"With more than a dozen contemporary graduation speeches that dissect the world as it is and imagine what it could be, [this book] brings forth the courageous people who've dared to transform the podium into a pulpit for championing peace, justice, protest, and a better world"--

"Chiefly consists of selected graduation speeches given by Vonnegut at various educational institutions"--

"An expert analysis of Abraham Lincoln's three most powerful speeches reveals his rhetorical genius and his thoughts on our national character. Abraham Lincoln, our greatest president, believed that our national character was defined by three key moments: the writing of the Constitution, our declaration of independence from England, and the beginning of slavery on the North American continent. His thoughts on these landmarks can be traced through...

"More so than any politician or philosopher, it is William Shakespeare who can teach us about power. What it is, what it means, how it is gained, used, and lost. From the princes and kings of Henry IV to the scheming senators of Julius Caesar, politics fills his plays: brutal cunning, Machiavellian manipulation, fatal overreach, even the rare possibility of redemption. And it is these enduring narratives that can teach us how power plays out to this...