Prodigal Tongue

In Prodigal Tongue linguist Lynne Murphy investigates the relation between British and American English.  She, an American who has spent most of her adult life in England, gives us the story of the language from both sides.  The British worry about the language being corrupted by American English and the Americans have a verbal inferiority complex.  She manages to make the case that both are wrong by presenting us with the compelling story of the two varieties of English in relation to each other since the Revolutionary War. 

This is a fascinating book that I would recommend to anyone with an interest in the vagueries of language and language usage.