The art of Oratory :150 of the Most Inspirational & Influential Speeches in History (PAPERBACK)  | Released: 2012

The speeches in this book changed history. Sometimes they did so straightforwardly, for instance by setting in train a change of mind among the audience, as Wilberforce began to do over the slave trade. But sometimes it was by changing the way posterity has viewed a decision already taken, as Socrates did at his trial even though he was condemned to death. Every speech has been chosen on its merits. Such merits are of two kinds, however. A speech may be and usually is a highly readable essay in the art of immediate persuasion. But it is sometimes more the trigger by which a world historical personage has catapulted mankind into action afterwards. As such, it may have had a more long-term historical than an immediate impact. For that reason the accompanying remark explaining the context of every speech and giving an account of the speaker are as vital as the speech itself. About The Author: Charles Mosley was born in London and educated at Eton and King’s College Cambridge. He has worked all his life in publishing, information research, journalism, and broadcasting. At one time he regularly monitored speechmaking by overseas politicians for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. He has also covered speeches by British politicians, and occasionally delivers speeches himself. He is the author or editor of many books, including American Presidential Families (with Hugh Brogan), Burke’s Peerage and Baronetage (106th and 107th editions), Blood Royal, and Debrett’s Guide to Entertaining. He contributed the biographies of Britain’s eighteenth- and nineteenth-century prime ministers to the Burke’s Peerage and Gentry website. He lives with his second wife and two dogs in the London borough of Westminster, where the crafting, polishing, and delivery of speeches is a centuries-old industry.