Reviews

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

meaganbrooks's review against another edition

informative fast-paced

2.75

a_n_n's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

libdibs's review against another edition

informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

3.0

Some interesting history and quotes, but fantastically biased to Euro-America (particularly Soviet Russia?!) and lacking much in the way of a critical lens.

maureen2506's review against another edition

4.0

Bewegend, schockierend, inspirierend und alles in allem wichtig und richtig mal gelesen zu haben. Viele dieser Worte haben Tausende wenn nicht Millionen von Menschen erreicht und beeinflusst. Solch wichtigen Worte sollte man gelesen haben, um etwas mehr zu verstehen wieso Menschen auf diese Reden so reagiert haben wie sie es taten.

jaw_999's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

3.5

kmaller01's review

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

4.25

baliute's review against another edition

informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

3.5

littlestar2911's review

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

jamesjustjames's review against another edition

5.0

I first read Montefiore's 'Written in History' a collection of letters from famous and infamous figures throughout history and found myself spellbound by the secrets and eccentricities of their character. Napoleon for example wrote saucy letters to his missus- we remember his arrogance, his domination of Europe, his... piles and the myth about his height, but Montefiore's work humanised him. Voices of History I liked even more. Hearing a great speech is all well and good but seeing them written down and being able to pore over them and digest every scrap of information is magical. You just know that the majority of these speeches will have been sweated over, scribbled out, edited and amended over and over to get them just perfect, but we don't remember every word of a speech, just certain key lines like "I have a dream" or the polar opposite "I will build a Great Wall [...] and make Mexico pay for it."
If you have any interest in history this is the book for you, it is as varied as it is interesting, ranging from modern to ancient history all in one volume.

gillianc695a's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.75