Books by Henry Hitchings
Henry Hitchings is an author, reviewer and critic. He specialises in language and cultural history. The second of his four books, The Secret Life of Words, won the 2008 John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, and in 2009 he received a Somerset Maugham Award. In 2011, his latest book The Language Wars was published and he presented the BBC documentary Birth of the British Novel. Since 2009, he has been the theatre critic of the London Evening Standard
The Secret Life of Words
by Henry Hitchings
Critic and language expert Henry Hitchings followed up his acclaimed first book about Samuel Johnson's dictionary (Defining the World) with this fascinating work of linguistic history, in which he traces the origins of the modern English language to more than 300 international sources. Kirkus described it as "learned, wise and educative, though a bit weighty for the average nightstand."
Interviews with Henry Hitchings
The best books on Language, recommended by Henry Hitchings
The wordsmith and cultural historian debunks common myths about English, recommends the smartest writing about words, and says apostrophes are “orthographic squiggles” not worth fighting for.
Interviews where books by Henry Hitchings were recommended
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1
History in English Words
by Owen Barfield -
2
The Etymologicon: A Circular Stroll Through the Hidden Connections of the English Language
by Mark Forsyth -
3
Shorter Oxford English Dictionary
by Oxford University Press -
4
The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary
by Simon Winchester -
5
The F-Word
by Jesse Sheidlower -
6
Slang To-day and Yesterday
by Eric Partridge
The Best Books on Etymology
The Best Books on Etymology
Are you an autodidactic maven of sesquipedalian verbosity? Do you venerate periphrasis, or simply revel in linguistic disquisition? If so, you might enjoy our selection of books on etymology, as recommended over the years by our expert interviewees.
