Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History, Updated and Expanded Edition

Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History, Updated and Expanded Edition | A Great Resource

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Lend Me Your Ears:...

	Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History, Updated and Expanded Edition W. W. Norton & Company, 2004 - 1157 pages average customer review:based on 19 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The definitive compendium of classic and modern oratory expanded?with a new preface on what makes a speech "great."

An instant classic when it was first published a decade ago and now enriched by seventeen new speeches, Lend Me Your Ears contains more than two hundred outstanding moments of oratory. This third edition is selected, arranged, and introduced by William Safire, who honed his skills as a presidential speechwriter. He is considered by many to be America's most influential political columnist and most elegant explicator of our language. Covering speeches from Demosthenes to George W. Bush, this latest edition includes the words of Cromwell to the "Rump Parliament," Orson Welles eulogizing Darryl F. Zanuck, General George Patton exhorting his troops before D-Day, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg speaking on Bush v. Gore. A new section incorporates speeches that were never delivered: what Kennedy was scheduled to say in Dallas; what Safire wrote for Nixon if the first moon landing met with disaster; and what Clinton originally planned to say after his grand jury testimony but swapped for a much fiercer speech.

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A classic work made up of classic works

Aside from the great speeches ( two hundred of them ) that constitute this volume and are its heart, there is also the informative introductory commentary of William Safire. This commentary serves not only as guide to each particular speech, but in general terms as a kind of extended essay on the art of speechmaking. And Safire makes it clear throughout that he views speechmaking as an art.
The anthology contains the great standard political speeches, Pericles, Demosthenes, Burke , Lincoln . It contains elegies and tributes, sermons , speeches of social responsibility, media speeches, speeches which mark out landmark occaisions in history.
This is a classic work which is made up of classic works. And in it is a must- have work for anyone who wishes to understand and know the art of speechmaking.

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A Great Resource

It is so difficult to do justice to a book about great speeches. By definition, the content should be good - even great, which is partly why this book is such a rich treasure. The other reason why Lend Me Your Ears is such a useful resource is the commentary provided by editor William Safire.

Safire opens the book with "An Introductory Address." It is a witty treatise on the elements of a great speech. The ten steps (plus a "secret eleventh")he outlines are not original, but in total provide very good guidelines for the budding speechwriter.

Safire then provides context and a brief critique for each of the speeches referenced. These speeches range from ancient Greece to today. Some of them are not great speeches, some are not by nice people, but in their own way the speeches were effective - sometimes horribly so e.g. Adolph Hitler, Lenin, Stalin.

His commentary on Hitler for instance explains very simply and lucidly why this "curse of Hitler," in Winston Churchill's words, became so compelling to many Germans. "Hitler's speeches often lacked the strength of coherence, but with slashing racism and the powerful imagery of nationalism, he was able to delight and control crowds resentful of the reminders of past defeats."

I'm not sure if the reader will ever get to all the speeches in the book, but it is a great shelf item, to pick up at will, browse, imagine you were there when Lincoln spoke at Gettysburg, when Lou Gehrig bids farewell to baseball (in a beautiful short address)and when Senator Everett Dirksen extols the virtue of the Marigold. I kid you not.

Two gems I really appreciated and are little nuggets. Branch Rickey discovers the quality that makes a baseball player great (Ty Cobb), and Richard Nixon's eulogy for Senator Dirksen, which Safire admits he was partly responsible for.

For the keen student of communication and speech, this book is a treasure.

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Lend me your ears and eyes

Over 2000 years of the best speeches imaginable. One can sit for 10 minutes or 3 hours and devour the words of history's greatest men and women. A must for every student, political scientist and would be politician.

Best Speech Compilation - Ever

Safire's collection is, without exception, the best set of speeches out there today. The only competition is Copeland's book and, while Copeland's is more wide-ranging and diverse, Safire reprints the speeches in their entirety. Enormously helpful. Has all of the ones you know should be in there - JFK, MLK, Reagan, Churchill, etc - but also some you wouldn't think of. The beauty of this book is that he prefaces each speech with his own commentary about WHY the speech is special. And, frankly, the introduction, where he opines about the 10 characteristics of a great speech, is worth the hernia you'll get picking up this hefty volume.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

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