The Forgotten Founding Father: Noah Webster's Obsession And The Creation Of An American Culture (2011) - Plot & Excerpts
This is the third in my series of American history books this year. I was hoping for more intellectual history in this work, but it was more about the major life events of Noah Webster. I would've liked more discussion on the lexicographical work of Webster and more commentary on his uniqueness in this area. The book touched on a few of his strange spellings (maybe there were only a few) and did talk about specific word definitions and how Webster dealt with them at times. It did discuss Webster's views on what a dictionary should be in general, but given the fact that linguists today have such a different approach today (at least the linguists I read and know) I wish the author would have dug in here a bit more. Perhaps there is a work that already does this, however I'm moving on to the Jacksonian era now.The majority of this book covered Webster's interaction with the founding fathers we typically think of as founding fathers. It was certainly fascinating to read about the interactions between Webster and Franklin since I just finished Franklin's bio. It's also cool to know that they both developed alternate print identities so as to respond to their own writing secretly. Was this common at the time?. Alas, I need to fill in a little gap of history now before I move on to my originally planned book (taking place in the 1844) otherwise I'll be leaving out the first half of the nineteenth century to a large extent. This book didn't give a lot of time to that time in Webster's life. The author provides an interesting, chronological insight into the life and times of Noah Webster. This narrative offers a profile of this Webster's personal and professional life, unrelated to his relative Daniel Webster. It presents a good sense of who he was -- his fears, dreams, hopes, compulsions, obsessions, and alienations. It traces his troubled psychological health as he developed this complex undertaking. Through his work developing America's first dictionary and other related publications, Noah Webster helped create and shape the new nation's distinctive, emerging culture and distinguish it from traditional British language usage. He affirmed unified national ties and characteristics displayed in conversation-based language usage in the thirteen new states.This book should interest readers wanting to examine notable figures in American history, especially the American revolution, and those who enjoy philology and the interesting ways it affects words and meanings in conversational settings.
What do You think about The Forgotten Founding Father: Noah Webster's Obsession And The Creation Of An American Culture (2011)?
learned lots of new stuff, but never finished the entire book. well written, but kind of pendantic.
—nana
Great book, very informative and easy to read. It kept me interested from beginning to end.
—inkyungi
This book was really helpful to me while I worked on my patriotic paper for school.
—girlsrule_sana
I'll never remember all the names and dates, but do recognize most names.
—christie
