I Have a Dream

The Speeches That Changed History

Ferdie Addis

• Publisher: Michael O'Mara
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN:
  9781843175865
• eBook ISBN:
  9781843177357
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

To read of Elizabeth I addressing her troops before the Spanish Armada, or Martin Luther-King urging the American population for racial equality is to understand the tremendous power of language to inspire, to comfort, to move, or to enthuse an audience. It is inspiring to hear the words of people whose gift was to know what to say, when to say it, and how to phrase it, often in language so powerful, so eloquent and so beautiful that we remember their words centuries after they were first spoken. Here is an enjoyable collection of the greatest speeches that have been delivered throughout history, prefaced by brief historical and biographical introductions. The book includes some of the greatest, most celebrated speeches, such as Pericles' funeral oration in Athens in the fifth century BC, as well as lesser known speeches, such as Lieutenant-Colonel Tim Collins' eve-of-battle address to his soldiers in Iraq in 2003 - all of which deserve to be celebrated and credited by modern audiences.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• 8th–1st Centuries BC – The Classical Orators
• c. AD 26 The Sermon on The Mount – Jesus of Nazareth
• 1096 The Council of Clermont – Pope Urban II
• 1381 When Adam Delved and Eve Span – John Ball
• 1588 Elizabeth Reviews the Army at Tilbury – Elizabeth I
• 1653 Dismissing the Rump Parliament – Oliver Cromwell
• 1794 The Political Philosophy of Terror – Maximilien Robespierre
• 1814 Farewell to the Old Guard – Napoleon Bonaparte
• 1851 Ar’n’t I a Woman? – Sojourner Truth
• 1863 The Gettysburg Address – President Abraham Lincoln
• 1877 I Will Fight No More Forever – Chief Joseph
• 1913 Freedom or Death – Emmeline Pankhurst
• 1915 Ireland Unfree – Patrick Pearse
• 1916 Speech from the Dock – Sir Roger Casement
• 1916 There Is No Salvation for India – Mohandas Gandhi
• 1939 First Soldier of the German Reich – Adolf Hitler
• 1940 Three Wartime Speeches – Winston Churchill
• 1940 L’Appel du 18 Juin – Charles de Gaulle
• 1941 Speech on the Anniversary Celebration of the October Revolution – Joseph Stalin
• 1941 A Date Which Will Live in Infamy – Franklin Delano Roosevelt
• 1944 Speech on St Crispin’s Day – Laurence Olivier & William Shakespeare
• 1944 Speech before D-Day – General George S. Patton
• 1947 A Tryst with Destiny – Jawaharlal Nehru
• 1960 Winds of Change – Harold Macmillan
• 1961 Inaugural Address – President John F. Kennedy
• 1963 I Have a Dream – Martin Luther King
• 1964 The Ballot or the Bullet – Malcolm X
• 1980 The Lady’s Not for Turning – Margaret Thatcher
• 1987 Tear Down This Wall! – President Ronald Reagan
• 1990 Freedom From Fear – Aung San Suu Kyi
• 1994 Let Freedom Reign – Nelson Mandela
• 2001 Declaration of War on the United States – Osama bin Laden
• 2002 The Axis of Evil – President George W. Bush
• 2003 Eve of Battle Speech – Colonel Tim Collins
• 2008 Victory Speech – Barack Obama
• Sources and Acknowledgements