Speeches That Changed the World: The Stories and Transcripts of the Moments That Made History by Thomas Jefferson

Speeches That Changed the World: The Stories and Transcripts of the Moments That Made History Reviews

• 
  Jan

  I think a more appropriate title of this book would be: "Speeches That Were Made During World-Changing Events (although some of the events included here were questionably world-changing - I'm looking at you St. Francis of Assisi's sermon to the birds)."
  
  A lot of the speeches in this book were given by white men, which annoyed me to no end. They were also heavily focused in the 20th century. And they were extremely western-focused, with white men from the U.K. and the U.S. receiving most of the print space.
  
  When I complained to a friend who also has a copy of this book that I found it very western-centric, he said, "Well, one could argue that most of the world changing events have happened in the west." Really? I'm pretty sure that someone in China wouldn't consider the American Civil War "world changing," but they might find "The Great Leap Forward" so. And one could certainly argue that The Great Leap Forward has had a lasting impact on the world. (As an aside, wasn't gunpowder invented in China? I think that's one of the greatest impacts - no pun intended - the world has ever felt, and it certainly wasn't a western invention.)
  
  At any rate, it got a little more diversified toward the end of the book, but it had already kind of lost me by then. I hung in to read the words of MLK (and ignored most of the rest of the book), but even MLK sounds better in the spoken word than he does in the written.
• 
  Chris Seltzer

  To be clear: the book is not by Thomas Jefferson, regardless of what Goodreads says.
  
  I quite appreciated the book. Generally, I'd recommend alternative mediums like videos or websites for this type of content. However, I actually found I processed the speeches better on the written page with the additional context.
  
  I found the curation thoughtful and varied. I'd recommend this book to anyone studying oratory or history. It stands up far better than I first expected.
• 
  Steve Rangoussis

  This is a compilation of 48 famous speeches. Really mostly excerpts, but it is a good taste of impactful speeches minus the rhetoric. I am giving this one only 3 starts because there are some inaccuracies and the criteria selection of the 48 is questionable. Other than that, worth the read.
• 
  MN

  This book contains some interesting and phenomenal speeches made by different people belonging to different time periods. Speeches of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), Jesus(Pbuh), Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Mother Teresa, Queen Elizabeth I etc are my favourites from the book.
• 
  Paul Riches

  Hearing History With Speeches That Changed The World
  
  
  We all know the power of a good speech, to rouse and inspire, for good and bad and all sorts of inbetween. And having a collection of them, spanning centuries of history, is very interesting and illuminating.
  
  Speeches That Changed The World is just such a volume, and it hosts an introduction by Simon Sebag Montefiore. It also includes an audio CD featuring a selection of the speeches, all from the modern recorded age of course.
  
  This book starts off with a really old example, from the Bible no less, with Moses talking about the Ten Commandments in Exodus. Now since we have no actual historical verifiable source that this speech happened, or what was said, or anything at all about this, this becomes more of an academic exercise analyzing a possible myth.
  
  The same thoughts apply to the first ten or so speeches, since they take place before recording devices could prove they existed and the real circumstances behind them. Well, again, as real as can be verified even in the last century where the facts are more easily shown to be true. Or as true as we can prove them.
  
  But that’s the same for events even today, isn’t it?
  
  Even with this huge caveat, this book still strives to be as authentic as possible. And to accomplish this, they give a short history of the speaker who gave the speech, what made them famous, what the situation was where the speech was given, and the impact it had. Then they reprint the famous words.
  
  They include almost fifty speeches, and put mostly in chronological order, and range in topic from war to peace and in speaker from humble to powerful. It is vastly men being quoted here, which is not surprising given the history of our world. The first female mentioned is Queen Elizabeth 1 from 1588, while Moses goes back to over two thousand years ago, to give some perspective.
  
  Part of this is vile content that has to be seen so that we can learn from it. Reading the blatant hatred and lies of Hitler is stomach churning, but evil history must be looked at to stop it from repeating.
  
  What is interesting is when you read speeches and the story behind them and you already know some of the history, which helps to fill in the blanks of the whole tapestry. Seeing how A can lead to B then to C and so on can add to a further understanding of something you may already know about, but now with more clarity. And sometimes you even see history come together in new and interesting ways, giving more admiration to someone you already admired.
  
  Clarence Darrow fits into this category very well. He was the famous lawyer who lost the Scopes Monkey Trial in 1925. Here we get Darrow in 1926, defending a black family in a racially charged trial, and unfortunately bringing up so many of the same issues plaguing society today. This time, he won, and I really wish Darrow was around to help lead and guide us.
  
  You can also see the winds of change in this book when speeches by Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk are looked at together, since both had massive impact on South Africa and the world. Controversy can be seen with Canadian Primes Minister’s Pierre Elliot Trudeau’s speech from 1970 during the October Crisis. It is very orderly and lawyerly and also emotional, as he tries to invoke the War Measures Act to deal with terrorists. It is hard for him to temporarily suspend civil liberties, and it shows, but as Trudeau also said days before this, “Just watch me.” He really believed something had to be done.
  
  The last speech featured is President Bush’s from September 11th, 2001, which was a terrible day and a pivotal time in history. This speech, much like the Bush Presidency, was not the best. But it was a good place to end the book.
  
  Speeches That Changed The World is an extremely good resource for history buffs, students of the human condition, and those who want to understand our planet.
  
  Scoopriches
• 
  Andy Wiesendanger

  Includes quite a few speeches, and most I knew nothing about, so a good intro to a particular event or time period. A bit of intro for each speech, but very limited, barely setting up much of the context. And no comment on the aftermath or result. Really gives you a good place to start if you want to know an area of history to study, but doesn't really help you know much about that time.
• 
  Jared

  Speeches are made to be heard, not read. I wanted the text of a few of these so I could learn to give them Any speech I had heard before was great because I could remember the voice inflections and such. Unknown speeches were often well written, and I could imagine how they were given, but its a lot harder to catch the magic. Content is excellent however with some accompanying dialogue that helps put each speech in context.
• 
  Michael

  I really liked this book of important snippets of world history. The compilation puts each speaker's situation into summary perspective in a way that enlightens the reader without overburden. Each speaker speaks for herself/himself with no added judgmental commentary by the compiler. The text is enlightening and inspiring.
• 
  Becky

  A fascinating walk through history. I almost enjoyed the short bios and historical context more than the actual speeches themselves. My favorite speech was by Elie Wiesel warning us of "indifference."
• 
  Valerie Mooney

  Full of monumental speeches made by some of the most influential people in history.
  
  I HIGHLY recommend this collection of speeches.
  
  Plus, Winston Churchill is on the cover!!
• 
  Kathryn

  From Jesus to Martin Luther King, Jr. to Elie Wiesel ... and many more in between. Amazing!!! Loved it!
• 
  Donna

  I thought it was fascinating...a great glimpse at history through the speeches of the times. The historical snippets that accompanied each speech and gave each context were helpful.
• 
  Benjamin

  This piece of literature was full of history and the art of public speaking. I truly enjoyed it.
• 
  Esther

  Corinda is selecting which speeches we will be reading and discussing.