The Language Wars by Henry Hitchings
What really is correctness? Why do people care so much about it? What is at stake in the quarrel about good and bad usage?
'[Hitchings] writes beautiful prose, witty and succinctHis 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 Review 20110130 'This 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 Times 20110130 'Crisply written, amusing, informative and thought-provoking. Anyone interested in the English language and its history should read it.' -- Charles Moore, The Telegraph 20110130 'Hitchings' 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 Times 20110130 'Agreeable and informative' -- Independent 20110130 'The 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.' -- Observer 20110130 'The Language Wars takes the reader on a Cook's tour of complaints about English past and present ...' -- Deborah Cameron, Guardian 20110130 'It is a breath of fresh air (if that is the right cliche) to wander the byways of language without always being nudged to laugh at prescriptivists' foolish nostrums.' -- Daily Telegraph 20110130 'A superb survey' -- Reader's Digest 20110130 'Those who bemoan the state of literacy should turn to Henry Hitchings' history of the centuries-old battles over correct usage to disavow themselves of the notion that such complaints are anything new...The Language Wars offers a hopeful perspective on this old debate.' -- Metro 20110130 A very intelligent call to arms -- The Week 20110130 'Hitchings's three books have helped make language studies sexy' -- Literary Review 20110130
Henry Hitchings was born in 1974. He is the author of The Secret Life of Words, which won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, Who's Afraid of Jane Austen? and Dr Johnson's Dictionary. He has contributed to many newspapers and magazines and is theatre critic for the London Evening Standard.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781848542082 |
| ISBN 10 | 1848542089 |
| Title | The Language Wars |
| Author | Henry Hitchings |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | John Murray Press |
| Year published | 2011-02-03 |
| Number of pages | 416 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |