Made in America
Bill Bryson turns away from the highways and byways of middle America, so hilariously depicted in his bestselling The Lost Continent, for a fast, exhilarating ride along the Route 66 of American language and popular culture. In Made in America, Bryson de-mythologizes his native land - explaining how a dusty desert hamlet with neither woods nor holly became Hollywood, how the Wild West wasn't won, why Americans say 'lootenant' and 'Toosday', how Americans were eating junk food long before the word itself was cooked up - as well as exposing the true origins of the G-string, the original $64,000 question and Dr Kellogg of cornflakes fame.
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5recommend
5mentions
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2018–2022years
100% recommend
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- My recommendations (stick almost exclusively to autobiography):
- My Father Marconi (degna marconi)
- Made in Japan (sony founder)
- Made in America (walmart founder)
- How to win friends and influence people (though I hear all 4 of N Hill's books are worth their weight in gold). Alternatively I read "Never Eat Alone" which is similar and also great.
- Autobiography of Ben Franklin
- Bill Bryson's book Made in America, although mainly about language (US v British English), also deals with many false and/or disputed claims about who invented what.
On the language side, it also points out that many "Americanisms", oft-derided by certain sorts of English people, are actually nothing of the sort, but rather original English retained in American usage.
An entertaining and informatie read, in my opinion.
- All of these are by Bill Bryson but none are about travel:
Shakespeare: the World as Stage
One Summer: America, 1927
The Mother Tongue: English and How it Got that Way
Made in America: an Informal History of the English Language in the US
At Home: A Short History of Private Life
- I enjoyed Bill Bryson's "Made In America" which approaches American history through its effect on the English language. A very entertaining and informative read.
https://www.amazon.com/Made-America-Informal-History-Languag...
- I don't think there are any "must-reads", but I'll recommend the Ramona series by Beverly Cleary as fantastic read-alouds for kids age five or older. My older child (12 now) and I really enjoyed Bill Bryson's "Made in America" and "A short history of nearly everything".
Related
One Summer
5 recommend · 8
At Home
12 recommend · 27
The Mother Tongue
12 recommend · 22
A short history of nearly everything
102 recommend · 138
The Lost Continent
4 recommend · 4
They made America
5 recommend · 8
Notes from a Big Country
0 recommend · 4
