Rating: 
Summary: why America is America
Review: Bill provides an excellent insight into the American psyche as well as indepth research and profound knowledge about almost every aspect of the American society. His book is a great source to enhance the understanding why American is the way it is and why Europeans and other 'outsiders' will have such a 'love-and-hate' relationship with the States. I recommend this book to everyone, who seeks more background information on American history, culture, economy, and arts. Besides being eloquently written, it is thoroughly amusing.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant, funny, informative...
Review: Brilliant, funny, informative...and extremely interesting. Read it for detailed research on the history of American English or just read it for fun. You will be amazed at the background and origins of so many of the words we use on a daily basis.
Rating: 
Summary: Very engaging for the non-linguist, and entertaining too!
Review: Bryson has an engaging style of writing that piques one's interest in the origins of American English. While not for the hard core linguist, it answers many questions the casual observer might have. Small technical errors (Embarass is in Minnesota, not Wisconsin) and omissions (Sears and Roebuck started in North Redwood Falls, MN), it is none the less a darned good read, and a great way of learning more about the origins of the words and phrases we use daily in the US.
Rating:
Summary: Great book very interesting & hard to set down!
Review: Bryson is a great author and I am looking forward to reading more of his work!
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Summary: Better stick to travel,Bill!
Review: Having enjoyed his travelogues,I was deeply disappointed in this attempt at scholarly analysis.(Perhaps best to leave it to the qualified professionals) Sloppy and ill-researched.His attempt to play down U.S.educational standards,the worst in the major western world ,was none too clever.The fact that more American students go to college is due to an easier educational system(3 years behind the UK and Europe).
Rating:
Summary: Makes American history & language interesting
Review: Having read Bryson's The Mother Tongue several years ago, I was delighted to find Made in America was going to explore the American variety of English with much the same humor and insight. As a teacher of both British and American literature, I've always tried to include a brief foray into the development of our language on both sides of the Atlantic. I have been able to spice up an otherwise pretty solid lecture presentation with Bryson's witty tidbits and elevate it to the level of the captivating (in my opinion, of course). Next year, I plan on assigning Made in America to my single honors American literature class; I have this suspicion that they will learn more lasting American history from this book than their regular text. When I had read a couple of chapters of the book, I bought an additional copy and sent it to my son, a history major at Notre Dame, who is currently studying in London. He called a few weeks later and was brimming with enthusiasm for the book and told me that he had not only finished it (before I had) but also that he was making all of his friends read it. His roommate read it in two days! I heartily recommend Made in America to anyone who is interested in food, travel, health, movies, history, or just about anything else. If all history and language texts were written with Bryson's flair for the interesting, our task as teachers would be significantly eased.
Rating:
Summary: Great recovery from the "Mother Tongue"
Review: I almost lost hope after the awful "Mother Tongue", a sort of "English Language For Dummies." And indeed, it appears written by a dummy considering the number of obvious errors found between its covers. But in MADE IN AMERICA Bryson is back with a vengeance and has restored my flagging confidence. As is true with most of his books, it is more than it appears. It is the story of America with all its quirks, hidden history and unknown facts. Some are uneasy with the new tales we learn here but when one recognizes that ALL peoples the world around strive to present to the world their best face, it is totally understandable. The same thing goes on today. We do not want to hear of Clinton's everyday obscenity-laced tirades against enemies not of Bush's prediliction to waving his hand and accepting whatever is suggested. No, we prefer a "good economy and wise leadership." We want the story, not the facts. He begins at the beginning noting how from the very start, we chose to be different than our colonial masters. We developed a way of speaking that was "American". If, as some scientists have predicted, the two forms of English continue to separate, American English may replace the mother tongue. Bryson is full of little-known facts (some disputable) but one of his main thesis is that despite the size of the continent our own brand became more uniform within a few years than that spoken in the small mother country today. We made learning and speaking a uniform English a second religion. He notes that our incredible industrial energies produced inventions and new names which continues today. The book not only looks at the history of the tongue but at specific areas (entertainment, politics, commerce, religion) in which wehave produced our own peculiar speech. All in all a delightful read.
Rating:
Summary: Great recovery from the "Mother Tongue"
Review: I almost lost hope after the awful "Mother Tongue", a sort of "English Language For Dummies." And indeed, it appears written by a dummy considering the number of obvious errors found between its covers. But in MADE IN AMERICA Bryson is back with a vengeance and has restored my flagging confidence. As is true with most of his books, it is more than it appears. It is the story of America with all its quirks, hidden history and unknown facts. Some are uneasy with the new tales we learn here but when one recognizes that ALL peoples the world around strive to present to the world their best face, it is totally understandable. The same thing goes on today. We do not want to hear of Clinton's everyday obscenity-laced tirades against enemies not of Bush's prediliction to waving his hand and accepting whatever is suggested. No, we prefer a "good economy and wise leadership." We want the story, not the facts. He begins at the beginning noting how from the very start, we chose to be different than our colonial masters. We developed a way of speaking that was "American". If, as some scientists have predicted, the two forms of English continue to separate, American English may replace the mother tongue. Bryson is full of little-known facts (some disputable) but one of his main thesis is that despite the size of the continent our own brand became more uniform within a few years than that spoken in the small mother country today. We made learning and speaking a uniform English a second religion. He notes that our incredible industrial energies produced inventions and new names which continues today. The book not only looks at the history of the tongue but at specific areas (entertainment, politics, commerce, religion) in which wehave produced our own peculiar speech. All in all a delightful read.
Rating:
Summary: Great recovery from the "Mother Tongue"
Review: I almost lost hope after the awful "Mother Tongue", a sort of "English Language For Dummies." And indeed, it appears written by a dummy considering the number of obvious errors found between its covers. But in MADE IN AMERICA Bryson is back with a vengeance and has restored my flagging confidence. As is true with most of his books, it is more than it appears. It is the story of America with all its quirks, hidden history and unknown facts. Some are uneasy with the new tales we learn here but when one recognizes that ALL peoples the world around strive to present to the world their best face, it is totally understandable. The same thing goes on today. We do not want to hear of Clinton's everyday obscenity-laced tirades against enemies not of Bush's prediliction to waving his hand and accepting whatever is suggested. No, we prefer a "good economy and wise leadership." We want the story, not the facts. He begins at the beginning noting how from the very start, we chose to be different than our colonial masters. We developed a way of speaking that was "American". If, as some scientists have predicted, the two forms of English continue to separate, American English may replace the mother tongue. Bryson is full of little-known facts (some disputable) but one of his main thesis is that despite the size of the continent our own brand became more uniform within a few years than that spoken in the small mother country today. We made learning and speaking a uniform English a second religion. He notes that our incredible industrial energies produced inventions and new names which continues today. The book not only looks at the history of the tongue but at specific areas (entertainment, politics, commerce, religion) in which wehave produced our own peculiar speech. All in all a delightful read.
Rating: 
Summary: Made in America
Review: I am so sorry I hadn't taken the time to read the customer's reviews of Made in America and The Lost Continent, prior to buying them. Frankly, I'm not sure which of these two books is more disappointing. The only thing I was able to take away from them was the idea that Bill Bryson thinks hammering and bashing anything North American (USA only) is considered extremely good fun and humorous.
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