger, Sojourner Truth) and others are new to me (Sor Juana, Annie Sprinkle, Jacinda Ardern, Mhairi Black, Sacheen Littlefeather, Vivienne Ming). Read it in fits and starts over a month, felt inspired and provoked.

[Rachael Simpson]

Full review at http://www.themillennialbookreader.co...

All in all I love this book, it’s so beautiful and inspiring and I think everyone should read this book, men and women.

[Charlotte Newbury]

Some interesting speeches, some strange choices.
I feel I would have enjoyed it more without all the additional thoughts from the 'author' (compiler?)

[klara ✨]

Outspoken: 50 Speeches by Incredible Women - 4.3 stars

"They little know what women are. Women are very slow to rouse, but once they are aroused, once they are determined, nothing on earth and nothing in heaven will make women give way; it is impossible"

Things I like about this book:
► It is incredibly inspiring. The author is so good at guiding you through all the speeches and shows you the way through topics on love, body positivity, ending white supremacy, gender equality, environmental issues, and more. With speeches by really powerful women of all ages and from all ages.
► It almost doesn't matter if your values don't match theirs (the women included in the book), it doesn't matter if you don't agree with their political views or morals. It's all bound together by the overarching theme of Feminism. So if you are a femninist (and I really hope that you are), this book is incredible.

Things I don't like about this book:
► Not all topics were of interest, but that didn't really matter because there are such a variety of topics to choose from.

[VeraVC]

Could've easily been 4 stars if it provided some more context on the speeches and more extensive background information/bios. It now requires you to do your own research if you want to know more about these women. Which is fine, but ideally I would have seen that in the book itself (because I'm lazy like that)

[Shes_a_book_geek]

While my beliefs don't align with everything in the book, I was really inspired by many of the speeches and learning about some incredible women I had never heard of.

[Dharni]

Good snippets but would have been more interesting to see different perspectives or a greater analysis of these speeches/what resulted from them. Nonetheless a nice read.

[Keira Shaw]

I enjoyed this book much more than I thought I would enjoy a book of speeches. I love how many women I was introduced to and all the different views and opinions that came along with them. I especially loved this bit by the author at the very end “it’s OK if someone disagrees with the content of what you have to say. We can handle that. The other person might be right, we might all learn something.”

[Laura Burton]

An amazing collection of speeches from some inspirational feminist icons, although I can’t agree with all of the beliefs outlined in some of theses speeches due to their lack of intersectionality. It’s a truly wonderful read that speaks to the heart of every feminist in stating that all women should be heard regardless of whether you agree with what is said.

[Katie Rush]

Outspoken is a brilliantly well researched collection of 50 speeches made by women throughout history. Male voices have been documented for years, yet little is written down and available of the powerful commentary that women have made and this book addresses that.

Each speech has an insightful introduction which often left me eagerly googling these women to learn more. The speech’s are well structured into themes and is a book that is easy to nip in and out of. Personal favourites were Julia Gillard, Oprah Winfrey, Nora Ephron, Emma Watson and Paula Stone Williams to name but a few. It really is an impressive, inspiring and empowering collection.

Some of the speech makers are controversial and unpopular (Margaret Thatcher, we are looking at you), but their words effected people, they delivered change and just because you do not agree with them doesn’t negate the power they had/have. ‘If we really are to stand on the shoulders of giants, to be able to build on the thought leadership of those before us, we cannot cherry pick what ideas we hear. We can absolutely choose who we agree with, but we should be able to listen to those with whom we passionately disagree’.

[Clara Groom]

'Whatever you choose, however many roads you travel, I hope that you choose not to be a lady. I hope you will find some way to break the rules and make a little trouble out there. And I also hope that you will choose to make some of that trouble on behalf of women' (Nora Ephron).

This book is full of inspiring and courageous women, who have taken risks to speak up, create change and offer freedom for women. 'Freedom to talk, love, move, be. Freedom to take part in politics, to debate, to rebel. Freedom to dream. Even with all our privileges, it can be hard to think of ourselves as free, because it's so easy to feel stuck. Stuck in a shitty financial situation. Stuck in a crappy relationship. Stuck in a body that doesn't do what you want' (Deborah Coughlin).

This book is a good reminder that we must continue to be heard and practise being outspoken.

[Emma]

I loved the speeches in this book, it included such a variety of women with insights into so many issues. A few of my favourites included those from Jameela Jamil, Mhairi Black and Kae Tempest. However, I felt that the small introductions by Coughlin before each speech were unnecessary. It was useful to have some background information on the women, as many of them I hadn't heard of and I liked the premise of her linking aspects of the speeches to her own life but I just don't felt it payed off in the way she wanted it to. It felt too try-hard in my opinion, often as though she was trying to appeal to a younger demographic and show them she could relate. At times, her writing also often felt disjointed and clunky. I do commend her for compiling this book though; it needed to be done.

[Winnie Seuala]

“If not me who, if not now when?”

This book is a great collection of speeches by incredible women who have had the courage to speak up even if all odds were against them. What drew me is that although these women were from ALL different times - the messages are still relevant to this day. We’ve come far with equality and fairness for women but we’re no where near done. In this book it reminds us of the trailblazers who came before us and inspires women of today to think - how will I make my mark? What will I do to pave the way for women who come after me?

The only thing I didn’t like was some of the speeches were a bit random and probably not something I’d actively look for. But I would say it was probably 5% of the book. Other than that I really enjoyed it!

[leah]

Toto je taká kniha, že úplne neviem ako ju ohodnotiť aj slovne.
Veľmi oceňujem autorkinu snahu "poskladať" knihu, ktorá by obsahovala 50 prejavov žien z rôznych období. V tomto smere, skvelé. Väčšina prejavov bola skvelá alebo dobrá. No, ale potom boli cca 4, ktoré ma vyslovene nebavili. Nudila som sa pri nich a aj keď chápem, prečo ich tam autorka dala, naozaj by mi tam nechýbali.

Aj tak však knihu hodnotím pozitívne, nakoľko som si čítanie užila a veľmi ma bavilo čítať to. No a je tam veľmi veľa zaujímavých myšlienok a pasáží, pri ktorých som použila viac lepíkov by som čakala.

[Katie]

A book full of bad bitches. Period.

But in all seriousness I'm obviously going to love a book that is a collation of speeches or writings from women throughout the ages (regardless of whether those women are hated or admired). It's really important to ensure that we give women as much of a voice as we possibly can, so I applaud the author for creating this.

Overall an easy book to dip in and out of when needing some extra boss bitch inspiration. There were some unusual choices of speeches for sure, but I got the gist.

[Soph]

the anthology was solid but i really didn't like the chummy way Coughlin wrote in the descriptions. also for someone who made such a point about being intersectional 90% of the women she picked were western with almost all of those women were british or american, and desipte having a whole chapter on race only included speeches by black american women (and one by jacinda arden). it's important i get it but don't go on about being intersectional if you're going to do it at the most superficial level.

[Pat]

Well this is quite a collection.Very timely in that it includes Obama and Thatcher and words from 1906 and now. World peace, human rights and birth control. So that covers a lot of ground. It is helpful that each reprinted speech or writing comes with a preamble to set it into context and give the reader a suitably brief bit of insight into 'life and times'. Nicely done. A brilliant collection. Thoughtful in its diversity and more than the sum of its parts.

[Sarak77]

"God hath put no such difference between the Male and the Female as men would make." Margaret Fell
This is an inspirational collection of speeches from a diverse range of women introduced in an informed and entertaining way by author Deborah Coughlin. All women should be vigilant against the suffocating influence of the Angel in the house.

[Gabrielle Cree]

This book featured some amazing women with strong and bold opinions, even some I don’t necessarily agree with but the last page of this book totally bumped up my rating. It’s okay if someone disagrees with you or you disagree with them, we owe it to ourselves to listen and more importantly we might learn something from it.

[Zoe Franklin]

A book full of inspiration. Coughlin has created a perfectly curated collection of speech excerpts from women leaders across history. Lots of quotes to remember and women’s lives and work to explore further. The physical book design is also beautiful. A perfect gift to yourself or others.

[Em Prend]

Some great speeches and some really odd choices. One you can dip in and out of. Some absolute classics and then some I’d never heard of - which was great, and a few that felt like tokens. Would be enjoying it much more without the commentary before each speech.

[Lucy Acheson]

This book was good but I found some of the speeches slightly odd choices. I’m also very confused about why #notallmen was said by the author in the book…I can’t tell the context so I don’t want to judge but I found that quite alarming given how powerful her voice previously seemed

[Megan McMinn]

Great read from women of all different eras and backgrounds. Very inspiring.

[Dan]

Great!

[Jessica]

Incredible book. Can’t wait to re-read!!

[Jessica]

Find it weird to rate this but it was a great and inspiring collection of insightful speeches from a diverse range of powerful women.

[Catherine]

An excellent collection of inspiring and insightful speeches.
Removed a star for the fact it made practically zero reference to motherhood in all the areas it hit up.
Seemed a bizarre omission.

[Lynne]

A great book to dip into for inspiration

[Ellen]

Inspiring.