Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt & Company, 2010. — 304 p.
"As the language is, so also is the nation." This affirmation comes from Otto Jespersen, one of the premier linguists of the past hundred years, who used it to bolster his contention that his adopted English was superior to the more chaotic French. That we all view the world through the looking glass of language is the central thesis of this fascinating, striking subtle book.