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Great Speeches of Our Time
Excellent Book
216 pages, Hardcover
First published March 30, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
November 24, 2014
Great compilation, though evidently lacking Asian politicians. But still, a great summary of key historical events and proof of why some leaders deserve their place in history. I liked how these speeches were sorted according to time, as it subsequently follows the sequence of monumental events and the exchange of power among leaders particularly in the United States. There is, though, a noticeable proportion of U.S. presidents in the book and only Mao representing the entire Eastern world. That aside, what I love most is how the book shed some light for me on Richard Nixon's character, how he addressed his white house staff so sincerely.
"We think that when someone dear to us dies, we think that when we lose an election, we think that when we suffer defeat, that all is ended. We think, as Theodore Roosevelt said, that the light had left his life forever. Not true. It is only a beginning always. The young must know it; the old must know it. It must always sustain us because the greatness comes…when you take some knocks, some disappointments, when sadness comes, because only if you have been in the deepest valley can you ever know how magnificent it is to be at the highest mountain." -Richard Nixon, 1974.
"We think that when someone dear to us dies, we think that when we lose an election, we think that when we suffer defeat, that all is ended. We think, as Theodore Roosevelt said, that the light had left his life forever. Not true. It is only a beginning always. The young must know it; the old must know it. It must always sustain us because the greatness comes…when you take some knocks, some disappointments, when sadness comes, because only if you have been in the deepest valley can you ever know how magnificent it is to be at the highest mountain." -Richard Nixon, 1974.
August 18, 2020
42 speeches from some of the world's greatest leaders and finest minds; with a brief background to each, hinting precisely to the probable decisions and indecisions that has shaped the world as we know it today.
It was a great read and turning to their online videos while reading just added the required visualization to their influential capabilities!
It was a great read and turning to their online videos while reading just added the required visualization to their influential capabilities!
March 14, 2019
Nice book. It will be great if the author added some asian leader in it.
July 29, 2024
It is an interesting book on analyzing motivational factors on the mass public manipulation. This book captues the essence of pivotal moments in modern history through the powerful words of influential leaders. Williams meticulously curates a diverse collection of speeches, spanning a wide array of contexts and ideologies, from Winston Churchill's resolute wartime oratory to Martin Luther King Jr.'s impassioned calls for civil rights.
Each speech is thoughtfully introduced with context and analysis, providing readers with a deeper understanding of the historical and cultural significance behind the words. This book serves as both an educational resource and an inspiring testament to the enduring power of eloquence in shaping our world.
Each speech is thoughtfully introduced with context and analysis, providing readers with a deeper understanding of the historical and cultural significance behind the words. This book serves as both an educational resource and an inspiring testament to the enduring power of eloquence in shaping our world.
June 25, 2023
Great book.
It would have been much greater with more speeches from the global south since the period covered covers that period during which many countries in the global south got their independence.
The book gives a background to the truncated speeches that helps in giving the context of each.
It would have been much greater with more speeches from the global south since the period covered covers that period during which many countries in the global south got their independence.
The book gives a background to the truncated speeches that helps in giving the context of each.
March 12, 2018
This is a great collection covering spans of time and a variety of sentiments, though there is a bit of an emphasis on Western world/ US politics.
June 27, 2017
A history book you can enjoy..
Historical events summarized in the form of influential speeches.. every speech is well-introduced, giving details about the speaker and the situation in discussion.. The book covers events from all around the globe in a small amount of details, giving you a general idea about every topic..
Historical events summarized in the form of influential speeches.. every speech is well-introduced, giving details about the speaker and the situation in discussion.. The book covers events from all around the globe in a small amount of details, giving you a general idea about every topic..
August 14, 2018
I feel like this book was one of the most challenging books to read. I like how it is very organized so the format can be understood easily by many people. However, this book challenged me to understand all the different speeches. The different speeches remind me of different perspectives and how different people think.
June 29, 2017
I think it would be better to listen to a podcast with the actual speeches. Nothing wrong with the collection of speeches, but you loose a lot but reading them. Great intros otherwise, good mix of historical context and short analysis on key points.
September 8, 2019
Not a bad compilation, however heavily inclined towards the States.
August 16, 2020
I thought it was a bit hard to read - maybe because he didn’t include the actual speeches.
December 23, 2020
Seriously lacks in speeches by Asian leaders but still some good ones in here. Favourites include Eamon De Valera, Nehru, Khurshchev, Kennedy and Orhan Pamuk
January 27, 2022
A selection of some great speeches with some background information. I would have given a 5 start rating if there was a more diverse selection as it is very American/ European man focussed.
June 8, 2022
Though it is written with U.K. outwards view, the commentary before the speeches gives a very good context of where it fits in the history. Great book and great compilation of history.
September 26, 2021
Perhaps I’d have scored this 5 if I were a great historian lover. It’s a brilliant compilation of speeches delivered from 1945 to 2012 (the version I read). I loved that the author gave some background to the speech to give a reader its context. It was also great to find out fascinating tidbits about some of the greats, such as that Fidel Castro’s speeches lasted several hours. Two of my best speeches:
Eamon de Valera, Ireland’s Prime Minister.
The Irish government remained neutral during the Second World War. Winston Churchill attacked this neutrality maintaining that it had exposed Britain to additional danger during the Battle of the Atlantic, when German U-boats attacked convoys traveling from North America to the UK. The British were therefore unable to use the ports at Queenstown and Berehaven (south) and Lough Swilly (north west). These were the Treaty Ports that had been retained as sovereign bases by the UK government following Ireland’s 1922 partition and the creation of the Irish Free State and were returned to Ireland in 1938. Winston’s speech contrasted “the action of Mr de Valera” with the “instinct of thousands of Southern Irishmen who hastened to the battle-front to prove their ancient valour”. (This brought context to my immediate previous read “Angela’s Ashes” and I understood Frank’s dad’s obsession with “dying for Ireland”).
I especially loved De Valera’s dignified response: “...Mr Churchill makes it clear that, in certain circumstances, he would have violated our neutrality and that he would justify his actions by British’s necessity. It seems strange to me that Mr Churchill does not see that this, if accepted would mean that Britain’s necessity would become a moral code and that when this necessity became sufficiently great, other people’s rights were not to count...
It is, indeed, fortunate that Britain’s necessity did not reach the point when Mr Churchill would have acted. All credit to him that he successfully resisted the temptation... It is indeed, hard for the strong to be just to the weak, but acting justly always has its rewards...”
Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers until 1951
MacArthur had led the United Nations force authorized by the Security Council to defend democratic South Korea after the communist North launched an invasion force on 25 June 1950. MacArthur’s public statements had expressed disagreements with President Harry S. Truman on the conduct of the Korean War. He thought that the Chinese involvement in the conflict had to be punished and urged aerial strikes on military bases in Manchuria, northern China. Truman thought such an escalation of the war would lead to Soviet involvement and possible nuclear conflict. MacArthur was dismissed as Supreme Commander on 11 April 1951. His address was a glorious last one:
“I address you with neither rancour nor bitterness in the fading twilight of life... I now turn to the Korean conflict. Our victory was complete, and our objectives within reach, when Red China intervened. This created a new war and ... a situation which called for new decisions in the diplomatic sphere to permit the realistic adjustment of military strategy. Such decisions have not been forthcoming... It has been said, in effect, that I was a warmonger. Nothing could be further from the truth. I know war as few other men now living know it, and nothing to me is more revolting. I have long advocated its complete abolition, as it’s very destructiveness on both friend and for has rendered it useless as a means of settling international disputes. But once war is forced upon us, there is no other alternative than... to bring it to a swift end. War’s every object is victory, not prolonged indecision.
“... I am closing my 52 years of military service. When I joined the army... it was the fulfillment of all my boyish hopes and dreams. The world has turned over many times since I took the oath in the plain at West Point, and the hopes and dreams have long since vanished, but I still remember the refrain of one of the most popular barrack ballads of that day which proclaimed most proudly that ‘old soldiers never die; they just fade away’. And like the old soldier of that ballad, I now close my military career and just fade away, an old soldier who tried to do his duty as God gave him the light to see that duty.”
Eamon de Valera, Ireland’s Prime Minister.
The Irish government remained neutral during the Second World War. Winston Churchill attacked this neutrality maintaining that it had exposed Britain to additional danger during the Battle of the Atlantic, when German U-boats attacked convoys traveling from North America to the UK. The British were therefore unable to use the ports at Queenstown and Berehaven (south) and Lough Swilly (north west). These were the Treaty Ports that had been retained as sovereign bases by the UK government following Ireland’s 1922 partition and the creation of the Irish Free State and were returned to Ireland in 1938. Winston’s speech contrasted “the action of Mr de Valera” with the “instinct of thousands of Southern Irishmen who hastened to the battle-front to prove their ancient valour”. (This brought context to my immediate previous read “Angela’s Ashes” and I understood Frank’s dad’s obsession with “dying for Ireland”).
I especially loved De Valera’s dignified response: “...Mr Churchill makes it clear that, in certain circumstances, he would have violated our neutrality and that he would justify his actions by British’s necessity. It seems strange to me that Mr Churchill does not see that this, if accepted would mean that Britain’s necessity would become a moral code and that when this necessity became sufficiently great, other people’s rights were not to count...
It is, indeed, fortunate that Britain’s necessity did not reach the point when Mr Churchill would have acted. All credit to him that he successfully resisted the temptation... It is indeed, hard for the strong to be just to the weak, but acting justly always has its rewards...”
Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers until 1951
MacArthur had led the United Nations force authorized by the Security Council to defend democratic South Korea after the communist North launched an invasion force on 25 June 1950. MacArthur’s public statements had expressed disagreements with President Harry S. Truman on the conduct of the Korean War. He thought that the Chinese involvement in the conflict had to be punished and urged aerial strikes on military bases in Manchuria, northern China. Truman thought such an escalation of the war would lead to Soviet involvement and possible nuclear conflict. MacArthur was dismissed as Supreme Commander on 11 April 1951. His address was a glorious last one:
“I address you with neither rancour nor bitterness in the fading twilight of life... I now turn to the Korean conflict. Our victory was complete, and our objectives within reach, when Red China intervened. This created a new war and ... a situation which called for new decisions in the diplomatic sphere to permit the realistic adjustment of military strategy. Such decisions have not been forthcoming... It has been said, in effect, that I was a warmonger. Nothing could be further from the truth. I know war as few other men now living know it, and nothing to me is more revolting. I have long advocated its complete abolition, as it’s very destructiveness on both friend and for has rendered it useless as a means of settling international disputes. But once war is forced upon us, there is no other alternative than... to bring it to a swift end. War’s every object is victory, not prolonged indecision.
“... I am closing my 52 years of military service. When I joined the army... it was the fulfillment of all my boyish hopes and dreams. The world has turned over many times since I took the oath in the plain at West Point, and the hopes and dreams have long since vanished, but I still remember the refrain of one of the most popular barrack ballads of that day which proclaimed most proudly that ‘old soldiers never die; they just fade away’. And like the old soldier of that ballad, I now close my military career and just fade away, an old soldier who tried to do his duty as God gave him the light to see that duty.”
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 28, 2020
I really liked how it gave a small summary of the context of the history and the speeches.
December 22, 2014
A wonderful compilation of, what the title says, the "Greatest Speeches of Our Time". The book addresses the speeches of people who managed to drastically alter present day. A historical nonfiction that gives many small, interesting tidbits. The book ranges from politicians bringing together a country, to civil rights activists pushing their radical ideas. A clear shift of topics can be seen, as over the century, war and land arguments dim and moral rights seem to take the center place of most speeches. It can be seen that people refuse to forget the bloody past, but to learn from its mistakes.
The book is organized in chronological order; starting from 1945 and ending in 2008.
Overall, the book is an interesting book to read if you either want to learn about how to make good speeches or just like to learn history facts.
The book is organized in chronological order; starting from 1945 and ending in 2008.
Overall, the book is an interesting book to read if you either want to learn about how to make good speeches or just like to learn history facts.
September 25, 2013
Hywel wonderfully introduces each speech, not only for it's lexical quality but it's political and social significance. Well chosen speeches too which cover a range of distinceive themes which are important to our modern global world.
June 21, 2015
A great compilation of meaningful speeches around the world since 1940's, ranging from poets to politicians to world leaders. Williams does a good job in setting the scene for each of the reproduced speeches. Interesting and inspirational reading!
July 25, 2014
Amazing. An extraordinary collection of relevant, potent and inspiring speeches; a powerful insight into the art of life-changing rhetoric. As a politics aficionado, this book is the perfect example of power in words—and the revolt these cause when heard.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews