The fifty most important speeches of all time: their context, history, and meaning for our world

The speeches remembered by history are rarely remembered in context; but it was almost always the context, not the speech itself, that made each address so significant. Terry Golway has selected fifty speeches that changed the world through the sheer power of their oratory. From Moses to Mandela and others from across time and around the world, Golway's selections are each illuminated with an insightful essay setting the speech squarely in its historical contexts and detailing its impact and consequences. In doing so, Golway allows us to fully understand their importance and effect.

Including speeches from Jesus, Mohammed, Cicero, Pericles, Cromwell, Washington, Pope Urban II, John Winthrop, Kennedy, Emperor Hirohito, Barbara Jordan, Ho Chi Minh, Khrushchev, Robespierre, Patrick Henry, Queen Elizabeth I, Reagan, Mandela, FDR, Hitler, Churchill, Barack Obama and many more, this book is an historic achievement. Much more than a reference, it is a series of windows into our past presented by a gifted storyteller.