Globish How English Became the World's Language

by McCrum, Robert

• ISBN13: 9780393339772
• ISBN10: 0393339777
• Edition: 00
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-05-09
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Summary

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. In this provocative new look at the course of empire, Robert McCrum shows how the language of the Anglo-American imperium has become the world#xE2;#x80;#x99;s lingua franca. In the twenty-first century, writes the author, English + Microsoft = Globish.

Author Biography

Robert McCrum is the author of Wodehouse: A Life and the Coauthor of the best-selling book and television series. The Story of English. He is the associate editor of the Observer and lives in London with his wife, Sarah Lyall.

Table of Contents

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
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