Bill Bryson writes frequently for National Geographic, and has also written for The New York Times,
The Washington Post, Granta, Esquire, and GQ. His previous books include A Dictionary of Troublesome
Words, The Lost Continent, The Mother Tongue, Neither Here nor There, and Made in America. He currently
lives in Hanover, New Hampshire, with his wife and children.
Review
"A treat ... filled with surprises ... a literate exploration ofwhy we use -- or mangle-our native tongue."
-- USA Today
"Plain fun ... a terrific book, likely to make its readerschuckle if not guffaw ... Bryson manages to demolish
somecherished American myths ... If more high schools used thisas their history text, the course might be one of
the morepopular ones in school."
-- Denver Post
"Romping through history and folk customs, Bill Bryson hascompiled a highly entertaining book about the
growth ofAmerican English ... Enjoy it, learn from it, laugh at thefoibles of our peculiar tongue."
-- Atlanta Journal and Constitution
"A wonderfully entertaining and informative history ofAmerican English, of how it and the country and its
peopledeveloped ... Bryson captured me easily within the first 20pages of his engaging, information-packed book."--
Des Moines Register"A treasure trove of trivia about American culturepast and present."
-- Publishers Weekly
"Read this lively treatment of the development of American English . . . this book is no lemon--It's a
peach!"
-- People
"From slavery, immigration and Westward expansion to advertising, sex and shopping malls, he provides scads
of fascinating, often little-known facts and anecdotes that, far from glutting his reader's appetites, should leave
them hungry for more."
-- Wall Street Journal
"Delightf ul . . . relentlessly, exuberantly informative . . . a potted history of the United States, presenting
aspects of American life from cooking to swearing, from warring to shopping."
-- Washington Post Book World
Submitted by Publisher, March, 2001
Summary
Bill Bryson, who gave glorious voice to The Mother Tongue, now celebrates her magnificent offspring in
the book that reveals once and for all how a dusty western hamlet with neither woods nor holly came to be known
as Hollywood...and exactly why Mr. Yankee Doodle call his befeathered cap "Macaroni."
