The Story of English
The Story of English: How an Obscure Dialect Became the World’s Most-Spoken Language
by Joseph Piercy
Short and enjoyable history of English focusing on key texts and individuals
The Story of English is an easy read that takes the you chronologically through the key influences on English.
What it’s about
Brief descriptions of the historical context and etymological influences are interspersed with sections that focus on specific texts (e.g. the Lindisfarne Gospels, The Canterbury Tales, the King James Bible) and key figures such as Alfred the Great, William Caxton, Shakespeare and Samuel Johnson.
The good
The writing style is easy to follow, and the short sections break up the text and move the narrative along quickly. It covers a lot of ground, and explanations are clear.
The less good
The short sections and hopping from text to text and person to person sometimes makes for a slightly ‘bitty’ approach. An overarching timeline would have been helpful.
This is just an introductory text – if you’re looking for answers to specific questions about English spelling, you’re unlikely to find them here.
The takeaway
For literacy practitioners, The Story of English is a great supplementary text if you’re curious about English etymology. However, it doesn’t go into any depth about how etymology has affected specific spellings, so it works best when accompanied by a text that focuses specifically on orthography such as David Crystal’s Spell It Out (reviewed here).