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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
amazing collection of speeches from one of my favorite voices of our times.
Nice collection of speeches about American history and the importance of education. Slim book. Probably will read again to pick out subjects for further reading.
This book is like very sugary soda. Be careful how much you consume!
Loved this collection of speeches from the respected historian.
Excellent! This would be a great book to give to a high school graduate. It’s a book of speeches given by the author to a number of prestigious colleges and other significant events. Each speech is amazing to read. I learned a lot!!! Planning to trad more from this author.
A beautiful collection of the great historian's speeches about the vital role American history has played in shaping individual Americans. Bereft of cynicism, McCullough speaks with a sense of hope and pride in the democratic principles that molded our government. This collection was published this year on the heels of the 2016 presidential election, and its message is one of maintaining perspective. Its mission, I think, is to play a small role in rectifying ignorance and indignity. But reading through these essays and learning about the accomplished, intelligent men who have occupied the White House, I find that I am not bereft of cynicism. I am nearly bereft of hope.
When I saw that The American Spirit: Who We Are and What We Stand For was a compilation of speeches, I hesitated to read the book. I'm not a fan of reading speeches or essays. But this was by David McCullough so I figured it was worth a try, and after the first couple of pages, I was totally hooked and couldn't put it down.
If you've read McCullough's works, you won't be surprised about his references to patriots, especially Adams, nor to the historical tidbits that get forgotten along the way. But I was fascinated how he relates historical events to current times, how he stresses the importance of reading, the arts, and the power of education.
I will be modifying my reading list to include some of the authors he mentioned in the various speeches - which is not the outcome I would have expected from the title.
If you've read McCullough's works, you won't be surprised about his references to patriots, especially Adams, nor to the historical tidbits that get forgotten along the way. But I was fascinated how he relates historical events to current times, how he stresses the importance of reading, the arts, and the power of education.
I will be modifying my reading list to include some of the authors he mentioned in the various speeches - which is not the outcome I would have expected from the title.
David McCullough is one of my favorite American historians. This slim book of some of his speeches, mostly commencement addresses, was a perfect read for Independence Day. The subject of most of the speeches is American history (not surprising), a number having to do with the Founding Fathers, and his observations are full of wit, patriotism, and optimism. My favorite observation was: "[I]t seems to me that one of the truths about history that needs to be made clear to a student or to a reader is that nothing ever had to happen the way it happened. History could have gone off in any number of directions in any number of different ways at almost any point, just as your own life can. . . . . Nothing happens in a vacuum. Actions have consequences. These observations all sound self-evident. But they're not -- and particularly to a young person trying to understand life."