As the subtitle alludes to, this is the history of English for people who haven't done much reading on the subject. That could mean deadly dull mixed with infuriating for the left-out bits, or--if done by a good writer--it could mean coherent and fun.Luckily, in this case, it's the second choice. Lerer never rests long enough on a subject, or century, to induce boredom, staying just long enough to explain why this particular development was important, what EXACTLY the change was (how the language existed before and after), and all the while using accessible words and tone. There is no academic apple-polishing here, just good honest explication. For instance, this is the first time I've been able to understand Old English pronunciation words ending in 'e' and those pesky dual 'th' symbols.
Frankly, I was totally on his side because he uses Emily Dickinson as one of his muses in the chapter on the changes the American dialect brought to the language. Yay. And another "yay" for raising the Mark Twain flag later on and crediting him with not just attentiveness to dialect, but also his ability to invent new concept through slang and idiom. There is a sense that he almost feels that Twain was a watershed (my pun) in the development of American English. I heartily agree.
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