A review by jimbowen0306
Made In America by Bill Bryson

4.0

Bill Bryson is a humorous author who typically write gently comic travel books, that draw heavily on his bewilderment at modern life, and its' incongruities. On occasion he changes directions, writing books about history, and Shakespeare, for example, while maintaining his humorous approach to the subject matter.

This books is one of this direction changes. Here, he looks at the history of English in his native America. He addresses a variety of issues, and looks at a variety of times. So he talks about food, travel, sex, and entertainment, for example, and shows us the words and phrases that were introduced to the language by Americans, with his usual lightness of touch.

He also addresses the intellectual snobbery that the British bring to the language, and makes some valid points about the evolution of the language in both places.

The book is funny, and worth reading, but it might feel a little dated now, as it stops talking about the language in the mid-1990s.