Customer Reviews

Noah Webster : The Life and Times of an American Patriot

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If you're ready for a reprieve from contemporary biographical sleaze, read this fine biography of Noah Webster, a good and moral man who held his family and country in balanced respect. You have lots to learn from this book if all you know about Webster is the dictionary. What surprised me was a life that spanned the years from colonial times to the mid-19th century. This was a man who never held high elective office but was an influential friend of those who did -- Washington, Franklin, John Adams and Madison. He spent months traveling up and down the East coast, espousing his beliefs in the ideals of Federalism. He advocated tirelessly for an American language and literature independent of the British tradition. To protect himself against piracy of his highly popular reader for schoolchildren, he campaigned successfully for copywright legislation. For this reader, whose last course in American History is a blurred memory, the "times" part of this story was as fascinating as the "life." I was reminded of the chaos of the country in the interim between the Revolution and Constitutional Convention, of Shay's Rebellion, of the acrimonious regionalism that nearly tore apart the young country, of the XYZ affair, and the threat to a fragile democracy of the War of 1812. I was made to recall the inadequacies of early American education and the perils of public health before urban sanitation systems. In this carefully-researched portrait, Unger presents Webster sympathetically as an American Renaissance man, curious and informed in fields from law to medicine to philosophy to lexicography. One of Yale University's early graduates, he spent his life educating himself. Because Webster was such an assiduous diarist and letter-writer, the book also provides a rich portrait of his family and private life -- his devotion to his wife and children, his frustration with a ne'er-do-well son, his financial concerns, and his delight in hearth and home. The culmination of the story is the dictionary, the product of a lifelong belief in the necessity of a uniform American language to unify the disparate voices of a young nation. Webster the scholar devoted years of careful research to this project, both at home and in Europe. His efforts secured his mention in history books. Harlow Unger's book fleshes out the man and his times with substance and grace.

I found this fantastic book on the clearance stack at Border's. I became aware of Webster's importance from references to him in other books on the Founding Fathers. However, it wasn't until I read Unger's work that I fully appreciate how important Webster really was. Soon after graduating from Yale, the Connecticut native embarked on a lifelong dream of improving the educational system of the fledgling country to both unify it and to instill the young with the moral and intellectual virtues necessary to maintain a free republic.

The first step was to have America adopt an agreed upon spelling convention tailored to the US to replace the current chaotic spellings borrowed from Britain. After years of hard work, he succeeded in getting his spelling books adopted in practically all schools within the US. The book later was nicknamed The Blue-Backed Speller and was the standard in American schoolrooms throughout the 19th century. To protect his creation, he successfully petitioned national leaders and all state legislatures to enact America's first copyright protection laws. In the course of his campaign he befriended George Washington, Ben Franklin, James Madison, and John Jay. An ardent nationalist, Webster wrote a widely read political tract in 1785, Sketches, calling for a strong national government to replace the Articles of Confederation. This work would have a powerful impact on the Convention of 1787 as Washington summoned Webster to Philadelphia to meet nightly with him and other attendees to solicit his views on how to craft the new constitution.

In 1793, he returned to the national political scene to take the lead in countering the French representative Citizen Genet, who, on behalf of the revolutionary government, actively attempted to convince the American citizenry to overthrow President Washington in order for the US to support France in its struggle against Britain. (France's malevolent intentions included having the US become a French vassal state. ) Couching his speeches in the ideals of the American revolution, Genet gained quite a bit of popular support. However, Webster exposed the ruse and denounced American supporters for Genet as dupes. He publicly defended Washington and his administration's stand on neutrality against the onslaught of the anti-Federalist press, who sympathized with Genet.

Besides serving in local politics, Webster led scientific inquiries with help from Benjamin Rush to combat infectious diseases (a world first) and to abolish slavery. Toward the end of his life, he embarked on his greatest achievement: a new, comprehensive dictionary of the English language. His endeavor comprised decades of research which included his learning several languages, both old and new, and traveling to the national libraries of France and Britain for etymological histories of words. His achievement won him stunning praise from the world over.

A family man, Webster's indomitable character was forged by his strong Calvinist beliefs. This book traces the life of a most remarkable individual and too sadly neglected Founding Father. The book is written in an easy style and an obvious result of a great deal of research. A must for those seeking to appreciate the reason behind America's success over the last two centuries.

In his preface, the author notes that Noah Webster is so famous for his dictionary that it's overshadowed his many other achievements. Too true! I was amazed to learn of Mr. Webster's achievements in politics and education reform, particularly the influential role he played in shaping the U.S. Constitution. This book is a Must Read for anyone who wants a deeper and more accurate view into early American history.

This is an outstanding biography of a person who, because he never held high political office, is less well known than he deserves to be. In reading about Webster's life, one also learns much about the political controversies of the early United States--how many know, for example, that George Washington had bitter political enemies while President, or that the War of 1812 was so unpopular in New England that it prompted many there (including Webster) to discuss seceding from the Union? This biography deserves to be widely read.

This is an excellent book, well written, and anybody contemplating purchase should proceed with confidence.

My single point of contention with this volume is that the Mr. Unger is clearly uncomfortable with Webster's unabashed discipleship under Jesus Christ. For example, the author describes as misguided the many years Webster devoted to etymological research under the guiding principle that God is the author of all language, and that God, at Babel, supplemented the one original language spoken by Adam of Eve, with many languages (Genesis 11:9 - "That is why it was called Babel --because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world."). Mr. Unger wonders that a scholar of Webster's quality could be so self-deceived as to rely upon the Bible as a valid historical document. Mr. Unger only succeeds, in his consternation, in exposing his bias and ignorance - the Bible has never been demonstrated to be an inaccurate historical resource.

In short, Unger seems to embrace the Webster was a brilliant and reasonable man on virtually every subject to which Webster applied himself, except faith. I am certain that Webster would insist that it was because of his faith that he was able to accomplish all that he did.