Made in America (edit title)

• Rated 0 stars

“Started reading this a few years back, but never finished...”

• Rated 3 stars

“Bad ending.”

• Rated 3 stars

“Begins very well, but Bryson seems to run out puff and the whole thesis of the book changes to an interesting history of the US ather than the language of its people.”

• Rated 3 stars

“An enjoyable read, with lots of information on the derivation of common americanisms. A bit long for my taste.”

• Rated 0 stars

“Just couldn't get into it. Each page feels like an attic that is over-stuffed with "neat" but ultimately dispensable relics.”

• Rated 4 stars

“Bryson takes the reader from "The Mayflower and Before" to "American English Today" in a fascinating glimpse of American history through our language. Many of the words we use today are of uncertain origin: Bryson notes the first appearance of the word but also that its context indicates that it was already in popular use. Much of the reasonings behind why we use certain words is no more than speculation. So, really there isn't a lot of hard fact revealed about our words. Overall I thought this was a great way to take in American history. As far as a linguistics study, I wish the book would have focused more on the modern age. As with Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything, I felt that there was too much time spent building up to the more interesting stuff. To those interested in history, each chapter is essential. To those interested in language, the book could have been much shorter. In the final chapter, Bryson discusses political correctness in language, the state of America's public schools, and concerns about immigration. I would like to have seen more discussion on these topics instead of cramming them all together in twelve pages. As always, however, Bryson finds the interesting in the mundane and is at his best talking about the backstories of forgotten inventors.”

• Rated 5 stars

“as with most of Mr. Bryson's books, this one delves deeper into the common stories of history that we all susposedly learned in school. I think this book is a fantastic read for anyone with any inkling of interest in American History. Very interesting slant on history and extremely funny.”

• Rated 3 stars

“The title is self explanatory to a large extent, but it includes intangibles like languge and phrases and words that were either introduced anew or that came to be used differently in US. ”

• Rated 4 stars

“This was a great read about how the english language evolved and changed throughout the countries's history. The book is part enligh language and part history book. I really enjoyed Bryson's witty style of telling the history behind the words. I found it quite amusing at times. I was quite surprised at how some of the words that are still in use today came into regular use, most of them adapted from other languages. A great book to read if you want to learn about American use of the English language.”