The Best Man-speech Ever

From Socrates to Charles I, Danton to Lincoln - here are some of history's most significant figures with their most important speeches. Fighting for justice, for freedom of speech, and sometimes even for their own lives, these orators demonstrate the finest resources of languge in the service of the most dramatic issues of their day.

Great Speeches in History - Audiobook

In the age of the nine-second soundbite - reportedly now the average length of time a US presidential candidate has to present his or her views on a particular issue via a television broadcast - it may seem indulgent to offer a selection of great speeches, some of which lasted several hours in their original format. Do we still have subjects that stir the emotions as powerfully as those which gave rise to the speeches performed here?

It might be equally argued, however, that the preservation of some of the finest forms of argument ever made is a moral duty for without knowing our past we are condemned to repeat its errors. What matter that today's speeches are, by and large, poor shadows of those of former times? Occasionally we are startled from complacency and are moved by a politician doing his or her best.

The speeches selected here are all, in a broad sense, politically motivated, in that they were given in circumstances in which the orator found him or herself pressed to speak in the hope of bringing about change in the public world. This is perhaps as it should be; the speech is by definition a public performance, an attempt to persuade the audience of the orator's point of view, having gained their attention in the first place.

If there is a unifying theme to this selection, then it is the suggestion that each of these speeches was given at a crossroads in history Sir Thomas More's speech might be said to have put the final touch to the end of the supremacy of Rome over the Church of England. It is perhaps less evident with some of the other speeches that any turning point was being marked by their particular words on that especial occasion; but turning points of history can be moments when opportunities for change for the better are lost, as well as grasped.

Thomas Babington Macaulay, the 19th-century writer and politician, and no mean speech-maker himself, said that "the object of oratory alone is not truth but persuasion. " It is not for me to judge the truth or otherwise of the speeches here, but each of them, in different ways, demonstrates the truthfulness of Macaulay's assertion. Even Charles I, moments before his execution, is determined to persuade his listeners of the validity of his own position.

"Let thy speech be short, comprehending much in few words, " is the exhortation in Ecclesiastes. No more then, except to hope that more of our contemporary orators might argue a little more, and assert a little less.

The Bitch in the House
Despite more power and choices than ever before, women are still angry - that's not necessarily a bad thing, as anger is what continues to open the door for change. In this collection, 15 women speak boldly and passionately about choices they've made - about sex, children, love and work - and explore what's working and what is not.

Their essays - always provocative, honest, witty and wise - are the culmination of the lessons of the past two decades, the 'me' years and the therapy years, the years that have taught women to express themselves and acknowledge their needs. As celebratory as they are critical, these brilliant essays reflect the truth about life.

This Audio book The Bastard on the Couch / The Bitch in the House contains the following essays, written and read by the contributors:

Introduction -- Cathi Hanauer
Getting the Milk for Free -- Veronica Chambers
Crossing to Safety -- Jen Marshall
Moving In. Moving Out. Moving On. -- Sarah Miller
Papa Don't Preach -- Kerry Herlihy
I Do. Not.: Why I Won't Marry -- Catherine Newman
Killing the Puritan Within -- Kate Christensen
My Mother's Ring: Caught Between Two Families -- Helen Schulman
Attila the Honey I'm Home -- Kristin van Ogtrop
The Myth of Co-Parenting: How It Was Supposed to Be. How It Was. -- Hope Edelman
Daddy Dearest: What Happens When He Does More Than His Half? -- Laurie Abraham
Crossing the Line in the Sand: How Mad Can Mother Get? -- Elissa Schappell
Married at 46: The Agony and the Ecstacy -- Nancy Wartik
The Fat Lady Sings -- Natalie Kusz
What Independence Has Come to Mean to Me: The Pain of Solitude.The Pleasure of Self-Knowledge. -- Vivian Gornick

The Bastard on the Couch
Turns out that The Bitch In the House was only half the story. Daniel Jones, husband of Cathi Hanauer, has rallied the men for the "literary equivalent of The Full Monty," in which a group of thoughtful, passionate and often hilarious men lay it bare when it comes to their wives and girlfriends, their hopes and fears.

Many of these husbands and fathers contemplate aspects of their personal lives they've never before revealed -- kicking open the door on their marriages and sex lives, their fathering and domestic conflicts, their most intimate relationships and situations.

Powerful, heartfelt and irreverent, this is a bold, unprecedented glimpse into the glaring truths of modern relationships.

This Audio Book The Bastard on the Couch / The Bitch in the House contains the following essays, written and read by the contributors:

Preface -- Cathi Hanauer
Introduction -- Daniel Jones
A Bachelor's Fear -- Steve Friedman
I Am Man, Hear Me Bleat -- Fred Leebron
My List of Chores -- Christopher Russell
Ward and June R Us -- Rob Spillman
Embracing the Little SteeringWheel -- Manny Howard
Log Man -- David Gates
Chivalry on Ice -- Daniel Jones

Listen in to this great two book combination here:
The Bastard on the Couch / The Bitch in the House.