Great Eulogies Throughout History

This book feels a bit weird to review. It's really just a compilation of eulogies, both spoken and written throughout history, with a heavy slant towards Americans. There is just a short two or three sentence blurb before each begins explaining who the deceased is, and who was giving the eulogy. I suppose my main disappointment in this volume was not having more background given, or any reasons at all given about why this particular eulogy was chosen for the collection; what made it "great". The whole thing just came off as a bunch of perfectly fine eulogies for "great" people, not the other way around.

Many of the speeches and articles displayed here were written/spoken in a time period very removed from our vernacular. I understood them just fine, but for some reason that style of writing can't hold my attention very well and I often found my mind wandering. It didn't help that I didn't personally have much connection with many of the people spoken of, or the context of a lot of the references made (see my complaints about not having more in depth information about why each one was chosen).

I obviously did not enjoy this book, but I think that was more an issue of my expectations vs reality which is why I am leaving my rating at 4 stars. I think this book delivers on what it says it will, I was just looking for something a bit more thoughtful and in-depth. That's my problem, not the books.

I think this book delivers in two key areas The first is that it gives concise and readable information on some notable figures in history. The second is that some of the eulogies are just fantastic pieces of writing. An interesting and well-curated anthology.

This book was a fantastic look into the amazing nature of eulogies across history. For folks obsessed with Alexander Hamilton, this book is a must read.