I'm always on the hunt for female centred non fiction so had to read this one when i saw the title. This is a collection of speeches from women at the forefront of change. it covers politics, science, human rights, womens rights, race, gender and so much more!

I love non fiction that you can take something away from other than information and this does just that. These speeches aim to inspire and empower and honestly felt like i could take over the world after finishing it.

Anna russel takes you through history with speeches from remarkable (and diverse) women including Queen Elizabeth I, Emmeline Pankhurst, Emma Watson, Malala Yousafzai and Michelle Obama (to name a few).

Go read this now!!

This is a book to keep on your shelf and read when you need some inspiration. I was familiar with many of the women in the book but there were some surprises. I enjoyed reading this book slowly. It will make a great addition to your library. It will also make a great gift. Enjoy

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

I really enjoyed reading this book and being able to get back in touch with all the incredible and fierce women within our history. It was really empowering to read these speeches and how they moved (and in some cases, still do continue to move) people towards action. This is such an empowering and important book. As a woman, I honesty struggle to remember many great women and their speeches throughout our history. I found it was really impactful and captivating to read about these speeches and how some have lead to revolutions and the shattering of glass ceilings in terms of equality for women on various different levels. Now I know by no means are we anywhere near equality in terms of gender roles but it’s so interesting and important to read about how some of these speeches helped propel this fight to create change for women the world over.


Whilst reading this book, I felt an overwhelming sense of empowerment from a lot of the speeches that have been given by some of the most influential and strong women the world has ever seen. I also think it was a great addition to also add the flaws and negative associations that certain women of power had over the years. It’s so important to remember that unfortunately, not every women whose given powerful and revolutionary speeches have been on the right side of history. Although their speech may have enacted change or helped push a movement forward, they shouldn’t be labelled as ‘heroes’ of their time, particularly if these speeches focused what was affecting them directly, and actively marginalising and discriminating against other aspects of humanity who also deserved their voice to be heard I.e. race, religion, disabilities etc.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I found it really uplifting and empowering as well as thought provoking. It reminds you how powerful women are in this world. I think this is just an excellent book to have on your shelves, to give you that extra reminder that you’re capable of achieving whatever it is you want in life, but to also always speak up for yourself and others whenever you can, particularly for those who don’t have a voice that will be heard.

Thank you to NetGalley and White Lion Publishing for this eARC last year, which I’ve only just gotten around to reviewing!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Great collection of speeches, and nicely illustrated. It ranges from Elizabeth I to Eleanor Roosevelt to Malala to Maya Lin. The author includes suggestions of further profiles in history to research, and a bibliography.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a temporary digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

A wonderful anthology for the feminist in your life. A collection of some of the greatest speeche delivered by women from a wide array of expertise. It is so easy to pick this book up when you need a boost and read an inspiring and great speech.

I really wanted to read this book but I can’t open the file. So I don’t know what it’s about. Maybe if I have more time on my hands I will try and get the file to work.

Great Women's Speeches contains inspiring speeches given by a whole range of women throughout history. From Emma Watson, Malala Yousafzai and Michelle Obama to Elizabeth I, this book includes women from a whole range of diverse backgrounds.

If you are worried you have not heard of all the people in this book then do not fear as a short overview is given of each woman, which helps you to understand their speech and the angle it is coming from.

Overall, a very inspiring book, which made me feel proud to be a woman.

Sooooo good! I love these kinds of books. I always enjoy reading speeches because they can be very inspirational and eye opening. Would definitely recommend it. I also found some very nice quotes in there.

A extensive and fascinating collection of speeches delivered by women throughout history. Aesthetically stunning the colours and illustrations really brought the book to life. The short bio before the speech was brilliant to provide an overview as there were any I’m ashamed to admit I did not know who they were. This book does a great job of amplifying voices which have been lost in history.

This book was full of incredible speeches made by incredible women (primarily in the last 200 years). I was unfamiliar with most of the speeches, and many of these incredible women. I appreciated that there was a brief bio before an excerpt from a speech they gave, and I loved the illustrations of all the women.

Firstly, let me say that this book is aesthetically beautiful! The cover is so pretty. Inside it is filled with bright colourful pages and illustrations of the women. I love the layout. It gives some background information about the women and then an explanation of what the speech is about, where it took place, etc. This was by far my favourite aspect of the book.

I enjoyed the speeches and found some great quotes in there. It definitely made me more curious about certain women and I ended up Googling them afterwards to find out more information. It is not an extremely detailed book but if you want a quick guide and reference it is great. There will probably be a lot of women you haven’t heard of before and then you can look for more information elsewhere on them. This is always good because it is important to educate yourself on such things in my opinion.

I would highly recommend this as a gift for the woman in your life. I think in particular it is an important book for young women and teenagers to educate them on the importance of womanhood and what we have had to deal with and how to handle it.

(Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy of this book. All thoughts are my own).

Great book, so very inspirational! All these different women have been given challenges and arrived on the other side bigger and stronger for the next challenge

Thank you for the ARC

This was awesome! Most of these women I had never heard of which was so fun to learn new things. I’ve been looking for a book like this to give to my niece, so now I’ve finally found one!

5 stars for this anthology of women’s speeches.

This is a wonderful book of speeches made by women, from Queen Elizabeth’s ‘heart and stomach of a man’ address in 1588 up to the present day. Excerpts from over 50 women’s speeches are featured, in each case alongside biographical details and the context of the speech. Plus Camila Pinheiro’s beautifully bold and vivid illustrations burst from the page.

The selection is a satisfying mix of, for example, writers, activists, artists and politicians. There are extremely well-known women (for starters: Virginia Woolf, Sojourner Truth, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Michelle Obama, Toni Morrison, Emmeline Pankhurst, JK Rowling, Hillary Clinton, Angela Merkel, Malala Yousafzai) as well as some women previously unknown to me. As with any anthology, the reader might wonder why some of their own favourites were not included – I think the difficulties Anna Russell faced in narrowing her selection is shown in the fact that there is a ‘More Women to Inspire’ section that runs to five pages. This is followed by a concise list of recommended reading.

I can’t recommend this book enough. It reminds me of my dog-eared old copy of The Penguin Book of Women’s Lives, in that it is a book to dip into – for inspiration, for nourishment, for renewal – over and again for years to come.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book in return for an honest review.

I loved the illustrations of this book and also loved being able to learn about women, especially women that I don't know. Their speeches were powerful and right on time in such a movement that we currently see happen in today's world. It was a great read for Women's History Month.

These speeches are well laid out and beautifully illustrated. Before each speech, there is background on the woman and the context that the speech was given in. Overall, this is a good reference to great woman's speeches throughout history.

Like the title implies, this book is a compilation of speeches from prominent women, most of them are suffrage movement women and abolitionists, while there are others from different fields of life. The problem is that I expected the full speeches to be here, but actually each woman gets an illustration, a small bio and an extract from her speech, which is fine, since you can actually google her and search for the full speeches, but I would've appreciated it if the full speeches were included. Also, I had an issue with the lack of international diversity in this, as most of them were from the US or Europe, which might've been understandable years ago, but I think the resources now would've made it easier to include more speeches from Arab or Asian or Latina women.

Otherwise, I do think it's a good read for feminists, as actually a lot of the women in this book I didn't know anything about, and it could be a good basic reference book for examples of good speeches.

I thank Netgalley and White Lion publishing for the digital ARC.

About the Book:
Great Women's Speeches is a curated collection of excerpts from, unsurprisingly, speeches made by women, accompanied by contextual background and biography by Anna Russell, and visually striking illustrations by Camila Pinheiro. The result is a volume beautiful in its content, if not always in design (see below).

The collection is also inclusive in its choices. With all but one entry taken from the 19th = 21st centuries, readers will learn from a diverse group of women around the globe.

The Good:
The first thing that will catch your eye is Ms. Pinheiro's gorgeous artwork. With an illustration of each and every one of the dozens of women featured, the book becomes bright, colorful, and engaging. Her work turns the book from a collection of information into a celebration of feminine power. Pinheiro's pictures are complemented by monochrome, full-page block quotes interspersed throughout the book.

While heavily skewed toward the modern and western populations of women, the book does feature speakers from all identities around the world. To be fair, I am unsure how many recorded speeches there are by women prior to the 19th century given the patriarchal gatekeeping of public communications.

Finally, I would like to thank Ms. Russell for including short but informative biographies of each speaker. Her addition ensures we do not just read a nicely written speech, but also that we engage with the background of each woman and her situation. The reader is grounded in rich context that brings deeper meaning to each entry.

The Bad:
While the illustrations were beautiful and eye-catching, the size and detail was inconsistent throughout the book. Many readers may well enjoy this variation, but I personally would have enjoyed more consistency in design.

Other design aspects were disappointing as well. For one, the blocks of text in which the speeches, and occasionally biographies, are set are more intimidating to the eye than inviting. Although it is not precisely a textbook, the text design doesn't feel too far off.

For another, the cover design does not do justice to the book. While the bright colors are indicative of its contents, the cover does not clue the reader in to the beautiful illustrations they will find. It may have been better served by tastefully highlighting some of the women featured.

Lastly, and this is very nit-picky of me, the introduction has random sketches in the margins. It feels hectic, disconnected, and, once again, unrepresentative of the illustrations to come.

Who Will Like This Book:
This book is excellent for a reader passionate about women's history, women's rights, or oration. It is certainly in the style of a coffee-table book, something beautiful to share with others, but also something you may peruse more casually rather than sitting down for an extended period of time with the intention of reading.

Great Women's Speeches is a book that collates a great selection of speeches from herstory this book is beautifully colourful with illustrations full of character. The introduction to each character of biographical details is great for providing context around the speech. Along with the additional reading suggestions at the back of the book make for a great read for any lady, young or mature. With extracts of speeches from Sojourner Truth to Michelle Obama, from Elizabeth I to Malala Yousafzai. This compilation provides a solid background to any discussion that women have always been there, creating herstory to compliment history, With many of the speeches coming from events that demonstrate that women can be in positions of power, even in past centuries.