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What really is correctness? Why do people care so much about it? What is at stake in the quarrel about good and bad usage?

About the Author

Henry Hitchings was born in 1974. He has contributed to many newspapers and magazines and is theatre critic for the Evening Standard.

Reviews

[Hitchings] writes beautiful prose, witty and succinct. His book is full of complex ideas expressed with crystal clarity ... The range of his knowledge and curiosity is remarkable ... Every paragraph contains a fascinating detail about the English language ... I recommend that you rush out to immediately buy it, or to buy it immediately, whichever you prefer. - Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday, Five Star ReviewThis richly detailed and often delightfully combative book is a historical guide to the sometimes splenetic battles that have been fought over [English] down the centuries . . . a pleasure to read. - Andrew Holgate, Sunday TimesCrisply written, amusing, informative and thought-provoking. Anyone interested in the English language and its history should read it. - Charles Moore, Sunday TelegraphHitchings' exemplary researches and disinterested, perceptive and often witty explications, make it clear that one cannot glibly dismiss these struggles over what makes English "proper" ... Hitchings has created a fascinating, wholly readable and gratifyingly informative book. - Financial TimesThe Language Wars asks us to think beyond tradition, habit and deference, and to consider what we want from our words. It is a very intelligent and polite call to arms, but a call to arms nonetheless - ObserverThe Language Wars takes the reader on a Cook's tour of complaints about English past and present ... - Deborah Cameron, GuardianIt is a breath of fresh air (if that is the right clich?) to wander the byways of language without always being nudged to laugh at prescriptivists' foolish nostrums. - Daily TelegraphA superb survey - Reader's Digest

Hitchings (The Secret Life of Words), theater critic for London's Evening Standard, explores "the history of arguments about English," from Chaucer to Lenny Bruce. There are endless debates over proper usage, but what is proper? The self-appointed guardians of good usage can be irate: "Just ask the language professors who have received hate mail for refusing to take a stand against split infinitives." (Hitchings himself defends the familiar Star Trek opening: "The assonance of 'to boldly go' is more striking-not only because of its rhythm, but also because it's less compressed-than that of 'to go boldly'.") Hitchings examines such topics as dialects, diction, double negatives, word purists, grammatical rules, regional accents, obscenity laws, text messaging, and prescriptive books such as The Elements of Style: "A great deal of what it has to say looks quaint now.... Its continued success owes much to a refusal to be modern." This insightful look at the evolution of English overflows with entertaining historical anecdotes. It also serves as a fine contemporary usage guidebook. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

What is important about our battles over the English language? Hitchings (theater critic, Evening Standard, London; The Secret Life of Words) guides readers with a comprehensive survey spanning 400 pages and many centuries. Wonder about the initial ammunition of these language wars, namely, early grammar books or spelling publications? Hitchings devotes an entire chapter to each topic. Curious about the hard-charging "generals" in the war or the fronts related to slang or profanity? More chapters await. Without voicing resolution on matters of debate, e.g., as in such guides as Strunk and White's The Elements of Style or H.W. Fowler's A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, Hitchings enumerates the goals and summarizes the content of these and other important publications. His discussions always humorously identify weak arguments, include anecdotes, and aim to engage general readers; that is, those already familiar with English linguistic history and pre-1776 politics. VERDICT This isn't a language-use survey specifically written for teachers and students, as is Terry Locke's Beyond the Grammar Wars. It will be best appreciated by language specialists, who will be sure to admire Hitchings's depth, wide range, comic flair, and lengthy bibliography.-Marianne Orme, Des Plaines P.L., Wheaton, IL (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.