The People Speak

Collected here is a brief history of America told through stories applauding the enduring spirit of dissent. To celebrate the millionth copy sold of his book, A People's History of the United States, Howard Zinn drew on the words of Americans—some famous, some little known—across the range of American history. These words were read by a remarkable cast at an event held at the 92nd Street Y in New York City that included James Earl Jones, Alice Walker, Kurt Vonnegut, Alfre Woodard, Marisa Tomei, Danny Glover, Harris Yulin, Andre Gregory, and others. From that celebration, this book was born. Here in their own words, and interwoven with commentary by Zinn, are Columbus on the Arawaks; Plough Jogger, a farmer and participant in Shays' Rebellion; Harriet Hanson, a Lowell mill worker; Frederick Douglass; Mark Twain; Mother Jones; Emma Goldman; Helen Keller; Eugene V. Debs; Langston Hughes; Genova Johnson Dollinger on a sit-down strike at General Motors in Flint, Michigan; an interrogation from a 1953 HUAC hearing; Fannie Lou Hamer, a sharecropper and member of the Freedom Democratic Party; Malcolm X; and James Lawrence Harrington, a Gulf War resister, among others.

'The idea was simple. Take the most impassioned speeches about the fight for what is right and bring them to life for a new generation. The reason why it's so powerful is because it's about everything that matters to us: love and life, sex and death, justice and freedom. We've found some amazing speeches from the most unlikely places, British voices that have been ignored for centuries because history is a tale often told by the winners' COLIN FIRTH The People Speak tells the story of Britain through the voices of the visionaries, dissenters, rebels and everyday folk who took on the Establishment and stood up for what they believed in. Here are their stories, letters, speeches and songs, from the Peasants Revolt to the Suffragettes to the anti-war demonstrators of today. They are some of the most powerful words in our history. Compiled by the Oscar-winning actor Colin Firth, influential writer Anthony Arnove and the acclaimed historian David Horspool, The People Speak reminds us that democracy has never been a spectator sport.

Calls for a modernized treaty annuity whose value is linked to the value of the land. This annuity would be paid directly to all Status First Nations (FN) people, outside the control of Indigenous Affairs and band councils and transform the existing top-down power dynamics in federal Indigenous politics and put economic control in the hands of ordinary First Nations people.

There is a fundamental disconnection between the way business people speak and real people communicate. From advertisers, big business and CEOs - the blather is coming at us in waves. The International Language of Business is no longer English - it's gobbledygook. The authors blindly discovered the enormity of the problem in June 2003 with the launch of Bullfighter, an anti-jargon software tool. But jargon is just one symptom in a larger problem afflicting corporate communications today: the wholesale inability to connect with an audience. In the form of admirably straight-talk, we discover how to avoid the 'obscurity trap', 'the anonymity trap', the 'hard-sell trap' and most importantly, 'the tedium trap'. In this witty and practical new book readers are given all the tools they need to fight the 'spin' and learn to speak like the rest of us.

This title describes a new method of consulting the public that has been tried successfully around the world. It combines the theory of democracy with actual practice.

What is public opinion? How can we best study it? This work presents a "process model" that answers these questions by defining public opinion in a way that also identifies an approach to studying it. The model serves as a framework into which the findings of empirical research are integrated, producing a comprehensive understanding of public opinion that encompasses the congeries of middle-range theories that have emerged from empirical research. The three-dimensional process model--and the way it is explicated--satisfies the diverse and sometimes divergent needs and interests of political scientists, sociologists, social psychologists, and communication specialists who study public opinion. This is achieved by clearly differentiating and interrelating the following: * individual opinions--the judgmental outcomes of a process in which attitudinal systems--comprised of beliefs, values/interests, and feelings--function as intervening variables that direct and structure perceptions of public issues; * collective opinions--the outcomes of communication from which mutual awareness emerges and that integrate separate individual opinions into a significant social force; and * political roles of collective and individual opinions--the outcomes of the extent to which collective and individual opinions have achieved legitimacy as the basis for governing a people. DON'T USE THIS PARAGRAPH FOR GENERAL CATALOGS... Each dimension of the model has its corresponding subprocess: transactions between individuals and their environments, communications among individuals and collectives, and political legitimation of public opinion. Since the process model is -- by definition -- interactional, none of the three dimensions has theoretical or sequential priority over the others. Instead of treating the psychological, political, and sociological aspects of public opinion as separate stages of an unidirectional process, the three aspects are modeled as dimensions of a complex, ongoing system in continuous interaction with each other. This conceptualization satisfies the need for a truly interdisciplinary theory in that it demands that each dimension be studied in terms of its defining sub-process. It also avoids the twin errors of reductionism and reification in the study of public opinion.

Why do we think what we think? Think we know what we think we know? Believe what we believe? Like what we like? Do what we do? Why do others trust or distrust us? Respect or disrespect us? Listen to or ignore us? Reach out to or neglect us? Like or dislike us? Praise or slander us? Believe or doubt us? That's not all... Why do others follow our lead or stand in our way? Give us opportunities or send them elsewhere? Support our striving for success and appreciate our message or toss it - and us - aside? Decades of cutting-edge (but unheard-of) scientific research presents an answer... Because hidden, little-known secrets of psychology influence everything about us... Neglecting them is swimming upstream. You can't change minds, win allies, or influence people. You can't earn undivided attention or the respect you deserve. You undermine your professional image, stagnate your career, and destroy your confidence until communication makes you anxious. You don't deserve this... And how do I know all this? Because I've been there: I remember wondering... "Why do my ideas never catch on? Why do I face so much professional rejection, stagnating my career? Why can't I influence anyone?" But everything changed when I answered one question... What are the communication habits of highly effective people? It comes down to one secret: Highly effective people speak how the human mind evolved to interpret information. The result? They easily persuade and instantly influence. They turn communication from an obstacle into an opportunity. They enrich their careers, get more done, and advance with stunning speed. They impact and inspire others, rising to positions of leadership. They change their field, excel with ease, and shape the world. They attract others, feel confident, and smash goal after goal. Who are they? Presidents and CEOs; top-performers and respected professionals; leaders and visionaries. And here's my question to you: Will you be one of them? In How Highly Effective People Speak, you'll discover 194 communication habits of highly effective people (proven by 57 scientific studies) including: How to get more done with less effort by influencing others to support you How to attract others (instead of turning them away and seeming unfriendly) with the correct type of body language How to make people systematically, predictably, and reliably overweigh your opinion by activating the availability bias How to charge more or pay less (for the same product) and win every negotiation with the anchoring effect How to effortlessly make others want something by activating one little-known cognitive bias (called "essential" by billionaire investor Charlie Munger, partner to Warren Buffet) How to lead with ease and reliably influence teams by using the contrast effect How to effortlessly speak with memorable eloquence by applying 2,000-year-old secrets of powerful language How to ace every interview, meeting, and presentation with ease by activating agent detection bias How to quickly diffuse all objections by activating the little-known (but extremely powerful) zero-risk bias How to make people believe something even if they think the exact opposite with the illusory truth effect How to appear authoritative, trustworthy, and capable in 10 seconds by activating the halo effect How to combine the science of psychology with the art of communication and create a critical competitive advantage in life

While historians have known about the debates of the Bavarian parliament, they have, surprisingly, remained largely unaware of popular attitudes toward the bill and how these attitudes affected the bill's ultimate defeat in 1850. The People Speak! fills this gap.