Customer Reviews

Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Having read Bryson's The Mother Tongue several years ago, I was delighted to find Made in America was going to explore the American variety of English with much the same humor and insight. As a teacher of both British and American literature, I've always tried to include a brief foray into the development of our language on both sides of the Atlantic. I have been able to spice up an otherwise pretty solid lecture presentation with Bryson's witty tidbits and elevate it to the level of the captivating (in my opinion, of course). Next year, I plan on assigning Made in America to my single honors American literature class; I have this suspicion that they will learn more lasting American history from this book than their regular text. When I had read a couple of chapters of the book, I bought an additional copy and sent it to my son, a history major at Notre Dame, who is currently studying in London. He called a few weeks later and was brimming with enthusiasm for the book and told me that he had not only finished it (before I had) but also that he was making all of his friends read it. His roommate read it in two days! I heartily recommend Made in America to anyone who is interested in food, travel, health, movies, history, or just about anything else. If all history and language texts were written with Bryson's flair for the interesting, our task as teachers would be significantly eased.
This last section is added in August 2004: I did, indeed, use the book with my junior class in my last year of teaching in Ohio before "retiring" and moving to Tennessee. It was very well received by the advanced readers and less so by those for whom any book assignment is, well, an assignment. Nonetheless, I'm back teaching in TN and am considering using the book again this second semester. (D.R. Powell at Hendersonville HS-since I didn't intend to make the original review anonymous)

I love language and all its peculiarities and variations. Scholarly works like David Crystal's Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language are great reference books. So is this, in a very different way. Not only is it a good "people's history" of some aspects of US history, it is one of those books you reach for when your 'favourite' language pedant starts waxing on about how terrible it is that noone speaks's proper any more, or "the kids of today..." As an Australian, and therefore being trilingual (British, American and Australian English) I love to be able to stop some fool in their tracks with the information that some 'vulgar Americanisms' are actually much older forms of English that were transported and survived, at the same time as English mutated in its homeland. The Grammar Pedants won't have it that English is a living language, that usage, spelling and grammar 'rules' change ... this book shows how it does and also demonstrates how some of the most common words we use to deal with life in our age were once US-invented neologisms or even slang. All this (and more) delivered in Bryson's wry and ironic (read witty) tone.

I'm not a student of the English language, though the history of words does interest me, therefore I've tried to read William Safire's books but with little success. I picked up this book only because of Bill Bryson. The book is not what you think, "An Informal History," describes the book exactly. Bryson fills the book with more historical antidotes than a formal study of the English language in the United States.

Bryson takes you along for a history of the United States and how our language has changed from English into its current form today. The other half of the book contains chapters dealing with specific topics such as names, the movies and cooking. Each of the subjects deals with the words and phases that entered the language at the time or involving the subject.

There are some reviews that question Bryson's accuracy on some of the items, and this book is not filled with Bryson's usual humor, but the writing is enjoyable with just the right amount of wit throughout. Make sure you check out the chapter dealing with Puritan morality!

After reading "The Lost Continent," Bryson's often whining and largely overrated travelogue on small-town America, I hesitated before picking this one up. However, this is a very enjoyable book. Ostensibly a study of American English, its development and impact on the English language in general, this book is more of a compendium of linguistic facts and historical trivia that cover the entire scope of U.S. history from the colonial period to the present. Bryson quite unabashedly plunders the works of historians, other scholars and writers who dealt with the same subjects, so what he offers here is hardly new. But the presentation and organization are impeccable. While informing us of the origins of many words and expressions common to American English, he also provides a wealth of particularly useful information on things like American cuisine or the origins of America's highway system and car culture (one of my only criticisms is that he failed to mention the origin of quintessential car-related Americanisms like "rumble seat" or "to ride shotgun"). Bryson's engaging writing style and dry humor keep the book moving, so it is never dull and always very amusing - it seriously lives up to that old cliché about how learning can be fun.

This book is a wonderful and very witty look at the English language and how it has evolved in America. Did you ever have an English teacher that lectured you about the use (or more likely misuse) of a certain word? Forget all of that! (Or at least loosen up about it!) This book is a testament to the fact that language is alive and a reflection of the culture that uses it.

Bryson walks you through American history as he presents story after story usually leaving you laughing and often simply just amazing you with how some word came into common usage. As he tells his story of the English language in America, you will probably learn more about American history than you ever knew before--and all of it is very entertaining.

Don't miss the amazing story of Squanto, the Indian who helped the Pilgrims survive at Plymouth, Massachusetts. There is more to Squanto's story than you think and it is just one of hundreds of gems that Bryson has uncovered.

This is a fast reading, educational, and very fun book.

Bill Bryson's book, "Made in America", is thoroughly enjoyable on many levels. First, he blithely debunks many of our folk legends - legends which we learn as schoolchildren and carry with us through life as if they were fact. Things like: the Puritans actually landing on Plymouth Rock; the ringing of the Liberty Bell on independence day; Patrick Henry's famous death-defying words about liberty or death, just to name a few. If these anecdotes are as true as he claims, then our school history textbooks seem canned and artificial by comparison.
Second, by saying aloud the early American pronunciations that Bryson describes, the reader can clearly grasp how 18th century colonists sounded in speech.
Third, Bryson's wry style gives the reader a good laugh on just about every page - a comparable textbook on early American language would never do that.
However, it's very important to keep in mind the word 'informal' in the book title. Several geographical errors in the 'Names' chapter led me to realize the potential number of inaccuracies in such a thick book. For instance, in that chapter he mentions the towns of Ipswich and Agawam as being quite close to each other in Connecticut. In fact, the two towns are in Massachusetts, on opposite sides of the state. One quick glance in an atlas by Bryson's editor would have cleared that up.
So read this enjoyable book for its humorous take on history, and not as a scholarly work.

Brilliant, funny, informative...and extremely interesting. Read it for detailed research on the history of American English or just read it for fun. You will be amazed at the background and origins of so many of the words we use on a daily basis.

I have just finished Bryson's "Made In America" and came away both thrlled yet annoyed. Bryson certainly writes in an enjoyable hand but I must question some of his conclusions. There are phrases and catchwords which other writers credit with different origins. So be it. Everyone is allowed one's own opinion. For instance,"bought the farm" I believe came from the trenches of WWI whereby soldiers were given an insurance policy by their governments and in the event of their death, their beneficiaries would have enough money to purchase said real estate. Also, the term "so long", as I have researched, was a New England nautical term from the 18th or 19th century; when a sailor on land recognized a sailor friend on ship heading out to sea, the former would hold a rope between his hands over his head to plaintively ask how long the latter's voyage would be. In response, the seaman would likewise hold a rope and indicate time by the distance between his outstretched hands. The book is completely enjoyable. But,I recommend that the Gentle Reader should have a grasp of American history before being entertained. Bryson, I believe, has made some careless errors, to wit: Curtiss began his aviation experimentation in Hammondsport,NEW YORK, not Hammondsport, Connecticut. There seems to be a problem with the quality of the book, probably not attributable to Bryson but, rather, to the publisher. I must have counted at least 30 typos in the text; obviously an error by the publisher's proofreaders in not studying the galleys closely! Still, I do highly recommend reading this book for its entertainment content. But, be careful if you plan to quote from it....

Bill Bryson's Made in America is a joy from start to finish. The only problem is that it may be slow reading as you will want to call all your friends after every page to say, "Did you know ..." (A brief warning: They will begin to be annoyed if you do this too often but just try and stop yourself). The book is more than an informal history of the English Language in the United States (as per the subtitle) as it covers all of American history, both political and social, in the author's delightful style. One story will lead into another and you will have forgotten where you began but the ride will always be worth it. Before your very eyes he will dispel many of the myths of America and build up America with some solid truths. An wonderfully funny and smart work.

This wonderful book's title is something of a misnomer. It is as much a plain history of America -- albeit in very loose, mostly anecdotal form -- as it is a history of the English language in the country, though it does that very well. The word "informal" in the title is key. Though the book is, unquestionably, a scholarly work, and clearly was exahustively-researched, Bryson writes in a very loose, personal style, such as a scholar might share with you over a drink (if you've ever managed to corner an English or History professor in a non-classrooom setting and engage them in conversation, you know the feeling.) His writing style is very appealing, and it keeps the book going smoothly: though absolutely bursting with information and endless factoids, the book is a very quick read, thanks to Bryson's personable writing style. Bryson begins his story with the landing of the Mayflower, and then proceeds to give a pre-history of America, and winds his way all the way up to the very latter part of the 20th century. He examines the English that was spoken by the early colonists, and how it has since evolved. The book is then split into chapters that deal with various aspects of American life -- shopping, war, sex, travel, etc. -- and how they have altered and added to our language. In every such chapter, Bryson details how the words that we use in relation to them came about, where they come from, when they were first used, and much, much more. Along the way, he discourses on such perenially-interesting topics as swear words, slang, cultural taboos (the chapter on sex is particularly enlightening), and he even takes a -- quite thoughtful -- swipe at the PC debate. Many of these facts are, to say the least, quite surprising. Trust me, however much you know about the subject of American English going on, you will know a lot more after reading the book (I, for one, had no idea that there was such a wide difference between American and British English.) That said, the book is almost as much a history book as it is an etymology book. Quite thoughtfully, Bryson not only gives us information on the origins of words, but also relays to us the social contexts in which they emerged -- a background without which much of the etymological information would be rendered meaningless. In a stark contrast to the standard high school textbook interpretation of history, Bryson gives us a highly anecdotal fly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants history of the United States; buckle up, friends, it's one wild ride. These stories are almost consistently interesting, frequently witty, very often funny, invariably surprising, and sometimes quick simply shocking. They are the kind of stories that will make you want to stop in the middle of your reading, find the nearest person to you, and shout out breathlessly, "Did you know...?!" Along the way, Bryson manages to debunk many of the most-cherished American stories -- I won't spoil any of them for you here, but rest assured that you will be quite shocked -- while confirming others, and creating some anew. As one commentor on the book succinctly said, If there is a more popular American pasttime than creating myths, it is trying to debunk them. Bryson, an American living in the U.K. at the time this book was written, seems generally proud to be an American, affirming the greatness of many of its folk heroes while holding the bright flame of truth up to some of its longest-standing fables, all in the admirable spirit of fierce, if tempered, patriotism. Due to this dichotomy, some sections of the book get very weighed down in almost list-like paragraphs detailing the origins of words, while some chapters, conversely, consist almost entirely of anecdotal histories with hardly any etymological content at all. All in all, it makes for very fun, interesting reading that goes by quickly and smootly; you'll learn a lot while reading it, and you'll enjoy yourself while doing it. This great book, which is much, much more than the title suggests, is a great read for anyone interested in the subjects it deals with, and an absolute must for scholars of American English and American History. Such is the enjoyment inherent in its nature, that I even recommend it to the general reader.