Commonwealth Public Address: Essays in Criticism

The essays comprising this anthology analyze public speeches delivered by some of the major political figures—both historical and contemporary—of the British Commonwealth, among them Jessie Street and Sir Robert Menzies of Australia; Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Bal Gangadhar Tilak of India; and Maurice Bishop of Grenada. The relationship between public address and the history, politics, and collective consciousness of a nation is explored within each paper, and a proposed canon of Commonwealth public oratory is also provided.