Transatlantic Rhetoric: Speeches from the American Revolution to the Suffragettes

Review Speech is the most important medium of democracy. Yet too many speeches, and too many speakers, go unremarked and unstudied. In this vital book Tom Wright corrects the omission for the oratory between American Independence and World War One…and unearths some of the lost men and women who, at least as much as the famous figures, are truly representative of the age., Philip Collins, Times columnist and author of When They Go Low, We Go High Product Description Reclaims public speaking as a central cultural form of the nineteenth centuryPlaces famous speeches by Emmeline Pankhurst, Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain and Oscar Wilde alongside previously unpublished textsOffers a more racially, ethnically and politically varied range of speeches than ever collected beforeIncludes illustrations and suggestions for further readingsA ‘how to use this book’ section provides historical contextualisations and valuable guidance for steering classroom discussionsThis pioneering collection brings alive the world of public speaking between the American Revolution and the age of the Suffragettes. It presents over seventy speeches by a diverse range of female and male activists, politicians, tribal leaders, fugitive slaves and preachers from both sides of the Atlantic, debating the crucial issues of the day, from socialism and imperialism to slavery and women’s suffrage. Complete with detailed notes, introductions, illustrations and suggestions for further reading, it provides a unique introduction to transatlantic history and culture. From the Back Cover Reclaims public speaking as a central cultural form of the nineteenth century This pioneering collection brings alive the world of public speaking between the American Revolution and the age of the Suffragettes. It presents over seventy speeches by a diverse range of female and male activists, politicians, tribal leaders, fugitive slaves and preachers from both sides of the Atlantic, debating the crucial issues of the day, from socialism and imperialism to slavery and women’s suffrage. Complete with detailed notes, introductions, illustrations and suggestions for further reading, it provides a unique introduction to transatlantic history and culture. Key Features: • Places famous speeches by Emmeline Pankhurst, Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain and Oscar Wilde alongside previously unpublished texts. • Offers a more racially, ethnically and politically varied range of speeches than ever collected before. • Includes illustrations and suggestions for further readings. • A ‘how to use this book’ section provides historical contextualisations and valuable guidance for steering classroom discussions. Tom F. Wright teaches English and American Studies at the University of Sussex. About the Author Tom Wright is Lecturer in English Literature at the School of English, University of Sussex. He is the author of Lecturing the Atlantic: Speech, Print and an Anglo-American Commons (Oxford, 2017) and editor of The Cosmopolitan Lyceum: Lecture Culture and the Globe in Nineteenth Century America (UMass, 2013) and has published widely about nineteenth century cultural history and literature.