Give Me Liberty: Speakers and Speeches That Have Shaped America

[Read by Jim Manchester] An informative and insightful tour of the United States' oratorical history ''Give me liberty,'' demanded Patrick Henry, ''or give me death!'' Henry's words continue to echo in American history, and that quote, and the speech it comes from, remains one of the two or three known to almost every American. The other speeches that have become part of our American collective consciousness all have one theme in common: liberty. These feats of oration seem to trace the evolution of America's definition of liberty and to whom it applies. But what exactly is liberty? It is a term open to a broad range of opinion, and questions about freedom arise daily in the news and in everyday life. Perhaps uniquely among the nations of the world, the United States traces its origins to groups and individuals who specifically wanted to create something new.