Alex Marklew

Lend me your ears

Philip Collins analyses 25 influential speeches from the past 2,500 years, and explains just why they’re so powerful

issue 21 October 2017

Complaints about the decline and fall of political oratory are nothing new. Back in 1865 a British reporter branded the Gettysburg Address ‘dull and commonplace’ and, as this joy of a book points out, even Cicero had to put up with the Neo-Attics sniggering from behind their togas at his overwrought and outdated speaking style.

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