Names on the Land A Historical Account of Place-Naming in the United States

by Stewart, George R.; Weiland, Matt

• ISBN13: 9781590172735
• ISBN10: 1590172736
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-07-01
• Publisher: NYRB Classics
• More Book Details

Summary

George R. Stewart's classic study of place-naming in the United States was written during World War II as a tribute to the varied heritage of the nation's peoples. More than half a century later,Names on the Landremains the authoritative source on its subject, while Stewart's intimate knowledge of America and love of anecdote make his book a unique and delightful window on American history and social life. Names on the Landis a fascinating and fantastically detailed panorama of language in action. Stewart opens with the first European names in what would later be the United StatesPonce de Leon's flowery Florida, Cortes's semi-mythical isle of California, and the red Rio Coloradobefore going on to explore New England, New Amsterdam, and New Sweden, the French and the Russian legacies, and the unlikely contributions of everybody from border ruffians to Boston Brahmins. These lively pages examine where and why Indian names were likely to be retained; nineteenth-century fads that gave rise to dozens of Troys and Athens and to suburban Parksides, Brookmonts, and Woodcrest Manors; and deep and enduring mysteries such as why "Arkansas" is Arkansaw, except of course when it isn't. Names on the Landwill engage anyone who has ever wondered at the curious names scattered across the American map. Stewart's answer is always a storyone of the countless stories that lie behind the rich and strange diversity of the USA.

Author Biography

George R. Stewart (1895—1980) was born in Pennsylvania and educated at Princeton. He received his Ph.D. in English literature from Columbia University in 1922, and joined the English faculty at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1924. He was a toponymist, founding member of the American Name Society, and a prolific and highly successful writer of novels and of popular nonfiction, especially dealing with U.S. history and with the American West.

Robert Krulwich is an American radio and television journalist whose specialty is explaining complex topics in depth. He has worked as a full-time employee of CBS, National Public Radio, and Pacifica. He has done assignment pieces for ABC's "Nightline" and "World News Tonight," as well as PBS's "Frontline," "NOVA," and "NOW with Bill Moyers." TV Guide called him "the most inventive network reporter in television"

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. ix
Foreword to the Revised and Enlarged Edition	p. xvii
Of what is attempted in this book	p. 3
Of the naming that was before history	p. 4
How the first Spaniards gave names	p. 11
Of English, Spanish, and French in the same years	p. 20
Of Charles Stuart and some others	p. 35
How the Massachusetts General Court dealt with names	p. 44
How the people began to give names	p. 57
How names were symbols of empire	p. 67
The History of New York	p. 78
Of the French	p. 82
How the Spaniards named another kingdom	p. 95
When King Charles came to his own	p. 97
How the names became more English and less English	p. 108
How they took the names into the mountains	p. 126
Of the years when they fought the French	p. 135
Of a pause between wars	p. 149
How the Leather-Jackets rode north	p. 156
Of new names in the Land	p. 162
America discovers Columbus	p. 169
Of the last voyagers	p. 174
Of ancient glory renewed	p. 181
Of the new nation	p. 188
Yankee flavor	p. 205
How they took over the French names	p. 209
Of Mr. Jefferson's western lands	p. 214
Of the dry country and the farther mountains	p. 219
Of a new generation	p. 226
Of patterns for street-names	p. 244
Flavor of the New South	p. 250
Melodrama in the Forties	p. 252
"Ye say they all have passed away..."	p. 270
How the tradition of the States was broken	p. 285
Of the cities of the Fifties	p. 289
How they fought again	p. 295
How Congress took over	p. 301
Of the last flourishing	p. 314
"Change the name of Arkansas-Never!"	p. 335
Of rules and regulations	p. 340
Flavor of California	p. 346
Of modern methods	p. 353
Cause celebre	p. 364
Unfinished business	p. 372
Heritage	p. 381
Alaska	p. 386
Hawaii	p. 412
Current affairs-1944-1958	p. 423
Author's Postscript	p. 439
Notes and references	p. 442
Index	p. 483
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