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| Creator: William Safire
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Category: Book
List Price: $39.95
Buy New: $26.37
You Save: $13.58 (34%)
Rating:  19 reviews
Sales Rank: 48511
Media: Hardcover
Edition: Exp Upd
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 1157
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.4
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.1 x 2.3
ISBN: 0393059316
Dewey Decimal Number: 808.85
EAN: 9780393059311
Publication Date: October 30, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
 My ears are yours January 9, 2000
14 out of 14 found this review helpful
This is the speaker's cook book. Every great speech since the Sermon on the Mount seems to get a listing, each a beautiful little inspirational recipe for our own fumbling, stuttering, trembling efforts. To cap it all, Safire's editorial contribution is brilliant. He follows his hypnotic introduction with concise and balanaced analysis for each speech. If you are looking for something stirring for the Scout jamboree, something special for cousin Harriet's wedding, or that little extra for Pastor William's Sunday service this is the book for you. I couldn't put the book down. Highly recommended.
 A valuable book to own. August 27, 1998
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
If you are already a serious speaker or intend to make a speech with an impact in the near future, then this book is for you. A valuable book to own. For the serious student of life, this book will give you an appreciation of some of the great people that walked this earth and how theirs speeches have and will forever touch our lives.
....Also your heart, your mind, and your soul September 19, 2005
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
If there is a better anthology of great speeches, I am not aware of it.
The text from which its title is derived is Mark Antony's speech in Shakespeare's play, Julius Caesar, and is included among the hundreds in this volume. Credit Safire with a brilliant job of selecting and then introducing each. He should also be commended on his "An Introductory Address" which offers an exceptionally informative as well as entertaining explanation of eleven "secrets steps" when composing and then presenting a great speech. (i.e. "the meat and potatoes of oratory," "the tricks of the speech trade"). They include the usual suspects such as structure ("shapeliness"), pulse, occasion, "forum" (or venue), focus, etc. Safire adds a few others which, in retrospect, seem obvious but really aren't. For example, the importance of the first step: "Shake hands with your audience...Make the first step a quickstep; get your smile, then get to work." Another: "Cross `em up now and then." Safire suggests that great speeches are meant to be read, not spoken. "What every audience needs is a sense of completion." Therefore, what the speaker needs "is a way out on a high note. That's the necessary ingredient to shapeliness. That calls for peroration [which is] a devastating defense against the dread disease of dribbling off."
It is worth noting that some great speeches had no significant impact when first delivered (e.g. Lincoln's 266-word "Gettysburg Address") and some are delivered only during a dramatic performance (e.g. Antony's funeral oration); however, all great speeches continue to be read and admired long after being written.
I question the greatness of some of Safire's selections for this volume, such as the draft he wrote for President Nixon in case the Apollo XI mission ended in tragedy. Fortunately, the speech (actually a brief statement to be read to a television camera) was never delivered and remained unread at the National Archives until 2001 when it re-appeared as part of a major exhibition. Safire himself does not claim that it is a great speech but selected it because "it shows how the context of a dreaded dramatic occasion can make memorable words written to be spoken aloud." In this instance, the "occasion" rather than the content would have made Nixon's remarks memorable. Read it (pages 1144-1145) and decide for yourself.
Of special interest to me are the following:
"General Patton Motivates the 3rd Army on the Eve of the Invasion of Europe" (pages 551-555)": Actually, this is a "collated address" which provides the essence of dozens of extemporaneous statements by Patton. Those who have seen the opening scene of film are already familiar with Patton's direct approach: "Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. You won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country." According to Safire, that statement is actually not in any of the contemporaneous accounts he knows about but "surely sounds like Patton."
"Evangelist Sojourner Truth Speaks for Women's Rights" (pages 684-685): As with Patton's public remarks, there are several different versions and variations of the illiterate former slave's as she traveled throughout the United States preaching "a message that combined religious and abolitionist ideas." To his credit, Safire allows that message to be presented in standard English as presumably she spoke it, without "editorial prettification" (his words) nor "as if I was saying tickety-ump-ump-nicky-nacky" (her words).
"Broadcaster Edward R. Murrow Despairs of the Future of TV Journalism" (pages 771-778): This is what was then (1958) a highly controversial challenge to those who controlled the major networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) to ensure that television programming achieves more, becomes more than "merely wires and lights in a box." Murrow knew that his remarks would "enrage" his and other news journalists' employers. In fact, that was his intention when speaking to the Radio and Television News Directors Association. Safire correctly notes that Murrow's opening line ("This just might do nobody any good") was doubly prophetic: his "heretical and even dangerous thoughts" weakened his authority and influence at CBS while revealing during his speech what someone else in the audience described as "the accents of [Murrow's] despair" concerning the commercialization of broadcast news.
Safire invites his readers to lend their "ears" to Patton, Truth, and Murrow as well as to dozens of others whose speeches can stir our blood (Daniel Webster re Bunker Hill ), sound the clarion of war (Elizabeth I in defiance of the Spanish Armada), honor the memory of illustrious dead (Frederick Douglass on Abraham Lincoln), recall the clash of hot debate (Cicero lashing into Catiline), and nourish our soul (e.g. Jesus' Sermon on the Mount). Safire also includes what he calls "the mother's milk of this anthologist," the political speech. A remarkable variety can be found in Chapter XII (pages 853-1,072) and range from Demosthenes' attack of his accuser to Tony Blair's exhortation to fight terrorism. Safire also includes three "undelivered speeches" in the final chapter, including his draft for Nixon. The other two are President John F. Kennedy's prepared remarks for a luncheon in Dallas on November 22, 1963, and the draft of a speech of contrition which President Clinton rejected, preferring to "move on" instead.
To repeat, if there is a better anthology of great speeches, I am not aware of it.
A wonderful collection with terrific commentary & insight November 19, 2004
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
William Safire has given readers a remarkable gift with this collection. Lend Me Your Ears is very similar to a book of poetry - it is to be treasured, read and referenced over a lifetime; never to be "finished" or forgotten.
This book has broad appeal - especially to fans of history and politics. But, anyone looking for inspiration or uplifting can find an appropriate speech or passage in its pages. And, most importantly, the book cuts both ways across the political divide - one can find speeches from John F. and Robert Kennedy, FDR, Clinton, Lincoln, Churchill, Martin Luther King, and least surprisingly, Nixon, since Safire served as one of his speechwriters. Safire knows the language as well as anyone, probably better than your favorite English teacher, and his marvelous talents as a speechwriter give this book even more credibility. A good speechwriter knows a great speech when he hears it and/or reads it, as Safire shows with his selections in this book. (Point of fact - I'm a proud, liberal Democrat, and I have these feelings about Safire!)
Safire offers introductions and sage commentary before each speech, which I found both enlightening and entertaining. I cannot recommend this book highly enough for anyone interested in great speeches through history. I'm hoping for a revised edition or perhaps a volume II from Safire.
One final note: some criticize the author for speeches omitted in this volume, but a line has to be drawn, or a book on this subject could span thousands of pages. Keep in mind, this book contains great speeches in Safire's opinion; it's not an end-all-be-all list of great historic speeches.
 Shame on Norton! Listen to MLK "I have a dream" while reading this book October 2, 2006
7 out of 9 found this review helpful
The text they have in the first edition of this book for the "I have a dream" speech so deviates from the actual speech, it leads you to wonder two things: a) what kind of crappy editors are reviewing this stuff? and b) if the MLK speech is so screwed up, can you trust the text they provide of the older speeches that you cannot verify by listening to recordings?
This sucks. I am seriously disappointed by the editors at Norton.
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