The Folio Book of Historic Speeches

by Ian Pindar

A collection of some of the world's greatest speeches, from Moses to Neil Armstrong

Genres: History, Nonfiction

324 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Dyan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seems strange to "rate" a book of speeches, but I really enjoyed reading them all so five stars it is I guess! Only disappointment was that the speeches ended with the Moon landing on 1969. Would have liked to have read more "modern" famous speeches, but I guess there'll be another book for that somewhere....

[S.P. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the speeches around the periods of the first and second world wars to be most helpful in illuminating the history around the events. That said there are surely some omissions? Where is ‘We shall fight on the beaches’ or ‘Never was so much owed by so many to so few’, both are absent from this compendium, but both are surely as important as the inaugural speech of Richard Nixon? I was left with the impression that there is a decidedly American ideological bias to the speeches selected and distinct whiff of anti-Britishness. It is a shame.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

For speech lovers everywhere, this is an elegant, useful volume.