The United States is an ongoing conversation.

Its purpose, problems, and potential have been articulated since the country’s inception by the people in power, and the people who challenge that power.

American Oratory - Powerful Speeches by the President & the People serves as a guide to the dominant forms of oration given both from the White House and the streets outside it. This rhetorical handbook suggests what to look for in these speeches and why they mattered.

The speeches show us how a democracy can continue to thrive, but they also warn us of how such a system might wither if the people in power go unchallenged and unquestioned by those they govern.

The conversation is far from over.