Nussbaum highlights the contingencies of history by examining crucial speeches that, because of a change of events or a speaker’s change of mind, never were given...Besides offering key excerpts, and in some cases the entire speech, the author provides historical and biographical context, close readings for language and style, and speculations about how the speech might have altered the course of subsequent events...Some of these texts, unearthed by Nussbaum, currently Joe Biden’s senior speechwriter, had been filed away for decades...A fresh perspective on history.
Nussbaum, speechwriter for powerful politicians, including then–Vice President Joe Biden, tells the stories of speeches that never made history because events prevented their delivery—often happily, at times unhappily...The unifying premise of Undelivered is to highlight the central role of speeches in the making of history and the glimpses they offer of alternative worlds we might inhabit...The hitch, however, is that some undelivered speeches turn out to have been simply undeliverable or never intended for delivery, making it difficult to imagine them as keys to alternative worlds...Undelivered longs for enlightened leadership...But the book’s own account of how speechwriters have come to craft lines for politicians pretending intimacy with their audiences illuminates some of the sources of diminishing faith in such figures.
Veteran speechwriter Nussbaum examines in this intriguing account prepared speeches that, due to unforeseen circumstances, a change of mind, or outside pressure, were never delivered...Throughout, Nussbaum weaves in enlightening behind-the-scenes details about the process of speechwriting and makes a strong case for the power of speeches 'to educate, inform, inspire, incite, and move people to action'...The result is a fascinating look at what might have been.
