Philip Collins, now director of the Social Market Foundation, was Head of UK Strategy for an international bank, tutor at Cambridge, and producer at the BBC. He writes for numerous newspapers and magazines and is a frequent contributor to Newsnight and World Service.
‘Anyone interested in the past, present and future of speeches and
speechwriting will find it a fascinating read. For those of us who
like nothing better than to marvel at effective use of an anaphoric
tricolon, it’s an absolute must.’ Spectator ‘Wonderfully sharp and
well informed’ Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday ‘It deserves to find a
home in many Christmas stockings, in the library of anyone
interested in oratory or political theory, and on the odd A-level
reading list… he brings to his analyses a deep understanding of the
pragmatics of speech-making’ Guardian ‘Collins… understands
intimately the mechanics of rhetoric. He believes that we, as human
beings, possess the capacity to extract ourselves from the swamp in
which we have sunk. Great speeches, the author suggests, are the
solution to Trump’ The Times ‘Perfect conference reading’ Andrew
Marr 'No writer today understands the art of the speech so well as
Philip Collins. His brilliant new book is an urgent tour through
2000 years of human history, revealing how the greatest addresses
were shaped, while reminding us that politics and politicians still
matter, and that when the greatest men and women speak to us, their
words have the power to change the world'
Dan Jones, bestselling author of The Plantagenets ‘An utter gem of
a book: Collins takes some of the finest speeches ever made and
breathes new life into words you thought you knew well. Whether
it's the inaugural addresses of US presidents – or the
revolutionary writing of Castro, Pankhurst and Mandela – Collins'
deft touch illuminates and contextualises these moments in history
with wit and sensitivity – and the conviction that rhetoric may yet
be our most powerful tool for changing the world’
Emily Maitlis
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