A review by spooky_simon
Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States by Bill Bryson

Did not finish book. Stopped at 57%.
What started as a delightful exploration of the development of American English took an unnecessary tangent into the authors options and beliefs about American history. In a book replete with footnotes, a glaring lack of citations exist for his belief that "the physical cruelties to which [slaves] were subjected have perhaps been somewhat inflated in the popular mind - most were at least passably fed and clothed ... It was after all in the slaveowners interest to look after his property" two sentences before euphemistically explaining that female slaves were the subject to routine and systematic rape at the hands of not only their owners but also their overseers. I'm not sure if it makes it any better that he says actually what they did face was humiliation and how bad that was. 

Not only is this ahistorical, but it's just weird and unnecessary to put it. It colors the rest of the book and every other historical opinion he has comes across in the context of this point of view. As the book progresses, he actually has increasingly long stretches without citations which I can now only assume are just bloviating.

Sorry, Bill, stick to sucking at hiking, that was really funny at least.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings