
The Forgotten Founding Father
Noah Webster's Obsession and the Creation of an American Culture
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Narrated by:
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Arthur Morey
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By:
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Joshua Kendall
American's own The Professor and the Madman: a story of Noah Webster, author of American English.
Noah Webster's name is now synonymous with the dictionary he created, but his story is not nearly so ubiquitous. Webster hobnobbed with various Founding Fathers and was a young confidant of George Washington and Ben Franklin. He started America's first daily newspaper, predating Alexander Hamilton's New York Post. His "blue-backed speller" for schoolchildren sold millions of copies and influenced early copyright law. But perhaps most important, Webster was an ardent supporter of a unified, definitively American culture, distinct from the British, at a time when the United States of America were anything but unified - and his dictionary of American English is a testament to that.
©2010 Joshua Kendall (P)2011 PenguinListeners also enjoyed...




















Eye opening
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The real Founding Fathers should sue
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If you are a diehard historian and are keen to learn more on the early days of America, you'll probably love this book though.
A bit of a slog
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As a person who references the 1828 daily, its my opinion that while Kendall obviously admires Webster, he has little idea of the value of what Webster produced.
Disappointing
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