The Penguin Book of Twentieth-century Speeches

The fascinating aspect of this book is the opportunity it provides to see how people of that historical period viewed their problems. Moseley's calls for governmant intervention, along with Trotsky consigning enemies to 'the dustbin of history' gives history a much livelier, vital feel. We perhaps forget once a stage of history has passed or a particular problem overcome the agonising and passion that went into that difficulty which we can now easily judge success or failure. These speeches provide a good reminder of that.

What lets the book down, though I don't suppose it could be any other way, is the shortness of the extracts. A one hour speech is reduced to a couple of pages with only the highlights printed. This, diappointingly, gives the effect of soundbites, albeit tantalising sounbites. Nevertheless it provides a good guide to speeches to be sought out and read in their entirety. In that sense it is invaluable.


An excellent overview of speechmaking in the 20th Century   November 26, 2000
8 out of 8 found this review helpful

A must have for any public speeker. This book gives accounts of speeches made by the most famous (and infamous) names of the 20th Century. From Adolph Hitler's first attempts at raising funds to Martin Luther King jnr's "I have seen the promised land!"

It serves not only as a record of the change and developments within oratory but also as a potted history of the last century. The speeches contained within this book not only reacted to but defined and created great moments in history. Reading through the struggles within the British Parliament during the first years of World War Two we get a real sense of the actual people behind the public facades and also a sense of the ennormity of the task facing an empire which even then was becoming increasingly less sure of its place in future history.

One major criticism of the book is its western bias there are merely a handful of speeches which have not been made by Americans or Europeans. Where are the great speechmakers of Africa, Australasia, Asia? This is however a mild criticism of what is an excellent book.