The people and ideas that changed the way we think

21 Speeches That Shaped Our World

A thought-provoking collection of 21 great speeches that have shaped the modern world

A fascinating gallery of speeches and turning points in recent history.

A unique compilation of catalytic speeches...relevant to some of the biggest choices that face humanity in the 21st century.

Illuminates many of the most important trends of our times.

Paul Rogers, Professor of Peace Studies, University of Bradford

Chris Abbott has done a great service in reminding us of of these people and of their continuing relevance for today's world.

Rosie Houldsworth, founder and director, TalkWorks

An interesting selection of speeches...Throughout, Abbott provides a thorough historical context and argues convincingly for the continuing relevance of the ideas expressed.

21 Speeches is a brilliant idea. Chris Abbott takes some of the most significant speeches of the last one hundred years and frames them in a perceptive analysis, providing a narrative that illuminates many of the most important trends of our times.

Chris Abbott is an influential writer and researcher in the areas of defence, security and international relations. He is the Founder &amp; Executive Director of Open Briefing, the world's first civil society intelligence agency. He is an Honorary Visiting Research Fellow in the School of Social and International Studies at the University of Bradford, and until 2009 was the Deputy Director of Oxford Research Group. His two books are published by Rider: 21 Speeches that Shaped Our World: The People and Ideas that Changes the Way We Think (2010), and Beyond Terror: The Truth About the Real Threats to Our World, co-authored with Paul Rogers and John Sloboda (2007). Chris has a degree in Psychology from Royal Holloway, University of London, and a Masters in Social Anthropology from the University of St Andrews. He lives in West Cornwall with his wife and their dog.

In this fascinating book, Chris Abbott, a leading political analyst, takes a close look at 21 key speeches which have shaped the world today. He examines the power of the arguments embedded in these speeches to inspire people to achieve great things, or do great harm. 
 
Abbott draws upon his political expertise to explain how our current understanding of the world is rooted in pivotal moments of history. These moments are captured in the words of a range of influential speakers including: Emmeline Pankhurst, Martin Luther King, Jr, Enoch Powell, Napoleon Beazley, Kevin Rudd, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, Osama bin Laden, Margaret Beckett, Winston Churchill, Salvador Allende, Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair, Tim Collins, Mohandas Gandhi, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Robin Cook and Barack Obama. 
 
The speeches in this book are arranged thematically, linked by concepts such as 'might is right', 'with us or against us' and 'give peace a chance'. Each transcript is accompanied by an insightful commentary that analyses how the words relate to our modern society. Fresh and relevant, this is a book that will make you stop in your tracks and think about what is really happening in the world today.

Paul Rogers

Chris Abbott

John Sloboda

This incisive study is radical...it demonstrates that the real threat to global peace lies in our failure to recognise our interdependence

Powerful and well-presented...The argument it makes is hard to fault. Anyone who claims to be interested in security would be foolish not to read it.

George Monbiot, author of Heat: How to Stop the Planet Burning

This brilliant and lucid book is the single most important contribution to understanding and coping with the future that I have ever read.

Current US and UK foreign policy is totally counterproductive and is encouraging terrorism and proliferation of WMD. This report offers a serious alternative...I hope it is widely read

The Truth About the Real Threats to Our World

Is international terrorism really the single greatest threat to world security? 
 
Since the 9/11 attacks, many Western governments assume terrorism to be the greatest threat we face. In response, their dangerous policies attempt to maintain control and keep the status quo by using overwhelming military force. This important book shows why this approach has been such a failure, and how it distracts us from other, much greater, threats of climate change, competition over resources, marginalisation of the majority of the world and global militarisation. 
 
Unless urgent, coordinated action is taken in the next 5-10 years on all these issues it will be almost imossible to avoid the earth becoming a highly unstable place by the middle years of this century. Beyond Terror offers an alternative path for politicians, journalists and concerned citizens alike.

Chris Abbott

Praise for Beyond Terror

This incisive study is radical...it demonstrates that the real threat to global peace lies in our failure to recognise our interdependence

Powerful and well-presented...The argument it makes is hard to fault. Anyone who claims to be interested in security would be foolish not to read it.

This brilliant and lucid book is the single most important contribution to understanding and coping with the future that I have ever read.

This incisive study is radical...it demonstrates that the real threat to global peace lies in our failure to recognise our interdependence

Powerful and well-presented...The argument it makes is hard to fault. Anyone who claims to be interested in security would be foolish not to read it.

This brilliant and lucid book is the single most important contribution to understanding and coping with the future that I have ever read.

This incisive study is radical...it demonstrates that the real threat to global peace lies in our failure to recognise our interdependence

Powerful and well-presented...The argument it makes is hard to fault. Anyone who claims to be interested in security would be foolish not to read it.

This brilliant and lucid book is the single most important contribution to understanding and coping with the future that I have ever read.

Books by Chris Abbott

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