Book Review – We Shall Fight on the Beaches – The Speeches That Inspired History by Jacob F. Field

This was a pretty good idea for a book that could have devolved into a longwinded background by the editor or it could have been an easy cut-and-paste without much thought. Fields chooses from a great array of historic individuals, some well-known and some lesser. He adds a setup opener to each speech that gives the reader some context of what is going on for the speech to take place. What’s also nice is that after each speech, Field gives us what happens as a result of the speech – and some outcomes, like history, don’t always wind up well.

I decided to add this to our after-dinner reading with the family so that we could add some history onto our theology and reading them out loud just as these speeches would have been heard. While our 8 and 6-year-old girls didn’t know all the points and people and places and positions for each speech, they’ve been subjected to enough history from their parents to understand and appreciate them enough. Those ins and outs from Field were just the right size. This could have been a quick read if you’re just reading it for leisure, but maybe take the time to read out loud to yourself to see if you would have been inspired to follow each leader into history to victory – or defeat.