Book excerpt: This volume is a collection of documents that have, in some critical way, shaped our world. Each is quite short, taking up no more than one or two pages. There are five general categories of documents: American Statesmen, Freedom and the Human Spirit, the World Wars of the Twentieth Century, Faith and Religion, and Art, Science, Wisdom, & Understanding. The contents of the documents include speeches, addresses, prefaces, proclamations, manifestos, declarations, and testaments; each appeared at a significant moment in world history. Each document is preceded by a short commentary that explains the specific circumstance in which it came to be, and also its broader historical context.