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

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.