Ripples of Hope: Great American Civil Rights Speeches

Rating:
Summary: An invaluable collection
Review: This book fills a stunning gap -- I've never seen another collection dedicated to the civil rights speeches that have played such a crucial role in American history. It includes all the famous speeches (I Have a Dream, etc.), but it also covers activists most of us haven't heard of, from movements most civil rights histories ignore. Each speech is accompanied by an introduction with just enough information to set the scene and put the speech in the context of its own and the other movements, but not so much that it gets in the way of the speeches themselves. Anyone who cares about how America's many peoples live together -- and how we wish they would -- must have this book on their shelf.

Rating:
Summary: Much more than a desk reference
Review: This compilation is much more than just a desk reference for quotes - it's a thoroughly readable history of the civil rights movement in its leaders' own words. Ripples of Hope is a trove filled with speeches whose famous lines we've all heard but probably never bothered to read in their entirety, as well as several speeches that have been restored from relative obscurity. It elevates the speech from an archive to a new form - an accessible, living source meant to be read, reflected upon, and drawn from as a source of motivation.