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How English conquered the world: a Guns, Germs, and Steel argument based on the power of the word.
It seems impossible: a small island in the North Atlantic, colonized by Rome, then pillaged for hundreds of years by marauding neighbors, becomes the dominant world power in the nineteenth century. Equally unlikely, a colony of that island nation, across the Atlantic, grows into the military and cultural colossus of the twentieth century. How? By the sword, of course; by trade and industrial ingenuity; but principally, and most surprisingly, by the power of their common language.
In this provocative and compelling new look at the course of empire, Robert McCrum, coauthor of the best-selling book and television series The Story of English, shows how the language of the Anglo-American emporium has become the world’s lingua franca. In fascinating detail he describes the ever-accelerating changes wrought on the language by the far-flung cultures claiming citizenship in the new hegemony.
| Prologue: 'Crazy English' | p. 3 |
| Founders | |
| In the Beginning: Four Invasions and a Cultural Revolution | p. 23 |
| Defeat into victory: The DNA of Self-Expression | p. 41 |
| 'Lighte Englisshe': Medieval Mass Communications | p. 61 |
| Eating Paper, Drinking Ink: Shakespeare & Co. | p. 74 |
| Pioneers | |
| 'A Whole Country of English': Re-inventing Freedom and Originality | p. 93 |
| 'Common Hopes and Common Dreams': Lighting Out for the Territory | p. 111 |
| 'The Audacity of Hope': From Slavery to Redemption | p. 125 |
| Popularisers | |
| Rule, Britannia!: How England Became British | p. 147 |
| East, in a Western Voice: The People's Empire | p. 171 |
| 'At the Top of the World': The Imperial Swan Song | p. 188 |
| Modernisers | |
| 'A Willingness of the Heart': The American Century I | p. 201 |
| 'The Unity of the English-Speaking Peoples': The American Century II | p. 211 |
| 'The World At Your Fingertips': From Google to Globish, 1989-2009 | p. 226 |
| Globalisers | |
| One World, One Dream: 'Conquer English to Make China Strong' | p. 249 |
| 'Virtually Running America': India, the Far East and Beyond | p. 260 |
| Epilogue: 'A Thoroughfare for All Thoughts' | p. 275 |
| Notes | p. 289 |
| Select Bibliography | p. 309 |
| Acknowledgements | p. 313 |
| Index | p. 315 |
| Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved. |
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