The Penguin Book of 20th-Century Speeches

The Penguin Book of 20th-Century Speeches Review

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This is a compilation of some very important speeches from the twentieth century, and some not so important ones. The author has chosen speeches mainly from the Western world, especially the United States and Great Britain. Most of the orators are men (need that be pointed out?:)) Naturally, this has the consequence that the result is a very incomplete picture. Bearing that in mind, however, there are some really good speeches here, and some very interesting. Reading this book is like reading a book on recent history.

Since these texts are authentic speeches, you actually get the feeling of being THERE. Reading some speeches really gave me an idea of how it made the listeners feel ... and sometimes, that was a rather creepy feeling. There are some really thought-provoking speeches in this book, such as one of my favourites: what will happen when we start use planes to bomb entire cities? The speech is called "The bomber will always get through" and the orator was Stanley Baldwin. Most of us are so young that we do not remember a world where wars were fought differently; when that option did not exist.

Each speech has a short introduction where the orator is placed in his or her context, and often, at the end, a few lines about what happened next. The speeches are chronologically arranged, not thematically. Whereas these introductions are of a high quality, they are not sufficient for a reader who is not rather well acquainted with the history of the Western world of the 20th century. If that is the case, I would recommend to read a general introduction first.

This book focuses clearly on political speeches, although there are exceptions. Students of political science will undoubtedly find it useful as a general companion book, but it is interesting for anyone who is interested in the recent political development. These speeches are not the only factors that have influenced that development, but orators often pick up current trends and issues, even before television.

I recommend this book with the caution that it does not give a full picture, it does not even aim to give a full picture and reading this book solely would give anyone a very strange idea about the history of the 20th century in the Western world. Read it with other books, and do not take this as THE truth ... it is a good and interesting read, provided you have a good portion of healthy criticism.

The Penguin Book of 20th-Century Speeches Feature

• ISBN13: 9780140285000
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Whether it was Churchill rousing the British to war, Castro inspiring the Cuban revolution, or Clinton defending himself against Monica Lewinsky, great speakers have always had the power to stir hearts, uphold great ideals, and lead nations to new frontiers. This newly revised edition of The Penguin Book of Twentieth Century Speeches includes a new introduction and twenty-nine new selections, such as the words spoken by Earl Spencer at Princess Diana's funeral, Nelson Mandela's "Let Freedom Sing" speech, and Bill Clinton's 1998 apology to the American people.
Includes speeches by:
Theodore Roosevelt
Emmeline Pankhurst
Mahatma Gandhi
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Douglas MacArthur
Nikita Khruschev
Martin Luther King, Jr.
John F. Kennedy
Malcolm X
Betty Friedan
Richard Nixon
Pope John Paul II
Ronald Reagan

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Customer Reviews

A biased selection of speeches - Jane Hope -
Amazing how some journalists like Brian MacArthur can so shamelessly abandon any pretence of objectivity even when compiling some data as straight forward as outstanding speeches. Thus in his 525 pages of speeches from leaders that span the world of the 20th Century, there isn't even one speech from any leaders of the Middle East and North Africa, such as Nasser, or of any of some of the outstanding orators which that region delegated to the UN, like Baroudy. By contrast of course the relatively obscure Zionist leaders Chaim Weizmann and Chaim Herzog are given more space than Winston Churchill and almost five times the space given to Charles de Gaulle. The same prejudice and inaccurate information can also be found in MacArthur's introductory remarks to some of the speeches. He states that Israel was created in 1946 when it is public knowledge that Israel was carved out of Arab Palestine in 1948 by expelling 800,000 Palestinians out of their homes and land.
It is not a credit to Penguin books to have published such a book containing some obvious distortions and fallacies.


The greatest speech of its era omitted!? - Reid Butler - South Korea
What kind of compendium of speeches can consider itself complete when it omits any mention of the following passage:

We shall go on to the end;
we shall fight in France,
we shall fight on the seas and oceans,
we shall fight with growing confidence
and growing strength in the air,
we shall defend our island,
whatever the cost may be,
we shall fight on the beaches,
we shall fight on the landing grounds,
we shall fight in the fields and in the streets,
we shall fight in the hills--we shall never surrender!

I purchased this book in 2001 and looked specifically for these lines by Winston Churchill,
and the speech was omitted.
No mention of it existed in the book.

On the other hand, the book includes numerous speeches
by British Labour leaders like Aneurin Bevan (?!)
and Neil Kinnock. Is that some kind of JOKE?!

Until that omission is corrected, this book must forever be considered an afterthought,
if not an outright insult.


Jun 19, 2010 23:56:05