It is a wonderful idea to make available recordings of great speeches. I hope we have more of this in the future.
In the case of older speeches, the selection is very good, considering the restraints of time, and the readers are uniformly excellent.
As for the modern speeches, it is a marvel of technology that we can hear these speeches as delivered. It is incredible that we can hear the voice of William Jennings Bryan. I can listen to Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" a thousand times and never tire of it! How I wish I could listen to the voice of Patrick Henry! But this selection is too heavily weighted to the modern, and many of those do not deserve billing as the GREATEST speeches of ALL TIME. Also, some of the modern speeches which are included are abridged, e.g. Reagan is cut off in the middle of a sentence, while lengthy and undeserving speeches are played out in their entirety.
Also, with only a few exceptions, the selection is almost entirely American. It is hard to understand why Jimmy Carter's lengthy speech on energy policy is included, while Pericles' funeral oration is not; or why only a small portion of a single Winston Churchill speech is included; why while Bill Clinton's complete 1993 pulpit address, in excess of 20 minutes, is included.
It would be helpful if the complete list of speeches were available to online buyers, as it would be to shoppers in a brick and mortar store.

I have listened to this collection twice now, both times with pleasure. Hearing the acutal voices of Amelia Earhart, Rev. Martin Luther King, Winston Churchill and Neil Armstrong made a deeper connection than simply reading their words. The collection showcases different subjects and many times contrasts opposing viewpoints of the ideas. This volume is a fantastic introduction to the moving ideals and sometimes sad truths that have influenced Western Civilization.

The idea that we have become an uncivil society is correct. Trying to stimulate young minds to reflect on civility is also a good idea, but this book, overpriced and better suited for fund raising for local boyscout troops just didn't hit home, even with my own 13 year old son. It was more like one of those self-publishing recipe books local groups publish to sell for fund raising. The rules of George Washington really don't even often deal with larger issues of morality, but more like good table manners or conversation ethics. The best part of the book in my opinion was the illustrations which depicted George as a young boyscout type setting a good example of each rule, along side a misbehaving modern lad. The efforts of modern day boyscouts to grapple with the idea of civility is a worthwhile activity, but didn't really provide good reading material in this case.

In Rules Of Civility For The 21st Century, Henry Wheelwright has assembled a compendium of two hundred rules of civility drawn from submission by some four million Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts across the country. The rules of conduct were sent in by boys for themselves and others after reflecting on the rules that President George Washington copied out for himself as a youth of 14. Also provided for the reader is a Civility Workshop addressing modern threats to civility and keys to character building and leadership. Line illustrations enhanced Rules Of Civility For The 21st Century, which is an adamantly recommended acquisition for every school and public library in every community in America.

This book ought to be read by anyone who is interested in the meaning of the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights. What it will supply is a view of the meaning of the various contentious phrases of that document, by illustrating the controversies to which the Founding Fathers were replying.

As history, this book is seriously flawed, but even its flaws are enlightening. Hallam's subject is the "English Constitution." Of course, there is no written English Constitution; it is a tacit understanding of the proper limits and aims of power, and as such it has changed remarkably over the many centuries of British history. Hallam blandly assumes that the consensus of his own period is consensus that has always prevailed. If it seemed contentious in the past ---- the several tyrannies great and petty, the civil wars and glorious revolutions, and the sundry controversies between King and Parliament --- these were the result of royal or parliamentary usurpations of authority, never reflecting adversely on the Way Things Ought to Be, which just happened to be the way things were at the time he wrote.

This view of things is so cliché'd that it is often labelled "Whig history," the claim that the grand powers ultimately assumed by the House of Commons, in derogation of the Royal authority, really reflects an ancient and inherited order rather than a dramatic change from the former status quo. As history -per se-, it is open to serious doubt.

The point is, though, that whether this history is -true- or not, people believed in it as patriotic myth, and acted as if they believed it. This is nowhere more apparent than in the pages of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The very notion of a Bill of Rights was borrowed from the events chronicled in this book. The various usurpations that Madison thought to guard against in his amendments were aimed, not only at British colonial rule, but also against the alleged abuses of power committed by the Stuart and Tudor monarchs. To read this book from 1827 is to get a rare and valuable glimpse into the political habits of mind of respectably liberal English-speaking people in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. This gives this work continuing value.

A literary note: Prof. Henry Hallam, the author of this book, was the father of Arthur Hallam, Alfred, Lord Tennyson's friend, whose early death occasioned Tennyson's -In Memoriam-.

This book is a combination of a postal directory of County Tipperary,Ireland in 1889 and local history. The book was originally published as "A manual and directory for manufacturers,merchants,traders,professional men,land-owners,farmers,tourists, anglers and sportsmen generally".
Approximately half of the book consists of pictures and advertisements from businesses. The remainder of the book is divided between a postal directory of 1889 and local and county history. There is an overall index for merchants,but "Farmers & Residents" must be looked up at their postal directory listing. This book is of great interest for the genealogist looking for anyone circa 1889 in Tipperary. The directory also can give a person an idea of the number of individuals of a particular surname that stayed behind in post-famine Ireland. The listing of names appears to be comprehensive for any person that owned or leased land in Tipperary. Persons living in a hotel or working as a laborer for others on a farm may not be listed. I was able to locate all of my many ancestors (head of houshold) who lived in Tipperary at this time. In one case I found an ancestor whose postal address was different than his acutal Townsland address. The book provides not only reference material, but also reads like a local Tipperary newspaper from the late 1800s. If you have an interest in genealogy or history in 1889 Tipperary you will find yourself reading more of the book/directory than you intended.

Anyone that needed reminding of the romanticism that this county was founded with should read Henry Cabot Lodge's biography of George Washington.

King's book deals with the performance of Arthur Conan Doyle's short play "A Story of Waterloo" by eminent Victorian actor Henry Irving and a devastating review of this production written by George Bernard Shaw in 1895. The play is about an old and feeble soldier who has played a heroic role at Waterloo and pathetically dies while reliving his finest hour, thereby bringing the house down (in the theatre, that is). King uses this intersection of two remarkable theatrical careers to consider the Victorians' retrospective glance at the Napoleontic wars, the nature of Irving's performance, which by modern standards would be inconceivably sentimental, Irving's relation to his audience, Shaw's development as a critic and playwright, Irving's leading lady Ellen Terry and her son, the theatre director, designer and Irving acolyte Edward Gordon Craig. An instructive and entertaining read for anyone with a broad interest in the theatre and (cultural) history. Highly accessible, but marred by some unnecessary excursions into academic obscurities that the opening chapters had led me to believe were going to be avoided. Still, fascinating stuff.

There is a reason this book is on the Joint Chiefs of Staff recomended reading list. Eccles provides clear insite into the strategic aspects of logistics in a global era.

This book is most helpful to those who have to find information about materials outside their area of expertise. The listing is extremely broad, and unlike other books, does not just focus on engineered or structural materials. The negative side of this breadth is the small amount of information on each material (sometimes only one or two paragraphs). This small amount of information, however, is usually enough to direct a search into a more productive direction. I have benefitted from this book on the last 4 jobs I have held. Definitely worth having.

A thick book with way to many words to inform. This book dates itself, but does have something to say. It just takes to long to say it. There are some kernals to find and I would recommend it as a read.

Dr. Samuel A. Jones (1834-1912) was a physician and Thoreau scholar who lived in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Horace Hosmer (1830-1894) was a small businessman in Acton and Concord, Massachusetts. They formed a friendship when their paths crossed in 1890, and they exchanged letters from that point on until Horace's death in 1894. Much of their correspondence dealt with the then-contemporary image of Henry David Thoreau, who had been popularized in an 1888 biography by F. B. Sanborn. Dr. Jones was a devoted fan of the naturalist; Horace was a family friend who had once been a student in Henry and John Thoreau's school. Both set out to refute details revealed in the Sanborn book.

Enter George Hendrick, an English professor who in 1974 discovered this collection of Horace's letters in the attic of Dr. Jones' daughter-in-law. While the doctor's replies have not survived, Horace's side of the conversation is revealing enough, and we can fill in the blanks. We get a general idea of what life was like in Concord in the 1890s, especially regarding politics. And we learn a great deal about the personal life of Horace Hosmer, of course. He gives specifics about his own health condition, which seems natural enough because he was speaking with a doctor. He talks about his own pencil-making business and compares it to the Thoreau family operation. He dispels rumors that Henry's cabin was a stop on the Underground Railroad. He glows with respect for Henry's brother John and for their parents, John and Cynthia. Just as we come to know and nearly understand this common man, we read a final letter from his daughter, who writes to Dr. Jones the day after her father died.

An informal but revealing and sometimes amusing glimpse of life at a certain time, in a certain place.