Noah Webster

In this new biography, author John Morgan paints a striking portrait of a great patriot, a man possessed with the idea of strengthening America through a unified American language. Impressed by the vitality and potential of language, Webster was alarmed by the fact that in many Old World countries dialects had developed which were so different that people of one region could barely understand those of another. Webster's speller, and later his dictionary, were almost as vital a contribution to America's fight for independence as any shot fired against the British -- through his books, Americans from all parts of the country came to know each other's language as separate and unique from England's. Morgan's biography is an authentic picture of America during its infancy. It was an age when Yale University consisted of three shabby buildings; when school teachers were paid so little they were often forced to board with a "respectable" community family; when the dominant church in each community controlled the schoolhouse, preventing any semblance of educational unity; and when publishing a book was a risky venture, with no copyright protection for the author. It was this fledgling America which challenged the pioneering genius of Noah Webster.