When They Go Low, We Go High: Speeches That Shape the World and Why We Need Them

by Philip Collins

Can a good speech save democracy? “Anyone interested in the past, present and future of speeches and speechwriting will find [this] a fascinating read.” —The SpectatorWhen First Lady Michelle Obama approached the podium at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, nobody could have predicted that her rousing line “When they go low, we go high” would become the motto for the political left and an anthem for opponents of oppression worldwide. It was a speech with the kind of emotional pull rarely heard these days, joining a long list of addresses that have made history. But what was it that made this speech so great?When They Go Low, We Go High explores the most notable speeches in history, analyzing the rhetorical techniques to uncover how the right speech at the right time can profoundly shape the world. Traveling across continents and centuries, political speechwriter Philip Collins reveals what Thomas Jefferson owes to Cicero and Pericles; who really gave the Gettysburg Address; and what Elizabeth I shares with Winston Churchill. In telling the stories of famous and sometimes infamous speeches—including those from Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, JFK, Martin Luther King, Jr., Disraeli, Hitler, Elie Wiesel, Margaret Thatcher, and Barack and Michelle Obama—Collins breathes new life into words you thought you knew well, telling the story of democracy. Whether it’s the inaugural addresses of presidents or the revolutionary writings of Castro, Pankhurst, and Mandela, Collins illuminates and contextualizes these moments with sensitivity and humor. When They Go Low, We Go High examines the power of public speaking and serves as an urgent reminder that words can change the world.“Hits on three unassailable rhetoric and democracy must go hand-in-hand; democracy, for all of its flaws, is superior to tyranny; and democracy is currently under assault.” —Paste“Collins . . . understands intimately the mechanics of rhetoric. He believes that we, as human beings, possess the capacity to extract ourselves from the swamp in which we have sunk.” —The Times

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, History, Essays, Leadership, Writing, Society

542 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 1, 2022

About the author

Librarian Note: There are multiple authors by this name in the Goodreads database.

Reviews

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot believe I am the first person on Goodreads to review this book, even though it did just come out, because I don't think my review can do it justice. When They Go Low is honestly one of the BEST books I have ever read, and maybe one of the most important ones as well. It should be MANDATORY on reading lists in classrooms because it so fully and succinctly traces the history of political thought to the present day while making the case for the sustenance of liberal democracy and concomitantly, freedom of speech. I think we who have the privilege of living in liberal democracies too often take for granted our institutions/rights, like the ability to speak up against the government without fear of imprisonment. This book was SUCH a remarkable reminder of how important words and ideas are in shaping history and how much is at stake in the face of today's populist tides. Collins begins with a discussion of the great orators Pericles and Cicero, and then moves on to discuss speeches ranging from MLK to Hitler, Mandela to Robespierre alongside lesser-knowns, like La Pasionaria. He brings us up to the present day, with a brief discussion of Michelle Obama's classic DNC speech and his fears regarding President Trump. The best part of the book, however, was the contextualization of the speeches. Not only does Collins manage to insert significant speeches without overwhelming us, but also provides such well thought-out commentary on thematic issues. The book at times read like a history textbook, but the kind of history textbook that you wish you read in high school. For example, you not only read Václav Havel on the contamination of the moral environment, but you read this against the backdrop of the Velvet Revolution and Soviet aggression. You hear Mao on "Let a Hundred Flowers Bloom," but with the perspective of his rampant repression, intolerance for dissent, and the Great Chinese Famine. There were moments in the book where I would be reading a speech and I could feel the power of the speaker's voice as a physical entity knocking me over. I could see Wiesel speaking about the perils of indifference against a silent blue sky, adjuring us to intervene. At the same time, I thought Collins' insight was brilliant. He would mention parts of speeches (like Wiesel's binary of indifference vs. humanity) that I never would have picked up on. Introductions to the chapters were also just so informative, like Collins' discussion of India's economy vs. that of China, but how China liberalized its economy 20 years earlier with Deng Ziaoping's market reforms and we cannot simply use China's growth as a sign that it is a successful alternative to capitalism/democracy.
I wish I could more eloquently put all my feelings into words here, but I'm still geeking out!! I'd recommend this to anyone interested in history, politics, rhetoric, or to be honest, the progression of humanity. It is a paean to prose and the power of politics to change the world.

[India Braver · Rating 5 out of 5]

A history and analysis of rhetoric and politics by Philip Collins, former chief speechwriter to Tony Blair. We start with Pericles' funeral oration and end with the 2016 Democratic National Convention. We cover democracy and civil rights and the concept of government- and everything in between. There are classics like MLK's I Have A Dream and the many iterations of Winthrop's shining city on the hill, but we also get speeches from Eli Wiesel speaking on FDR, and Mao (on the India/China growth discrepancy), and different turning points marked by various speeches that most people are probably less familiar with. SO GOOD! Could not recommend enough for people interested in language or history or politics.

[Joseph Geldman · Rating 4 out of 5]

It would be erroneous to claim that every page of When They Go Low, We Go High is gripping. Certainly, this book is not without its dry parts - whole great sections of them. But where Collins shines - discussing Abraham Lincoln, Barack Obama, MLK (all American figures, interestingly) and finally Elie Wiesel - this book really does shine.

This is not a book about speeches so much as it is a speech in favour of speeches, and the expression of a desire that rhetoric be allowed to flourish in a post-truth era. It is an at-times blunt but near-always effective warning that if rhetoric fails, democracy may fail shortly afterwards. Collins is not virulently polemical, but he is aware that this is not a topic to be taken lightly. We must act upon his warnings - "it's in [our] hands. It's always in our hands."

Or as the post-Obama orators might say, it's, like, really really good. Really great. Big league.

[Freddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clearly a smart, experienced writer but I didn’t find the book gripping for some reason. I skimmed the commentaries at the start and end of the sections. It was interesting to read the speeches though and the analysis was helpful. It was particularly interesting to see how bad some of the speeches were, or at least parts of them…hard to understand, rambling, boring, poor pacing, over-use of metaphors.

[Oshun · Rating 4 out of 5]

This might be a niche read for some people, but I have worked in press, publicity, and even speech writing over the years and like to think I have an appreciation of the art. There were some old favorites and historical speeches right up through the present day. Not all were of equal quality but I could have even read more of them. An excellent collection.

A teaser: (the author on great and infamous speeches below)

"It was a speech with the kind of emotional pull rarely heard these days, joining a long list of addresses that have made history. But what about Obama’s speech made it so great? When They Go Low, We Go High explores the most notable speeches in history, analyzing the rhetorical tricks to uncover how the right speech at the right time can profoundly shape the world. Traveling across continents and centuries, political speechwriter Philip Collins reveals what Thomas Jefferson owes to Cicero and Pericles, who really gave the Gettysburg Address, and what Elizabeth I shares with Winston Churchill."

[Holly Ling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful book!!!

[Ed Joseph · Rating 1 out of 5]

Snippets of speeches + basic wikipedia summary of the history, no value added.

[Con · Rating 4 out of 5]

The essence of a great speech: brave words on an extraordinary occasion.

This is more than the blow-by-blow dissection of famous speeches. It's an argument for the liberal, democratic way. Progress is achieved through continual improvements. The robust exchange of ideas is the only way to truth. Democracy is the crucible of peace. Utopian ideas should be rejected in the pursuit of a better society. It's all good...

Political speaking was invented to support the republican idea of the free exchange of ideas. It's how you make your case. And public speaking hasn't changed since Roman times - in the end it's a single person walking up to a podium to persuade an audience.

Utopia.
Camus versus Satre. Camus says you can only have liberty outside of an all-explaining ideology. Sartre was obsessed with finding and selling exactly that sort of ideology.

'Tyrants conduct monologues above a million solitudes,' said Camus.
It describes the distinction...between the open and plural society and the missionary men who believe they have located the route to utopia.

The idea that all good things can be had at once is a fantasy. The pursuit of a society that can satisfy everyone is a fool's errand.

Never believe anyone telling you they have found 'the way' and promise utopia. It's a useless concept and betting everything on utopia just fucks up your chances to improve things today

Get rid of democratic politics and you're not going to find it replaced with something better. Populism is utopia's dark shadow.

A just war
It's not that democracy needs a safe space - it creates the safe space. Democracies don't go to war against each other.

....hmm maybe but it was democracies that launched the Iraq war and fucked everything up. As Blair's speechwriter, this guy was in the middle of it. He still defends the idea of the humanitarian mission and says they just had bad info. Calling bullshit on that one - and this does degrade the books central idea a bit.

Rhetoric
The Aristotelian trinity of rhetoric
- Logos - rational argument
- Pathos - appeal to emotions
- Ethos - personal appeal from the character of the speaker - hardest to fake!

Gettysburg address
272 words in ten sentences.
Most of the words were a single syllable.
The guy before him spoke for two hours, and who remembers him!
Less is…more.

Hope.
Voltaire said that heaven has given us two things - hope and sleep - to make up for the many miseries of life.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

As far as I know, I've rarely (if not, not at all) written on any book I've read. But I just can't help but underline with a pencil many passages in this book, because these are just great notes on the successes of and the perils in liberal democracy.

It's always been said, actions speak louder than words. This book shows how words can spur people into action, and how rhetoric fuels politics. The speeches here are windows into a nation's history, triumphs, travails, and possible futures. It's also nice that inspiring speeches were bundled with cautionary ones, so that readers can see how words can be used to either stir up good deeds or justify evil ones.

Every leader wants change but it's their words and motivations that define that change. There are those with pure intentions, those with horrible agenda, and those who started clean but led astray into dirty politics.

Throughout history, there are red flags on a personality's desire for their country. It's up to us to either spot them and act on it, or be indifferent about it and give these people a free pass... until it's too late.

Tyrants and populists will offer a tempting shortcut and will pride themselves as the "agents" of progress, with self-serving lines and claims that they've identified the "root cause" of the nation's ills. But their promised "road to utopia," more likely than not, leads to a dystopia and the dismantling of political institutions. We should not allow this outcome.

As the book says, the success of liberal democracies take time, and it is a never-ending effort. So we must always make sure we achieve this by working together, ensuring freedom and respecting the equality/equity of everybody, having compassion and lifting everyone up, keeping tabs with what's happening in the news, taking part in civic duties, and always looking outward, doing things for the greater good.

As one anecdote in this book says, "It's always in our hands."

[Bryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is well worth reading, at this current time of political upheaval in the world. I vaguely remember buying this book because of the interest I have in great speeches, how they're written, why they're written, how they're delivered and then the impact that they had. But this is a book that goes way beyond that and is actually a manifesto, I think, for why we need to re-affirm our belief in Politics and especially democracy. i.e. Collins is essentially asserting that we need both Politics and Democracy in the world and that a) that's under threat because Populism is the symptom of people believing that Democracy isn't working and looking for something new and b) that the speech makers in this book have argued the case for Democracy superbly across the years and that we need to be learning from them how to make the common sense case that while Democracy will never be perfect, it's much better than the poorly proposed alternatives. If you have an interest in great speeches, you'll enjoy this. The same applies if you have an interest in politics and a worry about what you see burgeoning in the world today. If both apply to you, you owe it to yourself to read this book.

[Darren Chuah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gets you hooked over 400 pages of political milestones through oratory and speeches in. In between the pages Author did sneaked in his biased thoughts on liberal democracies and give a lot of jabs to the utopian fantasies of modern populism, pretty pointed a lot at the current political situation, where democracy is under attack. I recommend looking up the actual videos of speeches before reading each chapter.

[GM · Rating 3 out of 5]

The most popular use of the term ‘score’ is in Lincoln’s speech in Gettysburg. Nowadays, a ‘score’ as a measurement of time is rarely used. People are more acquainted with the term ‘decade.’ If a decade is 10 years, how long is a score?

A score is 20 years long. The term ‘score’ originated from the Old Norse term ‘skor,’ meaning notch, mark, or incision in rock. It also originated from the Old English term ‘scoru,’ meaning ‘twenty.’

[Connor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found this book on Libby. Been searching for a book like this for a while. Something that pulled good sized sections of famous speeches, analyzed the environment of the speech, and what drove the power of the speech. The book did get oddly political at times (current issues), but the boss didn’t remain throughout the entire book.

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brilliantly written, persuasive and fascinating account of rhetoric's role in political life. I've marked this down a star because Collins judges everything through the same liberal framework, drawing a lazy equivalence between such wildly different figures as Hitler and Castro. If he was more explicit on his own biases this would easily be a five-star read, as it is a very good book!

[Andy Nott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic history book reviewing and analysing some of the most important speeches ever made. In particular I found the speeches by Churchill, Lincoln and Luther king inspirational, while learning about the French Revolution and Robespierre campaign of terror.
The speeches are broken down into sections which include further political analysis. A really enjoyable and educational read.

[Mark Nichols · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enjoyable. A wonderful apologetic for the merits of democracy and the difficulties of leading through it. Collins has selected a wonderful diversity of speeches and is not afraid of passing on both critique and admiration.

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a good collection of speeches. The author's analysis is occasionally insightful, but he has a tendency to wander far afield from the speech into broad-brush commentary on socialism, populism, etc. These broader comments needed more work and depth than he gives them.

[Gill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Political Rhetoric? What was I thinking! Whatever it was, this book has changed my perspective on speech writing and delivery. The examples selected, together with the commentary and analysis have given me fresh insight on a subject I knew very little about. Thank you Mr Collins.

[Ben Poch · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good selection of speeches helpfully grouped together. The analysis is on the whole pretty insightful but overreaches with his own personal agenda which begins to cloud his objectivity towards the end

[Rhonda Fonicello · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dry is sections, but well written besides. I thought it would be a book OF speeches, but it was more a book praising rhetoric in speeches, especially in today's political climate. He got a little preachy when talking political parties, but other than that, a good solid read.

[Comaskeyk001 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m sure you could tag this book as being principally about speeches, yet I think the book only uses speeches as a way to defend liberal democracy in a very keen and revelatory manner. And, the author does not pretend that liberal democracy will always prevail in every era.

Well done Mr Collins!

[Jian Ayune · Rating 4 out of 5]

i love this book, though i skipped some speeches. i do think this is quite in depth review on speeches that shaped today's world. it is a great option if you wanted to gain lots of perspective in one book.

[Karl-O]

https://www.intelligencesquared.com/e...

[janine ♥ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another book that helped me survive my early years in college.

[Sean Keet · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gem

A gem of a book. Really inspiring speeches and a history lesson to boot. I will recommend it to my friends as the words resonates. Changed the way I thought. Loved it.

[Sarah Elkyess · Rating 2 out of 5]

My main issue with this book was its structure; I didn't find the way the author's arguments were presented coherent, be it chronologically or inherently. Further, I personally didn't like the fact that the speeches were quoted in fragments, and found it impeded the reader's understanding of the full meaning of the texts.

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for anyone and everyone who is concerned about the state of the world, and the politics of the Western democracies. Who may even have felt their faith in democracy faltering, perhaps even wondering if it's really the best way to improve the world. Philip Collins's message is IT IS. Liberal democracy is the only safeguard against the catastrophe of totalitarianism and tyranny. But "the institutions of liberal democracies are more fragile than we might suppose." (Witness Donald Trump, and all the politicians who do not understand or respect, or even desire, their norms.) "Every generation needs to marshal the arguments for democracy and freedom."

Here is a collection of some of the best-argued of those arguments, concluding with two speeches by Vaclav Havel and Elie Wiesel, both witnesses and survivors of the worst totalitarianisms of the 20th century. Their words must not be allowed to fall to the ground. They must be heard and trumpeted from the rooftops of the Capitol, the Palace of Westminster, and of every home in the world.

"Truth and love must prevail over lies and hate." (Havel)