Customer Reviews
a badly received present - By: Adele, 27 Oct 2007 
I bought this for a friend then felt awful when I heard that he hadn't enjoyed it. I read it myself & realise why - because it's rubbish. There are much better books than this around. don't buy it
It doesn't do what it says on the tin! - By: Barry Cunningham, 30 Nov 2006 
There are some great speechesin this book, some wonderful pieces of oratory captured on the page, but i take considerable issue with the title &in some cases with the authors historical context pieces.
Prefacing a speech by Valclav Havel he mentions that "this is a little known speech"; how then did it change the world?
The author's Irish historical contextual pieces leave a lot to be desired (yes I'm Irish & yes I want a balanced view of our history, not Mr Montefiore's view). His choice of a speech by Eamonn De Valera is perplexing. It is little known within Ireland & even less known outside. A good speech & well crafted but I doubt it changed Ireland let alone the world.
Nonetheless there are speeches here that bear reading & re-reading. Martin Luther King, Hitler - to read such vitriol is essential, the Gettysburg address, Churchill's defining WW2 speeches - which are some of the few that could be said to live up to the title.
Buy it for the speeches, ignore the author's contextual introductions & let some powereful words speak for themselves, but don't expect them to change the world
