“The Penguin Book of Twentieth Century Speeches”
Edited by Brian MacArthur, Revised Edition, 1999
The latter half of the 20th century was marked by the advances of mass communications, thanks to ever modernizing satellite facilities and the fire of the entrepreneurial energy of media moguls. No wonder, mass media have deeply altered the way we work, create, play – or pray. Broadcast media, particularly, have exerted profound influence on a well-loved art and passion: oratory. Some say, media’s pervasiveness – or invasiveness – is good. Others say it’s bad.
Peggy Noonan, speech writer of former American President Ronald Reagan, said that media are responsible for oratory’s decline: “The irony of modern speeches is that, as our ability to disseminate them has exploded, their quality has declined.” Instead of concentrating on coherent speech, Ms. Noonan said, speakers pepper their talk with sound bites demanded by television.
But, Brian MacArthur, in the introduction of his anthology – Penguin Book of Twentieth Century Speeches -- said: “Orators have adapted to television, and television has magnified the power of oratory…Speeches can now be broadcast live round the world, as on such memorable occasions as John F. Kennedy during the Cuban missile crisis, Nelson Mandela on leaving jail after twenty-seven years, or Earl Spencer delivering his philippic over the catafalque of his sister Diana, Princess of Wales, that probably had the largest audience in history.”
The book, which covers the entire sweep of about 160 memorable speeches in the 20th century, gives us readers a double treat: First, each selected speech transports us to the mood of an era, listening to words that moved crowds to action or to tears; second, background information by the author gives us insight into the increasing role and power of radio and television'; return true;" style="BORDER-BOTTOM: 3px double; TEXT-DECORATION: none" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;" href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=22&k=radio%20and%20television">radio and television in amplifying the reach and impact of the speech.
At the dawn of the 20th century, public speaking was limited by time and space. Imagine Theodore Roosevelt preaching the doctrine of “the strenuous life” in 1899 from an elevated stage to a modestly big crowd. Or, Emmeline Pankhurst, the British forerunner of the women’s movement campaigning -- at times on a stretcher -- to give the distaff side the right to vote in 1908 to a disbelieving crowd.
The forties came – announced by the distant drums of war. Radio in its primitive form became handy to the “giants” of the war years. Winston Churchill used radio with his droning voice to tell British air fighters that this was their “finest hour” – and so fortified the will of England against the unforgiving attacks of the Nazis. Franklin D. Roosevelt broadcast his “fireside chats” about the increasing role of America in the war against the Axis powers – one of which was his “arsenal for democracy” speech. And then, their chief antagonist, the unlamented Adolf Hitler, was issuing dire warnings, saying his “patience is now at an end” to a crowd seduced by a romanticized view of war.
Peace returned in the fifties, and the world was ready to savor peacetime preoccupations like recognizing outstanding works of literature – or hatching a Marxist revolution. In 1950, the Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to novelist William Faulkner in 1950, whose acceptance speech has become a fine rhetorical specimen for astonishing insight into the uniqueness of man. These lines from Faulkner still ring true today: “I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail.”
In 1953, a Cuban lawyer, Fidel Castro, prepared a speech from his prison cell, declaring before his accusers: “When men carry the same ideals in their hearts, nothing can isolate them – neither prison walls nor the sod of cemeteries.” The rest is history for Cuba, where rebel became ruler of the most durable Marxist government of our time.
The turbulent sixties came, and with them outstanding personalities like John F. Kennedy, whose inaugural address in 1961 had gone down in history as one of the best in all the world for its syntax, cadence and other rhetorical tools. The book tells us that one tool used by his speech writer, Theodore Sorensen, was “contrapuntalism,” as in “Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.” Television and radio broadcast this rhetorical classic around the world. A new generation for media-driven speeches has begun.
The elegance of Kennedy was matched by the passion of Martin Luther King in his famous speech, “I Have a Dream,” delivered at the Washington Monument in Washington D.C. in August 1963 before a crowd of 210,000 civil rights marchers and advocates. The Reverend King spoke for millions of Negro slaves “who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice,” proving the power of Biblical rhythm and metaphor, leading MacArthur to say of King: “He has made a mastery of the spoken word the servant of his cause.”
Thanks to communication technology, the pieces of Kennedy and King are now immortalized in videotapes. Note that three months after King delivered his speech, Kennedy was felled by an assassin’s bullet in Dallas, Texas, in November 1963 -- thrusting Lyndon B. Johnson into the limelight to fit the Presidential shoes and to deliver an inaugural speech written in only one week. He began with these pained lines: “All I have I would have given gladly not to be standing here today.”
Starting a war, defending the peace, pushing women’s rights – saying hello to a leadership role and bidding goodbye – these are the stuff of the speeches of the last century. Speaking of goodbyes, this book has printed for us the tearful farewell speech before the White House staff of Richard Nixon, who resigned as President of the United States. Nixon said: “Greatness comes, and you are really tested, when you take some knocks, some disappointments, when sadness comes, because only if you have been in the deepest valley can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain.”
With that speech, history looks more kindly now at Mr. Nixon -- inspite of Watergate. Indeed, seeing the entire vista of human history and realizing that life is short can imbue a leader with a certain wisdom that transcends things ephemeral. It is wishful thinking, but another President, embroiled in something that sounds like “Juetengate,” must opt for a gentler judgment by history.
Sunday, October 29, 2000
Sunday, October 01, 2000
Words of Eloquence for that decisive Speech
“Historic Speeches”
Edited by Brian MacArthur
Penguin Books
A book on speeches is not only for political leaders and their speechwriters – because that would limit interest in the art of eloquence to a very limited few. An anthology of classics in public speaking should also be available to top and rising business and organizational leaders. Wherever one needs to persuade people to head in one direction or to bring them to a decisive moment, one needs a good speech.
This book, “The Penguin Book of Historic Speeches,” caught my fancy in Sydney a month ago and – with it – my last twenty Australian dollars. Like some of you, I have been collecting books on speeches, realizing that it is the best way to be transported into the eras that we only learn about in history books. And , invariably, we come away convinced that history, indeed, is human history. And history is made, not only by men of action but men of thought and eloquence. In fact, the latter endure even more. From Ancient Greece, for example, we remember Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Demosthenes. Of warriors, the most famous is only Alexander the Great of Macedonia. The rest belong to Greek mythology, not history.
In the book’s introduction, the author highlights the power of words: “When Demosthenes spoke, he roused the Athenians to march on Philip of Macedonia. When Cicero spoke, even Caesar trembled – and only when Demosthenes and Cicero were silenced did despotism triumph in Greece and Rome. When Queen Elizabeth I spoke, men bowed at her knees. Yet when John Pym raised the ‘cry of England,’ a king lost his head. When James Otis and Andrew Hamilton and John Hancock defied the British colonialists, they raised the flag of American independence.”
This book has managed to offer the reader a total of 162 speeches, mostly great portions from overly long speeches and full reprints for notably short pieces.
You can begin with “The Ancient Times,” featuring Grecian and Roman orators, Moses, Jesus of Nazareth and Muhammad. One realizes that, shorn of any religious significance, Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” truly stands out with its simplicity, depth and distilled purity. Well, divinity, as we know, has something to do it. While the rest of the speeches have remained the handiwork of humans, albeit often showing Divine spark.
The reader can move on to the speeches of “Commoners and Kings,” harking back to the times when royalty held sway and, subsequently, when commoners gradually took power. Interesting is the speech of Queen Elizabeth, titled “To Be a King,” before a genuflecting throng. Instructive is the eloquent denunciation of John Pym, when he accused the Earl of Strafford of treason and other crimes. Pym’s line, “He should perish by the justice of the law which he would have subverted,” resulted in the beheading of Strafford before a crowd of 200,000. Read the speech and reflect: Do you think this line should have been applied to those who subverted our laws?
You move on to the chapter on “Birth of the United States,” featuring famous Patrick Henry’s “Give me liberty, or give me death,” and the not-so-famous, “I agree to this Constitution with all its faults” by Benjamin Franklin. History was being shaped. While Americans roused their compatriots on American soil, far-seeing English parliamentarians in Great Britain, like Edmund Burke, spoke of the path of peace and of giving Americans a voice in the English parliament. Shades of the earlier efforts of our leaders seeking Filipino representation in the Spanish Cortes! As history would have it, Burke’s resolution was defeated – leading to inevitable war. The hawks outnumbered the doves. History repeats itself – many times.
A chapter, “The Age of Lincoln,” naturally features Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, now a classic and required memory work in many public speaking classrooms. The editor illuminates that historic moment when mild-mannered Lincoln spoke after a powerful and florid two-hour oration of the celebrated orator of the time Edward Everett.
Here is his account: “Everett’s florid speech is forgotten. Lincoln spoke 270 words in about three minutes, interrupted by applause five times, and made the greatest and noblest speech of modern times, a speech that stands comparison with the Sermon on the Mount or the funeral oration of Pericles.” And, contrary to a common notion, Lincoln’s address “was certainly not written on the back of the envelope,” but drafted and re-drafted right up to the morning of the event.
The book’s final two chapters were, first, devoted to “Women’ Liberation,” revealing to us that it is not the sole domain of Betty Friedan but a distinguished company of courageous women in history.
The onmouseover="window.status=' style='text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 3px double;' href=" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;" si="'22&k=" onmouseover="window.status=' style='text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 3px double;' href=" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;" si="'22&k=" style='text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 3px double;' href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=22&k=book%20ends" onmouseover="window.status= style='text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 3px double;' href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=22&k=book%20ends" onmouseover="window.status='book ends'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">book ends'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">book ends'; return true;" style="BORDER-BOTTOM: 3px double; TEXT-DECORATION: none" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;" href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=22&k=book%20ends">book ends'; return true;" style="BORDER-BOTTOM: 3px double; TEXT-DECORATION: none" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;" href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=22&k=book%20ends"book ends with “A Century of War and Revolution,” giving us Lenin who, it turned out, gave his incendiary speeches in installments, interrupted by roars of approval – and which forever changed Russian political life. And then you have ample time to listen to Winston Churchill, John Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Vaclav Havel and Nelson Mandela. (These men of eloquence will be a subject of another book review – Brian MacArthur’s companion anthology: “The Penguin Book of Twentieth Century Speeches”.)
From ancient history to recent ones, from the past to the evolving present, speeches will be delivered by political leaders. Executives in business organizations should, too – and should even learn a lesson or two from the tools of rhetoric effectively used by political leaders through centuries. Nothing much has changed. Followers are moved by thoughtfully, carefully and effectively delivered speeches – anywhere. It is hoped that, with this anthology, business executives will realize they should craft a speech beyond the jargon of business or the workaday tone of office memoranda.
Edited by Brian MacArthur
Penguin Books
A book on speeches is not only for political leaders and their speechwriters – because that would limit interest in the art of eloquence to a very limited few. An anthology of classics in public speaking should also be available to top and rising business and organizational leaders. Wherever one needs to persuade people to head in one direction or to bring them to a decisive moment, one needs a good speech.
This book, “The Penguin Book of Historic Speeches,” caught my fancy in Sydney a month ago and – with it – my last twenty Australian dollars. Like some of you, I have been collecting books on speeches, realizing that it is the best way to be transported into the eras that we only learn about in history books. And , invariably, we come away convinced that history, indeed, is human history. And history is made, not only by men of action but men of thought and eloquence. In fact, the latter endure even more. From Ancient Greece, for example, we remember Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Demosthenes. Of warriors, the most famous is only Alexander the Great of Macedonia. The rest belong to Greek mythology, not history.
In the book’s introduction, the author highlights the power of words: “When Demosthenes spoke, he roused the Athenians to march on Philip of Macedonia. When Cicero spoke, even Caesar trembled – and only when Demosthenes and Cicero were silenced did despotism triumph in Greece and Rome. When Queen Elizabeth I spoke, men bowed at her knees. Yet when John Pym raised the ‘cry of England,’ a king lost his head. When James Otis and Andrew Hamilton and John Hancock defied the British colonialists, they raised the flag of American independence.”
This book has managed to offer the reader a total of 162 speeches, mostly great portions from overly long speeches and full reprints for notably short pieces.
You can begin with “The Ancient Times,” featuring Grecian and Roman orators, Moses, Jesus of Nazareth and Muhammad. One realizes that, shorn of any religious significance, Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” truly stands out with its simplicity, depth and distilled purity. Well, divinity, as we know, has something to do it. While the rest of the speeches have remained the handiwork of humans, albeit often showing Divine spark.
The reader can move on to the speeches of “Commoners and Kings,” harking back to the times when royalty held sway and, subsequently, when commoners gradually took power. Interesting is the speech of Queen Elizabeth, titled “To Be a King,” before a genuflecting throng. Instructive is the eloquent denunciation of John Pym, when he accused the Earl of Strafford of treason and other crimes. Pym’s line, “He should perish by the justice of the law which he would have subverted,” resulted in the beheading of Strafford before a crowd of 200,000. Read the speech and reflect: Do you think this line should have been applied to those who subverted our laws?
You move on to the chapter on “Birth of the United States,” featuring famous Patrick Henry’s “Give me liberty, or give me death,” and the not-so-famous, “I agree to this Constitution with all its faults” by Benjamin Franklin. History was being shaped. While Americans roused their compatriots on American soil, far-seeing English parliamentarians in Great Britain, like Edmund Burke, spoke of the path of peace and of giving Americans a voice in the English parliament. Shades of the earlier efforts of our leaders seeking Filipino representation in the Spanish Cortes! As history would have it, Burke’s resolution was defeated – leading to inevitable war. The hawks outnumbered the doves. History repeats itself – many times.
A chapter, “The Age of Lincoln,” naturally features Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, now a classic and required memory work in many public speaking classrooms. The editor illuminates that historic moment when mild-mannered Lincoln spoke after a powerful and florid two-hour oration of the celebrated orator of the time Edward Everett.
Here is his account: “Everett’s florid speech is forgotten. Lincoln spoke 270 words in about three minutes, interrupted by applause five times, and made the greatest and noblest speech of modern times, a speech that stands comparison with the Sermon on the Mount or the funeral oration of Pericles.” And, contrary to a common notion, Lincoln’s address “was certainly not written on the back of the envelope,” but drafted and re-drafted right up to the morning of the event.
The book’s final two chapters were, first, devoted to “Women’ Liberation,” revealing to us that it is not the sole domain of Betty Friedan but a distinguished company of courageous women in history.
The onmouseover="window.status=' style='text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 3px double;' href=" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;" si="'22&k=" onmouseover="window.status=' style='text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 3px double;' href=" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;" si="'22&k=" style='text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 3px double;' href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=22&k=book%20ends" onmouseover="window.status= style='text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 3px double;' href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=22&k=book%20ends" onmouseover="window.status='book ends'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">book ends'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">book ends'; return true;" style="BORDER-BOTTOM: 3px double; TEXT-DECORATION: none" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;" href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=22&k=book%20ends">book ends'; return true;" style="BORDER-BOTTOM: 3px double; TEXT-DECORATION: none" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;" href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=22&k=book%20ends"book ends with “A Century of War and Revolution,” giving us Lenin who, it turned out, gave his incendiary speeches in installments, interrupted by roars of approval – and which forever changed Russian political life. And then you have ample time to listen to Winston Churchill, John Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Vaclav Havel and Nelson Mandela. (These men of eloquence will be a subject of another book review – Brian MacArthur’s companion anthology: “The Penguin Book of Twentieth Century Speeches”.)
From ancient history to recent ones, from the past to the evolving present, speeches will be delivered by political leaders. Executives in business organizations should, too – and should even learn a lesson or two from the tools of rhetoric effectively used by political leaders through centuries. Nothing much has changed. Followers are moved by thoughtfully, carefully and effectively delivered speeches – anywhere. It is hoped that, with this anthology, business executives will realize they should craft a speech beyond the jargon of business or the workaday tone of office memoranda.
Sunday, September 24, 2000
Voices of Wit, War and Wisdom in the century we lived in
"The Oxford Dictionary of 20th Century Quotation"
Edited by Elizabeth Knowles
Oxford University Press
We have just begun living in the 21st century, and we have not quite left behind the last 100 years. And, as we move farther away from the last century, we will be more and more fascinated by its uniqueness. So, whenever you see a book that puts in one volume the thoughts, speeches, essays, poems and songs of the 20th century, buy it.
I usually do.
When we had not yet crossed the great divide between the 20th century and the 21st, it was different. Anything could be added still to a period that had not ended. But when the 20th century truly came to a close, we – in a manner of speaking – have crossed a vast river and, from the other side, we now see -- with conscious detachment -- the completed 100 years like a different world all its own.
We are moved by songs and jolted by bursts of gunfire; we laugh at human foibles and rue costly errors; we are amused by petty quarrels and irritated by baseless anxieties; we are amazed by the changed lifestyles, thanks to technologies which run at the speed of light – and, yes, we are invariably touched by whirlwind loves won and carefully nurtured loves lost. At any rate, since we have the necessary detachment, we see and learn more.
The same can be said of having in one’s hands “The Oxford Dictionary of 20th Century Quotations,” which can truly be said to reflect the century that has brought about historic speeches, excerpts from novels, poetic lines, prayers, screenplay lines, news dispatches, poignant farewells from the gallows and all-too-candid interviews.
There are quoted words so powerful they dethroned a king or demolished a kingdom. You get excerpts from orations that moved troops in a frenzy for war and radio broadcasts that inspired troops to march with determined strides to end such a war. Words that awakened the hearts of blacks fighting for equality, and ringing lines like Ich bin ein Berliner before a roaring audience that might have helped bring down the Berlin wall and other walls in the Iron Curtain.
You get quotes from people you love -- like Winston Churchill and Marilyn Monroe, and those you love to hate like Adolf Hitler and Stalin.
And truly reflecting the 20th century, the book has special sections on advertising slogans -- like this 1936 ad, “Don’t be vague, ask for Haig”; or that 1917 ad line for Palmolive soap that is now part of our language: “Keep that schoolgirl complexion.” The book also features such catch phrases as “The butler did it!” dated at 1916, but actually cannot be traced, and “Keep on truckin’,” used by Robert Crumb in 1972 cartoons. Yes, epitaphs were also fashionable in the last century, written by friends or pre-written by the would-be dead: “Here lies Groucho Marx – and lies and lies and lies. P.S. He never kissed an ugly girl.” This was Groucho’s own suggestion for his epitaph. What about these moving words on the centotaph at Hiroshima, Japan: “Rest in peace. The mistake shall not be repeated.”
You’ll have some famous film lines which you can now knowledgeably trace to their origins like this one from “Gone with the Wind, spoken by Clark Gable: “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn!” alongside this one tenderly said by Humphrey Bogart to Ingrid Bergman, “Here’s looking at you, kid.”
Some newspaper headlines have also joined the quotable quotes hall of fame – like this embarrassing banner headline in Chicago Tribune which anticipated the result of a U.S. Presidential election: “Dewey Defeats Truman.” Remember some fearless forecasts in our own national elections? On road advice, we have this sign that is traced to 1912 yet: “Stop-look-listen.” Today, this sign can apply to top decision-making in the country. Will somebody up there stop, look and listen? Maybe, he should wake up first!
And finally, the book gives us some words that have actually been “Misquotations.” Do you know that the line “Me Tarzan, you Jane,” supposedly in a Johnny Weissmuller movie, is actually neither in the film nor in the original work by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the author? Well, no matter. In our case, especially in a chaperoned date, it is usually a “Me Tarzan, you Jane, she Cheetah” situation!
This book has 482 pages of quotes and more quotes. It has a key word index running through 129 pages to give you just the right quote to spice up a speech or to punctuate a toast. There is also a thematic index in case you have a writer’s block and you need just a little push to recharge your mental batteries.
A copy of a book of thoughtfully selected quotations is always a treasure. A book that captures the heartbeat of a century just concluded is both treasure chest'; return true;" style="BORDER-BOTTOM: 3px double; TEXT-DECORATION: none" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;" href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=22&k=treasure%20chest">treasure chest and mirror.
Altogether, the quotes show us part of a lifetime we participated in. We have heard some of these quotes. In fact, we heard ourselves uttering them. The difference is the quoted people in this anthology said it better.
If you were ever part of the 20th century, get this book. You will be listening to yourself.
Edited by Elizabeth Knowles
Oxford University Press
We have just begun living in the 21st century, and we have not quite left behind the last 100 years. And, as we move farther away from the last century, we will be more and more fascinated by its uniqueness. So, whenever you see a book that puts in one volume the thoughts, speeches, essays, poems and songs of the 20th century, buy it.
I usually do.
When we had not yet crossed the great divide between the 20th century and the 21st, it was different. Anything could be added still to a period that had not ended. But when the 20th century truly came to a close, we – in a manner of speaking – have crossed a vast river and, from the other side, we now see -- with conscious detachment -- the completed 100 years like a different world all its own.
We are moved by songs and jolted by bursts of gunfire; we laugh at human foibles and rue costly errors; we are amused by petty quarrels and irritated by baseless anxieties; we are amazed by the changed lifestyles, thanks to technologies which run at the speed of light – and, yes, we are invariably touched by whirlwind loves won and carefully nurtured loves lost. At any rate, since we have the necessary detachment, we see and learn more.
The same can be said of having in one’s hands “The Oxford Dictionary of 20th Century Quotations,” which can truly be said to reflect the century that has brought about historic speeches, excerpts from novels, poetic lines, prayers, screenplay lines, news dispatches, poignant farewells from the gallows and all-too-candid interviews.
There are quoted words so powerful they dethroned a king or demolished a kingdom. You get excerpts from orations that moved troops in a frenzy for war and radio broadcasts that inspired troops to march with determined strides to end such a war. Words that awakened the hearts of blacks fighting for equality, and ringing lines like Ich bin ein Berliner before a roaring audience that might have helped bring down the Berlin wall and other walls in the Iron Curtain.
You get quotes from people you love -- like Winston Churchill and Marilyn Monroe, and those you love to hate like Adolf Hitler and Stalin.
And truly reflecting the 20th century, the book has special sections on advertising slogans -- like this 1936 ad, “Don’t be vague, ask for Haig”; or that 1917 ad line for Palmolive soap that is now part of our language: “Keep that schoolgirl complexion.” The book also features such catch phrases as “The butler did it!” dated at 1916, but actually cannot be traced, and “Keep on truckin’,” used by Robert Crumb in 1972 cartoons. Yes, epitaphs were also fashionable in the last century, written by friends or pre-written by the would-be dead: “Here lies Groucho Marx – and lies and lies and lies. P.S. He never kissed an ugly girl.” This was Groucho’s own suggestion for his epitaph. What about these moving words on the centotaph at Hiroshima, Japan: “Rest in peace. The mistake shall not be repeated.”
You’ll have some famous film lines which you can now knowledgeably trace to their origins like this one from “Gone with the Wind, spoken by Clark Gable: “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn!” alongside this one tenderly said by Humphrey Bogart to Ingrid Bergman, “Here’s looking at you, kid.”
Some newspaper headlines have also joined the quotable quotes hall of fame – like this embarrassing banner headline in Chicago Tribune which anticipated the result of a U.S. Presidential election: “Dewey Defeats Truman.” Remember some fearless forecasts in our own national elections? On road advice, we have this sign that is traced to 1912 yet: “Stop-look-listen.” Today, this sign can apply to top decision-making in the country. Will somebody up there stop, look and listen? Maybe, he should wake up first!
And finally, the book gives us some words that have actually been “Misquotations.” Do you know that the line “Me Tarzan, you Jane,” supposedly in a Johnny Weissmuller movie, is actually neither in the film nor in the original work by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the author? Well, no matter. In our case, especially in a chaperoned date, it is usually a “Me Tarzan, you Jane, she Cheetah” situation!
This book has 482 pages of quotes and more quotes. It has a key word index running through 129 pages to give you just the right quote to spice up a speech or to punctuate a toast. There is also a thematic index in case you have a writer’s block and you need just a little push to recharge your mental batteries.
A copy of a book of thoughtfully selected quotations is always a treasure. A book that captures the heartbeat of a century just concluded is both treasure chest'; return true;" style="BORDER-BOTTOM: 3px double; TEXT-DECORATION: none" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;" href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=22&k=treasure%20chest">treasure chest and mirror.
Altogether, the quotes show us part of a lifetime we participated in. We have heard some of these quotes. In fact, we heard ourselves uttering them. The difference is the quoted people in this anthology said it better.
If you were ever part of the 20th century, get this book. You will be listening to yourself.
Sunday, September 17, 2000
Lawyers (and Our) Ethical Dilemma
“The Moral Compass of the American Lawyer”
Richard Zitrin & Carol Langford, 1999
This book proves once again that “truth is stranger than fiction.” You begin with
the first chapter and, before you know it, you are transported to a murder scene, listen to a
cover-up, hear lawyers zealously defend the murderer -- and know that, once again, truth
is victim in the name of “justice” -- at the altar of an intricate legal system in America
that only manages to defeat the ends of justice that it professes to uphold.
“The Moral Compass of the American Lawyer” is a book written by two legal
scholars who are concerned with the ethical moorings (or lack of them) of the
profession. They declare that, many times, the profession which is devoted to upholding
justice ends up frustrating it. In a well-documented litany of cases, told occasionally in a
breathtaking narrative, various scenes and actors are described to illustrate the moral
dilemma well-meaning lawyers face day after day.
The book’s jacket asserts that this piece of work is for lawyers and law students concerned with the code of ethics that govern them. When I told a friend that I am reviewing the “moral compass” of lawyers, he retorted with a rhetorical question: “Do they have any?” Questions like this could have driven the two authors to reexamine the premises and principles by which a lawyer’s conduct is governed, a trial court’s procedure is based and an entire jurisprudence has evolved.
Thus, after reading this eye-opening account, I am convinced that non-lawyers need this book more than lawyers do. Non-lawyers, after all, should understand the law profession because, whether we like it or not; whether we can peer through the mystery or not; and whether we like it or not – we shall be needing a lawyer sooner or later.
The authors declare: “There is a palpable tension between the rules of legal ethics and other important principles of our society: telling the truth, being fair and compassionate, seeking justice, being courageous, acting as a normal human being.”
From such statement, the book proceeds to give an account of cases – some of which are familiar to us in this side of the globe, like the O. J. Simpson murder trial – to illustrate the fact that lawyers conceal (or are forced to) the truth to uphold a principle that they should “zealously defend their client” even if, in their heart of heart, know already that he is guilty.
The book covers'; return true;" style="BORDER-BOTTOM: 3px double; TEXT-DECORATION: none" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;" href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=22&k=book%20covers">book covers almost every trick and stratagem of lawyers – not so much to expose such tactics but more so to examine them and discover if there is a way out of techniques that “assault our ordinary sense of justice and fair play.” From preventing lawyers to disclose vital information to inventing a lie; from unwanted ambulance chasers to lawyers who shamelessly merchandise their services; from barristers who transform the courthouse into an actor’s stage to cloak-and-dagger types tampering with evidence in the shadows – this book is giving us case upon case of real people, victims and criminals, heroes and villains. And lawyers have been portrayed in these many roles separately or simultaneously. It is “L.A. Law,” “Perry Mason,” and “The Practice” altogether – even throwing in the suspense-filled narrative of a John Grisham book.
The format also makes it a readable work.. Every account introduces one ethical dilemma, followed by a review of views by respected jurists or codes of conduct of a legal association – and then capped by an “epilogue” that brings back the reader to the story with its denouement – which assumes either a surprising twist or a predictable outcome. In any case, one strong point is delivered: the ethical system of the profession needs a top-to-bottom overhaul.
The book discusses principles and procedures within the American context, and some may not apply to the Philippine situation. And yet, since our own legal profession follows the American model somewhat – excepting the jury system – this book may yet open our eyes to the same ethical dilemmas presented in disturbing clarity by the authors.
The law still governs our lives. One lawyer-friend gives me a Latin maxim: “Dura lex sed lex” -- meaning, “the law no matter how hard is the law.” First, we have to know how this law is applied. After all, what we do not know can hurt us. And then, if we know, we can move one step ahead and demand that the law must indeed serve the ends of justice.
Richard Zitrin & Carol Langford, 1999
This book proves once again that “truth is stranger than fiction.” You begin with
the first chapter and, before you know it, you are transported to a murder scene, listen to a
cover-up, hear lawyers zealously defend the murderer -- and know that, once again, truth
is victim in the name of “justice” -- at the altar of an intricate legal system in America
that only manages to defeat the ends of justice that it professes to uphold.
“The Moral Compass of the American Lawyer” is a book written by two legal
scholars who are concerned with the ethical moorings (or lack of them) of the
profession. They declare that, many times, the profession which is devoted to upholding
justice ends up frustrating it. In a well-documented litany of cases, told occasionally in a
breathtaking narrative, various scenes and actors are described to illustrate the moral
dilemma well-meaning lawyers face day after day.
The book’s jacket asserts that this piece of work is for lawyers and law students concerned with the code of ethics that govern them. When I told a friend that I am reviewing the “moral compass” of lawyers, he retorted with a rhetorical question: “Do they have any?” Questions like this could have driven the two authors to reexamine the premises and principles by which a lawyer’s conduct is governed, a trial court’s procedure is based and an entire jurisprudence has evolved.
Thus, after reading this eye-opening account, I am convinced that non-lawyers need this book more than lawyers do. Non-lawyers, after all, should understand the law profession because, whether we like it or not; whether we can peer through the mystery or not; and whether we like it or not – we shall be needing a lawyer sooner or later.
The authors declare: “There is a palpable tension between the rules of legal ethics and other important principles of our society: telling the truth, being fair and compassionate, seeking justice, being courageous, acting as a normal human being.”
From such statement, the book proceeds to give an account of cases – some of which are familiar to us in this side of the globe, like the O. J. Simpson murder trial – to illustrate the fact that lawyers conceal (or are forced to) the truth to uphold a principle that they should “zealously defend their client” even if, in their heart of heart, know already that he is guilty.
The book covers'; return true;" style="BORDER-BOTTOM: 3px double; TEXT-DECORATION: none" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;" href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=22&k=book%20covers">book covers almost every trick and stratagem of lawyers – not so much to expose such tactics but more so to examine them and discover if there is a way out of techniques that “assault our ordinary sense of justice and fair play.” From preventing lawyers to disclose vital information to inventing a lie; from unwanted ambulance chasers to lawyers who shamelessly merchandise their services; from barristers who transform the courthouse into an actor’s stage to cloak-and-dagger types tampering with evidence in the shadows – this book is giving us case upon case of real people, victims and criminals, heroes and villains. And lawyers have been portrayed in these many roles separately or simultaneously. It is “L.A. Law,” “Perry Mason,” and “The Practice” altogether – even throwing in the suspense-filled narrative of a John Grisham book.
The format also makes it a readable work.. Every account introduces one ethical dilemma, followed by a review of views by respected jurists or codes of conduct of a legal association – and then capped by an “epilogue” that brings back the reader to the story with its denouement – which assumes either a surprising twist or a predictable outcome. In any case, one strong point is delivered: the ethical system of the profession needs a top-to-bottom overhaul.
The book discusses principles and procedures within the American context, and some may not apply to the Philippine situation. And yet, since our own legal profession follows the American model somewhat – excepting the jury system – this book may yet open our eyes to the same ethical dilemmas presented in disturbing clarity by the authors.
The law still governs our lives. One lawyer-friend gives me a Latin maxim: “Dura lex sed lex” -- meaning, “the law no matter how hard is the law.” First, we have to know how this law is applied. After all, what we do not know can hurt us. And then, if we know, we can move one step ahead and demand that the law must indeed serve the ends of justice.
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