run through every significant event and phase of the English language. The reader comes away, not dumbstruck by the complexity of it all, but oriented and cognizant of why, how, when and where our language changed. Take for example, the Viking invasions - the reader finds out exactly when and where, what words were adopted, how English grammar was altered by the event, how a total take-over of England by the Vikings and their language was averted and how the event led to uniting of the various English kingdoms. By the end of the book, the reader is not struggling to hold all the component parts of this history together in his or her mind. The charts, maps and illustrations in this book have laid it all out permitting a very clear comprehension.

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