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"Bill Bryson turns away from the highways and byways of middle America, so hilariously depicted in his bestselling The Lost Continent, for a fast, exhilarating ride along the Route 66 of American language and popular culture. In Made in America, Bryson de-mythologizes his native land - explaining how a dusty desert hamlet with neither woods nor holly became Hollywood, how the Wild West wasn't won, why Americans say 'lootenant' and 'Toosday', how Americans...

Defines and illustrates nearly 10,000 American idioms and popular phrases, and includes the origin and date each expression came into the language.

From the homegrown "boodle" of the 19th century to current "misunderstandistan" in the Middle East, America's foremost expert on slang reveals military lingo at its most colorful, innovative, brutal, and ironic. Author Paul Dickson introduces some of the "new words and phrases born of conflict, boredom, good humor, bad food, new technology, and the pure horror of war." This newly updated reference extends to the post-9/11 world and the American military...

From George Washington's "New Yorker" and Thomas Jefferson's "pedicure" to Theodore Roosevelt's "lunatic fringe," Richard Nixon's "silent majority," and Donald Trump's "covfefe," this entertaining and eminently readable volume compiles words and phrases that were coined or popularized by American presidents. Discover the origins of "bloviate" (Warren G. Harding), "military-industrial complex" (Dwight D. Eisenhower), "misunderestimate" (George W. Bush),...