Exemplary...Hitchings has created a fascinating, wholly readable, and gratifyingly informative book. ---Financial Times(London)
The English language is a battlefield. Since the age of Shakespeare, arguments over correct usage have been bitter; often they've had more to do with morality, politics, and the values of the age than with language itself. Peopled with intriguing characters such as Jonathan Swift, Lewis Carroll, and Lenny Bruce,The Language Warsis essential reading for anyone interested in the contemporary state of the English language, its contested history, and its future.
Hitchings has prepared a turducken of language-history entr?es. Consuming one layer, we discover another, and another. And we feast. The Cleveland Plain Dealer
Thoroughly charming&A rich history of English and the shifting rule books for its correctness&Hitchings cautions readers to take care, not in the way of the grumblers, fault-finders, quibblers and mud-slingers,' but following the example of Orwell, in using language to be clear, to be honest, to connect with each other. The Boston Globe
Hitchings has earned a place at the head table of contemporary linguists. The Denver Post
Mr. Hitchings's trenchant prose is irresistible. The Baltimore Sun
Extraordinary&Chock-full of historical and literary references,The Language Warsis a fascinating, eye-opening look at the evolution of the English language. The Huffington Post
Crisply written, amusing, informative, and thought-provoking. Anyone interested in the English language and its history should read it. The Sunday Telegraph (London)
Henry Hitchingswas born in 1974. He is the author of
The Secret Life of Words, Who's Afraid of Jane Austen?,and
Defining the World.He has contributed to many newspapers and magazines and is the theater critic for the London
Evening Standard.
![The Language Wars A History of Proper English [Paperback]](/itemImage/2/7/1/9/2_318283.jpg "The Language Wars A History of Proper English [Paperback] xxx")