Reviews

Voices of History: Speeches that Changed the World by Simon Sebag Montefiore

cococreates26's review against another edition

hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.5

jasminious's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

I really enjoyed the sections of history before each speech. I think they provided each speech with the context needed to understand them a bit better. (And it meant that I didn't spend half the book confused about who was speaking and why. )

I also really liked the way the book was structured. For me, the different sections made it easier to read the book.

jon288's review against another edition

5.0

Absolutely fantastic as an audiobook; definitely the best way to read it. There were some incredible inclusions, some really wonderful speeches. I found myself disagreeing with the subtitle though; few of these had much impact on the world (although probably more so than the letters), even though they were very powerful and great to listen to. The framing was useful for context and scene setting, but didn't add too much to the compilation

kubik1's review

informative inspiring medium-paced

4.5

endless_reading's review against another edition

informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

This book made me cry several times, so I can't say it was easy to read. But I read it smoothly and quickly. It was very easy to stop and pick up again, and I liked the way the speeches were organized. There was a few speeches by people I'd never heard of, and speeches by very well known people.  I have added books to my TBR about a few of these people, and events. Some of the speeches I knew of, but was too young when they were spoken to recall them. The 9/11 speech was very impactful to me. I was two years old when that happened, and although I learned about it in school, even having a distinct memory of teachers watching the news about it on VHS when I was a child. I'd never read that speech. I think it's one worth reading. In fact there was not one speech I didn't gain something from. 
 I very much recommend this book. 

onthedig's review against another edition

informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

2.0

Good just not for me. Very dense. More of a compendium than anything else. The author only provides brief information on the speaker and context and then the rest of it is all about the speeches. Feels like a money grab. Some of the speeches were amazing though and have inspired me to read works by those authors. 

alanyoung's review against another edition

4.0

This collection provides examples of the power of words for good and for evil. It was wonderful to 'hear'
the dignity and passion of Martin Luther-King, Barak Obama and Abraham Lincoln
the battlefield motivation of Tim Collins
the courage of Socrates, Anwar al-Sadat and Yitzhak Rabin
the defiance of Churchill
the eloquent sadness of Elie Wiesel
the sober voices of Oppenheimer and Greta Thunberg
It was also deeply disturbing to 'hear'
the ruthless hatred of Hitler, Stalin and Genghis Khan
the demented rantings of Nero.
I have been reminded of our capacity for evil but I have read some of these with tears in my eyes when nobility, dignity and quiet courage have shone through.

book_dragon88's review

informative inspiring slow-paced

4.25

phoebe_books's review

4.0

This book narrows in on a topic that tends to be overlooked in most history books but in my opinion gives so of the best insight into the emotional reactions to historic events. It has been very interesting while reading this book to see the difference in language from different figures and how this in turn shows their character.

kmoses87's review against another edition

4.0

I really enjoyed all the inspirational speaches. One thing that really struck me was how many important people helped end things like racism in other countries, that we don't really learn about in the US. And also how many counties have had female presidents and prime ministers while American has not. And we seem to think we're such a great example of freedom and democracy-_-;