A History of the United States in 15 Speeches

A vital account of fifteen speeches and orators – from Benjamin Franklin to Barack Obama – that tells the story of the United States as a battle over what it means to be an American, from a New York Times bestselling author and former presidential speechwriter

What does it mean to be an American? Since the Founding, Americans have been having an intense debate over this deceptively simple question which has spawned Constitutional crises, civil war, populism, mass migrations, reform movements – and their inevitable backlash. The history of this debate over who and what makes an American, Ben Rhodes argues, is essential to understanding how the United States has evolved as a nation and the intensity of their divisions today.

In this book, Rhodes tells the story of fifteen essential speeches – some famous, some obscure - that, together, offer a fresh and revealing portrait of the United States as an ongoing contest over what it means to be American. With rare insight into the power and purpose of political rhetoric, Rhodes illuminates how each speech reflects the nature of American identity at a particular historical moment, with riveting portraits of the people, movements, and social conditions that produced pivotal oratory. Rhode also establishes the unique role of speaking as an act of American political persuasion – from Franklin’s case for compromise at the Constitutional convention to Alexander Stephen’s case for white supremacy as the cornerstone of the Confederacy; or, in social movements, from Martin Luther King’s demand for racial equality at the march on Washington, to Pat Buchanan’s 'culture war' speech to the 1992 Republican convention which foreshadowed Donald Trump. For a country that values individualism, self-invention, and mass media, Rhodes reminds us that speeches have occupied an out-sized space in the American national imagination: the lone voice before a crowd, bending history to its will.

At a time when what it means to be an American is a matter of intense debate and division, Ben Rhodes offers rare insight into the gap between who we say we are, and who we want to be.