The Great American Speech: Words and Monuments

(Hardback)

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Description

Everyone knows the great American Dream: that America is the land of free enterprise, offering men and women without inherited advantages the chance to get ahead through hard work and self-reliance. Yet The Great American Speech offers an alternative vision, one enshrined in the country's most memorable speeches, which have become monuments in its national memory and literally in the nation's capital. This other American dream is not about competition or getting ahead, but instead argues for equality and cooperation, echoing the country's founding documents. The Great American Speech is a contemplative and fascinating look at a hidden strand of American national identity.

Reviews

Fenders analysis of particular addresses is consistently readable and intelligent. * Barton Swaim, TLS *
Explains the cultural binding that great speeches can accomplish . . . sets out to show that American speeches are cultural glue that unites the ideals of the American dream (individualistic in nature) with the wider communitarian impulses . . . According to Fender, were all better served when mouths and ears desire for more than just an individualized form of the American dream. * Washington Times *
Stephen Fenders anatomy of the monumental in American public speech, fascinating in itself, creates a new area of literary critical attention. This is a book to read and, with the minds ear, listen to. * John Sutherland, author of A Little History of Literature *

Author Bio

Stephen Fender was born in San Francisco and is Honorary Professor of English at University College London. His previous books include 50 Facts that should Change the USA and 50 Facts You Need to Know: USA: A Tour through the Real America (both 2008).