This is a topic that comes up more frequently than you might expect. There are a myriad of books on speechwriting out there. Some bad. Some good. Some just excellent.
Here's my quick list of books that I've used over the years. This isn't a definitive list, of course. Just the ones that come to mind first:
For technical advice, check out Joan Detz's books - such as How to Write and Give a Speech - or Alan Perlman's Writing Great Speeches or Writing Effective Speeches by Henry Ehrlich. Ehrlich's book covers all kinds of speeches and events (plus he's a nice guy). All great technical tomes.
The introduction in William Safire's Lend Me Your Ears has a great
primer on what good speechwriting plus it has a great collection of
speeches, each with a foreword by Safire. Very interesting reading and
the best collection of speeches out there. (Some others give only excerpts
so beware.)
Ted Sorenson's Counselor also has a chapter on speechwriting with some great advice. His observations will ring true to anyone who's ever been charged with writing for others.
Finally, there is a book called The Executive's Lifetime Library of Model Speeches for Every Situation by Roger Shelby and Robert A. Cooke. It's a bit more expensive but it covers nearly every situation and is great for when you might be pressed for time and a your brain has taken a temporary vacation.
Oh, and Selected Speeches of Ronald Reagan is a great collection as is "I Gotta Tell You": Speeches of Lee Iacocca by Lee A. Iacocca and Matthew W. Seeger.
There are other books out there. But these are tops for me and the ones that have been very handy to me over the years.
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