by Bill Bryson
——— The Birth of the Modern: World Society, 1815-1830 (New York: HarperCollins, 1991).
Jones, Maldwyn Allen, American Immigration (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960).
Jordan, Philip D., The National Road (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1948).
Josephy, jun., Alvin M. (ed.), The American Heritage Book of Indians (Boston: American Heritage Publishing Co., 1961).
Jowett, Garth, Film: The Democratic Art (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1976).
Keeley, Joseph C., Making Inventions Pay: A Practical Guide to Selling, Protecting, Manufacturing, and Marketing Your Inventions (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1950).
Kowinski, William Severini, The Mailing of America: An Inside Look at the Great Consumer Paradise (New York: William Morrow & Co., 1985).
Krapp, George Philip, The English Language in America, 2 vols. (New York: The Century Co., 1925).
Kroc, Ray (with Robert Anderson), Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald’s (Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1977).
Krout, John Allen, Annals of American Sport (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1929).
Lacey, Robert, Sir Walter Ralegh (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1973).
——— Ford: The Men and the Machines (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1986).
Laird, Charlton, Language in America (New York: The World Publishing Co., 1970).
Levenstein, Harvey A., Revolution at the Table: The Transformation of the American Diet (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988).
Levin, David, Cotton Mather: The Young Life of the Lord’s Remembrancer, 1663-1703 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1978).
Liebs, Chester H., Main Street to Miracle Mile: American Roadside Architecture (Boston: New York Graphic Society/Little, Brown and Co., 1985).
Lingeman, Richard R., Don’t You Know There’s a War On?: The American Home Front, 1941-45 (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1970).
Love, John F., McDonald’s: Behind the Arches (Toronto: Bantam Books, 1986).
Lowance, jun., Mason I., Increase Mather (New York: Twayne Publishers, 1974).
Lutz, William, Doublespeak (New York: Harper & Row, 1989).
Luxenberg, Stan, Roadside Empires: How the Chains Franchised America (New York: Viking Books, 1985).
McAlister, Lyle N., Spain and Portugal in the New World, 1492-1700 (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1984).
McDavid, jun., Raven I., Varieties of American English (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1980).
McPherson, James M., Battle Cry of Freedom: The American Civil War (London: Penguin Books/Oxford University Press, 1990).
Madison, James, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay (ed. Isaac Kramnick), The Federalist Papers (London: Penguin Books, 1987).
Maggio, Rosalie, The Dictionary of Bias-Free Usage: A Guide to Nondiscriminatory Language (Phoenix, Ariz.: Oryx Press, 1991).
Marckwardt, Albeit H. (rev. J. L. Dillard), American English, 2nd edn. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980).
Martineau, Harriet, Society in America, 3 vols. (London: Saunders and Otley, 1837).
Mathews, Mitford M. (ed.), A Dictionary of Americanisms on Historical Principles, 4 vols. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1951).
Mee, jun., Charles L., The Genius of the People (New York: Perennial Library/Harper & Row, 1988).
Mencken, H. L., The American Language: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States, 4th edn. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1937).
——— The American Language: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States, suppl. 1 (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945).
——— The American Language: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States, suppl. 2 (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1948).
——— (with new material by Raven I. McDavid, jun.), The American Language: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States, abridged 4th edn. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1989).
Meyer, Jerome S., World Book of Great Inventions (Cleveland OH: The World Publishing Co., 1956).
Milton, Joyce, Loss of Eden: A Biography of Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh (New York: HarperCollins, 1993).
Moolman, Valerie, The Road to Kitty Hawk (Alexandria, Va.: Time-Life Books, 1980).
Morison, Samuel Eliot, The Oxford History of the American People (New York: Oxford University Press, 1965).
——— The European Discovery of America, 2 vols. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1971).
Moulton, Gary E. (ed.), Atlas of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983).
——— (ed.), The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: August 30, 1803-August 24, 1804 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1986).
Nye, David E., Electrifying America: Social Meanings of a New Technology, 1880-1940 (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1990).
Oakley, J. Ronald, God’s Country: America in the Fifties (New York: Dembner Books, 1986).
O’Malley, Michael, Keeping Watch: A History of American Time (New York: Viking Penguin, 1990).
Opie, Iona, and Peter Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1951).
Partridge, Eric, and John W. Clark, British and American English Since 1900 (London: Andrew Dakers Ltd., 1951).
Patton, Phil, Open Road: A Celebration of the American Highway (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1986).
Peirce, Neal R., The New England States (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1976).
Pyles, Thomas, Words and Ways of American English (New York: Random House, 1952).
——— Selected Essays on English Usage (Gainesville: University Presses of Florida, 1979).
Quinn, David Beers, Set Fair for Roanoke: Voyages and Colonies, 1584-1606 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1984).
——— North America from Earliest Discovery to First Settlements (New York: Harper & Row, 1985).
Rae, John B., The Road and the Car in American Life (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1971).
Rodgers, Elizabeth G., Chagrin ... Whence the Name? (Chagrin Falls, OH: pub. privately, 1988).
Root, Waverley, and Richard de Rochement, Eating in America: A History (New York: William Morrow & Co., 1976).
Rosenberg, Bernard, and David Manning White (eds.), Mass Culture: The Popular Arts in America (Glencoe, Ill.: The Free Press, 1957).
Rowsome, jun., Frank, The Verse by the Side of the Road: The Story of the Burma-Shave Signs (Brattleboro, Vt.: Stephen Greene Press, 1965).
Rybczynski, Witold, Home: A Short History of an Idea (New York: Penguin Books, 1987).
——— Waiting for the Weekend (New York: Viking Books, 1991).
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——— What’s the Good Word (New York: Times Books, 1982).
——— Take My Word for It (New York: Times Books, 1986).
——— Coming to Terms (New York: Doubleday, 1991).
Sagarin, Edward, The Anatomy of Dirty Words (New York: Lyle Stuart, 1968).
Savage, jun., William W. (ed.), Cowboy Life: Reconstructing an American Myth (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1975).
Schiller, Herbert I., Mass Communications and American Empire (New York: Augustus M. Kelley, 1969).
Schor, Juliet B., The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure (New York: Basic Books, 1991).
Schrank, Jeffrey, Snap, Crackle, and Popular Taste: The Illusion of Free Choice in America (New York: Delacorte Press, 1977).
Schumach, Murray, The Face on the Cutting Room Floor: The Story of Movie and Television Censorship (New York: William Morrow & Co., 1964).
Schwarz, Barry, George Washington: The Making of an American Symbol (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1987).
Seavey, Ormond, Becoming Benjamin Franklin: The Autobiography and the Life (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1988).
Shearer, Benjamin F., and Barbara S. Shearer, State Names, Seals, Flags, and Sym
bols: A Historical Guide (New York: Greenwood Press, 1987).
Simpson, David, The Politics of American English, 1776-1850 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986).
Small, Herbert, The Library of Congress: Its Architecture and Decoration (New York: Arthur Ross/W. W. Norton, 1982).
Smith, Elsdon C., The Story of Our Names (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1950).
Smith, Page, A People’s History of the United States, 8 vols. (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1984).
Stedman, Raymond William, Shadows of the Indian: Stereotypes in American Culture (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1982).
Sterling, Christopher H., and Jon M. Kittross, Stay Tuned: A Concise History of American Broadcasting (Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1978).
Stewart, George R., Names on the Land: A Historical Account of Place-Naming in the United States (New York: Random House, 1945).
——— American Place Names: A Concise and Selective Dictionary for the Continental United States of America (New York: Oxford University Press, 1970).
Story, G. M., W.J. Kirwin and J. D. A. Widdowson (eds.), Dictionary of Newfoundland English, 2nd edn. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1990).
Strasser, Susan, Never Done: A History of American Housework (New York: Pantheon Books, 1982).
——— Satisfaction Guaranteed: The Making of the American Mass Market (New York: Pantheon Books, 1989).
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Tedlow, Richard S., New and Improved: The Story of Mass Marketing in America (New York: Basic Books, 1990).
Terrace, Vincent, The Complete Encyclopedia of Television Programs, 1947-1976, 2 vols. (South Brunswick, NJ: A. S. Barnes and Company, 1976).
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Thomas, Charles Kenneth, An Introduction to the Phonetics of American English (New York: The Ronald Press Co., 1947).
Thornton, Willis, History: Fact and Fable (New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1993).
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Trollope, Frances, Domestic Manners of the Americans (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1949).
Tulloch, Sarah, The Oxford Dictionary of New Words: A Popular Guide to Words in the News (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991).
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Van Doren, Carl, Benjamin Franklin (New York: The Viking Press, 1938).
——— The Great Rehearsal: The Story of the Making and Ratifying of the Constitution of the United States (New York: Viking Press, 1948).
Vieyra, Daniel I., Fill’er Up: An Architectural History of America’s Gas Stations (New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1979).
Voigt, David Quentin, American Baseball: From Gentleman’s Sport to the Commissioner System (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1983).
Wagenknecht, Edward, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: His Poetry and Prose (New York: Ungar, 1986).
Ward, Sir A. W. (ed.), The Cambridge History of English Literature, vol. xiv (New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1931).
Warren, Louis A., Lincoln’s Gettysburg Declaration (Fort Wayne, Ind.: Lincoln National Life Foundation, 1964).
Watson, Alice E., Experimental Studies in the Psychology and Pedagogy of Spelling (New York: Teachers College/Columbia University, 1935).
Wells, J. C., Accents of English: Beyond the British Isles (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982).
Weston, Jack, The Real American Cowboy (New York: Schocken Books, 1985).
Will, George F., Men at Work: The Craft of Baseball (New York: HarperPerennial, 1991).
Wilcox, William B. (ed.), The Papers of Benjamin Franklin (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1972).
Wills, Garry, Inventing America: Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1978).
——— Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America (New York: Touchstone/Simon & Schuster, 1992).
Wortham, Thomas, James Russell Lowell’s ‘The Biglow Papers’: A Critical Edition (DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1977).
Wright, Esmond, Franklin of Philadelphia (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press/Harvard University Press, 1986).
Wright, Frances, Views of Society and Manners in America (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press/Harvard University Press, 1963).
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Zinn, Howard, A People’s History of the United States (New York: HarperPerennial, 1990).
Bill Bryson’s opening lines were:
‘I come from Des Moines. Someone had to’.
This is what followed:
The Lost Continent
A road trip around the puzzle that is small-town America introduces the world to the adjective ‘Brysonesque’.
A very funny performance, littered with wonderful lines and memorable images’ LITERARY REVIEW
Neither Here Nor There
Europe never seemed funny until Bill Bryson looked at it.
‘Hugely funny (not snigger-snigger funny but great-big-belly-laugh-till-you-cry funny)’ DAILY TELEGRAPH
Made in America
A compelling ride along the Route 66 of American language and popular culture gets beneath the skin of the country.
A tremendous sassy work, full of zip, pizzazz and all those other great American qualities’ INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
Notes from a Small Island
A eulogy to Bryson’s beloved Britain captures the very essence of the original ‘green and pleasant land’.
‘Not a book that should be read in public, for fear of emitting loud snorts’ THE TIMES
A Walk in the Woods
Bryson’s punishing (by his standards) hike across the celebrated Appalachian Trail, the longest footpath in the world.
‘This is a seriously funny book’ SUNDAY TIMES
Notes from a Big Country
Bryson brings his inimitable wit to bear on that strangest of phenomena – the American way of life.
‘Not only hilarious but also insightful and informative’ INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
Down Under
An extraordinary journey to the heart of another big country – Australia.
‘Bryson is the perfect travelling companion ... When it comes to travel’s peculiars the man still has no peers’ THE TIMES
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Travels through time and space to explain the world, the universe and everything.
‘Truly impressive ..... It’s hard to imagine a better rough guide to science’ GUARDIAN
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid
Quintessential Bryson – a funny, moving and perceptive journey through his childhood.
‘He can capture the flavour of the past with the lightest of touches’ SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
Also by
Bill Bryson
The Lost Continent
Mother Tongue
Neither Here Nor There
Notes from a Small Island
A Walk in the Woods
Notes from a Big Country
Down Under
African Diary
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Bryson’s Directory for Writers and Editors
Chapter 1
HOMETOWN
SPRINGFIELD, ILL. (AP) – The State Senate of Illinois yesterday disbanded its Committee on Efficiency and Economy ‘for reasons of efficiency and economy’.
– Des Moines Tribune, 6 February 1955
IN THE LATE 1950S
, the Royal Canadian Air Force produced a booklet on isometrics, a form of exercise that enjoyed a short but devoted vogue with my father. The idea of isometrics was that you used any unyielding object, like a tree or wall, and pressed against it with all your might from various positions to tone and strengthen different groups of muscles. Since everybody already has access to trees and walls, you didn’t need to invest in a lot of costly equipment, which I expect was what attracted my dad.
What made it unfortunate in my father’s case was that he would do his isometrics on aeroplanes. At some point in every flight, he would stroll back to the galley area or the space by the emergency exit and, taking up the posture of someone trying to budge a very heavy piece of machinery, he would begin to push with his back or shoulder against the outer wall of the plane, pausing occasionally to take deep breaths before returning with quiet, determined grunts to the task.
Since it looked uncannily, if unfathomably, as if he were trying to force a hole in the side of the plane, this naturally drew attention. Businessmen in nearby seats would stare over the tops of their glasses. A stewardess would pop her head out of the galley and likewise stare, but with a certain hard caution, as if remembering some aspect of her training that she had not previously been called upon to implement.
Seeing that he had observers, my father would straighten up, smile genially and begin to outline the engaging principles behind isometrics. Then he would give a demonstration to an audience that swiftly consisted of no one. He seemed curiously incapable of feeling embarrassment in such situations, but that was all right because I felt enough for both of us – indeed, enough for us and all the other passengers, the airline and its employees, and the whole of whatever state we were flying over.
Two things made these undertakings tolerable. The first was that back on solid ground my dad wasn’t half as foolish most of the time. The second was that the purpose of these trips was always to go to a big city like Detroit or St Louis, stay in a large hotel and attend ballgames, and that excused a great deal – well, everything, in fact. My dad was a sportswriter for the Des Moines Register, which in those days was one of the country’s best papers, and often took me along on trips through the Midwest. Sometimes these were car trips to smaller places like Sioux City or Burlington, but at least once a summer we boarded a silvery plane – a huge event in those days – and lumbered through the summery skies, up among the fleecy clouds, to a proper metropolis to watch Major League baseball, the pinnacle of the sport.
