Voices of History

A new, updated edition including new speeches from Queen Elizabeth II and John Boyega in the year 2020.This collection of extraordinary speeches ranges from ancient times to the twenty-first century. Some are heroic and inspiring; some diabolical and atrocious; some are exquisite and poignant; others cruel and chilling. Among others we hear from Martin Luther King, Michelle Obama, Donald Trump, Lincoln, Emmeline Pankhurst, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Alexander the Great, Greta Thunberg, Elizabeth I, Cromwell, Churchill, JFK, Boudicca, Muhammad Ali and Malala. Voices of History shows how these unique speeches enlighten our past, enrich our present and inspire - and hold warnings for - our future.

An exuberant collection of great speeches from world history and cultural life takes us on a tour from antiquity to the 21st century. From Churchill and Elizabeth I to Michelle Obama and Bob Dylan, this book is packed with amazing orators, Simon Sebag Montefiore is one of the UK's history heavyweights... Reading these eloquent, powerful words from some of the greatest figures in history, while inspiring, also provides a sobering counterpoint with the rhetorical skills of some of those influencing world affairs today, Reading such powerful words from history urges us to pause and consider that the household names disrupting and influencing society today can so easily be folded in with the Boudiccas and Alexander the Greats. It's a book that'll make an excellent gift, or an exciting window on the past for those who love to analyse society and history

Simon Sebag Montefiore is the internationally bestselling author of prize-winning books that have been published in forty-eight languages. CATHERINE THE GREAT & POTEMKIN was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize; STALIN: THE COURT OF THE RED TSAR won History Book of the Year Prize at the British Book Awards; YOUNG STALIN won the Costa Biography Award, the LA Times Book Prize for Biography, the Kreisky Prize and the Grand Prix de la Biographie Politique; JERUSALEM: THE BIOGRAPHY won the JBC Book of the Year Prize and the Wenjin Book Prize in China; THE ROMANOVS: 1613-1918 won the Lupicaia del Terriccio Book Prize. He is the author of the Moscow Trilogy of novels: SASHENKA, RED SKY AT NOON and ONE NIGHT IN WINTER, which won the Political Fiction Book of the Year Award. He is also the author of WRITTEN IN HISTORY: LETTERS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD and VOICES OF HISTORY: SPEECHES THAT CHANGED THE WORLD.