The Penguin Book of Historic Speeches / Edited by Brian MacArthur

From Moses to Nelson Mandella, speeches have helped both change the way we see the world and the way the world is shaped. A great orator, however, has to have the right words and the right message to inspire his or her followers.

The Penguin Book of Historic Speeches gathers together the world's greatest speeches, bringing together the words of over one hundred men and women. These brilliant and passionate declarations by Disraeli, Lincoln, Gladstone, Churchill, Washington, Socrates, Pankhurst, Lenin, Gandhi and many others provide a vivid glimpse of history in the making while retaining their power to move and inspire today.

'Impeccable. MacArthur prefaces each address with a short but scholarly historical explanation that sets the scene perfectly. An attractive volume with a splendidly pithy introducton.' Andrew Roberts, Sunday Times

'MacArthur wisely [concentrates] on certain political conflicts - gathering together the oratory of the American Civil War or the campaign for female suffrage. His book works well not just as an anthology but as a history of those episodes.' Independent on Sunday