Made in America

A long but interesting read. Definitely one to read in bursts

I read Bryson's other study on the English language, The Mother Tongue, previously and absolutely loved it. But, I am a huge grammar and language nerd, so loving that book isn't much of a stretch. In the Introduction of Made in America Bryson expressly tells the reader he's going to write most things through anecdotes because he found that was the best way of explaining American vocabulary. In terms of reaching the widest audience, I agree completely. The anecdotes made it easy to read so if someone is curious about American English, but is afraid of being bored or technically-termed-out, then this is the book for you. But I found towards the end of the book it was less about the language and more stories from American history that didn't bring much new knowledge of the language, but he did have some interesting stories about American figures. His first book, The Mother Tongue, was 5 out of 5 for me, but Made in America was 4 out of 5.

If you like: (a) Bill Bryson (b) history (c) language (d) ALL OF THE ABOVE ...then read this!