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David Crystal certainly has the gift of the gab. He has written more than 100 books on linguistics; he's an indefatigable populariser and a formidable talker. He has lectured in stern academies of learning and local garden fêtes. Here he has distilled his experience into a self-help guide to eloquence. Barack Obama's victory speech in Chicago in 2008 provides the basis for Crystal's insightful analysis of rhythm, repetition and clarity, building to the "Yes we can" climax, recycled on his Irish visit as "Is féidir linn". Obama's speech is eloquent but Martin Luther King's 1963 oration, also quoted in full, is more than merely eloquent: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin ..." Crystal stresses that we are all naturally eloquent. His detailed analysis of the structure of speeches, both humble and exalted, is insightful and more interesting than his practical advice on public speaking.
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