To help Members of the European Parliament and their staff with their speeches – a substantial part of parliamentary life, as the etymology of ‘parliament’ indicates– EPRS invited two high-level speakers for its 2025 event on speechwriting and delivery. Former Chair of the NATO Military Committee, Admiral Rob Bauer, and his speechwriter, Eleonora Russell, shared the lessons learnt from their award-winning speech: ‘If you want peace, prepare for war’. , The authors took the speech as the starting point for a book that expands this message, a work that inspired an engaging and motivating conversation.