India's Greatest Speeches

by Nitin Agarwal

India's Greatest Speeches is a stimulating collection of thoughtful speeches delivered by some of the most prominent Indian personalities. Set to inspire, this book includes some of the most stirring and eloquent addresses by Rabindranath Tagore, Swami Vivekananda, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Mother Teresa, JRD Tata, Abdul Kalam, Nardendra Modi and other influential Indian leaders.

This impelling selection of expressive moments of oratory would provide the reader a fresh perspective; evoke feelings of patriotism, inspiration and unbounded motivation. Nitin Aggarwal introduces each speech with relevant information, providing valuable insight.

Genres: Nonfiction, Inspirational, Politics

251 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2014

Reviews

[Tanmay · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a good collection of speeches which inspire and tell the history of the vision of India.
It's a really good translation but I felt I would've connected to the words even more if it wasn't in English and rather in the language that the speeches were spoken in.

[Siva Karthikeyan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm reading the speeches for the first time by Indian leaders, so its inspiring and worthwhile to know from the context of times these things were uttered. Also could sense the background of historic details when these were discussed. Vallabhai patel, Bhagat Singh, Gandhi, Abhinav Bindra, Sharukh Khan speeches are very different. Good Read, yet there could be much more inspiring speeches we need to intend to read.

[Suraj · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent curation and a quick read. Includes some of the timeless classics, Abhinav Bindra’s stood out to me.

[Akshay · Rating 3 out of 5]

The speeches were exceptional, but their charm got lost in translation.

[Rishabh Jain · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book contains 25 speeches selected by the Compiler, spanning across various eras of modern India. Almost every person whose speech is present here is a figure of reverence, and has profound knowledge and experience. Having said that, I feel that the book could have done with a bit more presence from the era of the 60s and the 80s.

The opening via a summarization of the Bhagvad Gita was an ace in the hole. A recollection of key ideas from the Gita is something one can always profit from.
Every speech teaches us something. So, the author did a good job on that part. Most of the speeches mark important events of Indian culture and history. And they've been arranged chronologically. Naturally, there's lot more speeches from the 21st century in density. Presence of proper documentation, video and audio footages and other technological advancements aid that process.

One issue that I felt in almost every speech was the incompleteness in editing and formatting the speech to English. Quite a few speeches had word abscences that made the speech illogical in places. Poor translation into English didn't help the speeches made in Hindi. And this made it difficult to peruse through this book.

Of the speeches I liked, Mr Narayana Murthy's was my favorite. Some of the points he discussed struck the right tone with me. And his was general advice, applicable to all areas of life.
Swami Vivekananda's speech, Mahatma Gandhi's address at the BHU, Bhagat Singh's speech, Dr Radhakrishnan's speech, Abhinav Bindra's speech, Shahrukh Khan's address, Dr Kalam's speech, and Mr Vajpayee's UN speech, were the others I thoroughly enjoyed and followed nicely.

The Compiler did a good job, but titling the book India's Greatest Speeches was a bit of a hyperbole. Some notable speeches got omitted. Despite all that, this is a book worthy of one's time, if they are willing to look past some editing difficulties, and are ready to rely heavily on inference to rectify them.

[Anubhav Jalan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent compendium of speech ranging from 1893 to 2014 by Swami Vivekananda to NaMo.

The only grouse is that some of these speeches are not in the language they were given.. essence of a speech becomes lost in translation..

Anyways, some of the most notable ones are Mahatma Gandhi and Bhagat Singh for their respective trials in 1922 and 1930. The clarity of their thoughts while defending themselves in front a court without being afraid of consequences is inspiring stuff.

Speech of Savarkar ji of 1937 is a 101 expounding on the basics of Hindustan and Hindutva clearly saying that everyone is a Hindu who can prove that Hindustan is his/ her Fatherland as well as Holyland.

Other notable speeches for me were of JRD Tata, Narayana Murthy, Vishwanathan Anand and Abhinav Bindra.

[Aseem Saxena · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book that took me longer than usual to read, primarily because of the diversity of the topics it deals with. Every speech has its own specifics and every one is an epitome of that vertical. You get to learn many things ranging from politics, self healing, visions, and success. It's truly worth a read.... 😀

[Shivali Tayal · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was refreshing to read what India's most admired and marked personalities had to say. It took me on India's journey spanning more than a century. My favourite was Abhinav bindra's because of the simplicity and relatibility.

[Gokul TR · Rating 4 out of 5]

good book. from the speeches of great leaders and freedom fighters you can understand what their thought process was. covered many speeches over many decades right from Vivekananda and Narendra Modi.

[Sanket Bajaj · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good book if you are very intuitive on learning new things in life from the life of the people and the hardship they have been carved from

[Ayush Kothifora · Rating 2 out of 5]

The selection of speeches is decent enough, though the fact that some of them are excerpts and the translation is probably not the best, makes them lose their essence a bit

[Venkatesh Majji · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thought provoking speeches.

[Ajit Kumar · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good collection of thoughy provoking speeches.

[Harish Challapalli · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice compilation of some of the greatest speeches of Indians.
The primary reason I liked is most of the speeches are from my most inspired people.