E. M. Forster

Stuart Chase

A study of semantics investigating the problems of human communication and suggesting ways to clarify the meaning of words

The Tyranny of Words

Edmund de Schweinitz Brunner

The Proper Study of Mankind

Benjamin Lee Whorf

John Bissell Carroll

2011 Reprint of 1956 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. The hypothesis suggested by Whorf that the structure of a person's language is a factor in the way in which he understands reality and behaves with respect to it has attracted the attention of linguists, anthropologists, psychologists, philosophers, as well as a large segment of the public. This is a collection of important essays published by Whorf over the course of his lifetime.

Selected Writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf

Language, Thought, and Reality

The Tragedy of Waste

The Proper Study of Mankind--

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

The Challenge of Waste

Summary: Discusses the development of language, its importance to communication, and how it enables man to understand and control his world.

A Background Book on Semantics and Communication

Danger--men Talking!

Stuart Chase (1888-1985) was an Economics graduate from MIT, and this was one of his many publications on the topic of socialism and Economics. The revival in interest in the book came after it was linked, by Glenn Beck, to a Barack Obama 2012 campaign video called "The Road We've Traveled." Beck made several links between Obama's presidential goals and the themes in Chase's book: strong centralized government, Control of banking, credit and security exchanges, Underwriting of food, housing and medical care by the government, and Use of deficit spending to finance under writings among others. Another interesting literary tie in about the author was that early in his career he took a job with the Food Administration of the FTC with his fellow MIT classmates Walter Lippman, John Reed and T.S. Eliot. One of the cases Chase investigated at this post was corruption of the meatpacking industry with none other than Upton Sinclair. In 1942, Stuart Chase, in this book "The Road We Are Traveling" spelled out the system of planning the Fabian Socialists had in mind.

When the War Ends the Road We Are Traveling 1914-1942

Marian Tyler Chase

Discusses such aspects of communication as cybernetics, linguistics, brain physiology, and language development in children

Power of Words

Gemeinwirtschaftliche Gedanken in Amerika

Tragödie der Verschwendung

The pioneering and still essential text on semantics, urging readers to improve human communication and understanding with precise, concrete language. In 1938, Stuart Chase revolutionized the study of semantics with his classic text, The Tyranny of Words. Decades later, this eminently useful analysis of the way we use words continues to resonate. A contemporary of the economist Thorstein Veblen and the author Upton Sinclair, Chase was a social theorist and writer who despised the imprecision of contemporary communication. Wide-ranging and erudite, this iconic volume was one of the first to condemn the overuse of abstract words and to exhort language users to employ words that make their ideas accurate, complete, and readily understood. “[A] thoroughly scholarly study of the science of the meaning of words.” —Kirkus Reviews “When thinking about words, I think about Stuart Chase’s The Tyranny of Words. It is one of those books that never lose its message.” —CounterPunch

Stuart Chase

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