num_pages: 511
description: This beloved classic about place-naming in the United States was written during World War II in a conscious effort to pay tribute to the heritage of the nation's peoples. George R. Stewart's love of the surprising story and his focus not just on language but on how people interact with their environment make Names on the Land a unique window into the history and sociology of America. From the first European names in what would later be the United States; Ponce de Len's flowery Florda Cortez' semi-mythical isle of California and the red river Rio Colorado; to New England New Amsterdam and New Sweden; the French and the Russians; border ruffians and Boston Brahmins: Names on the Land is no dry dictionary but a fascinating panorama of language in action bursting at the seams with revealing details. In lively passionate writing Stewart explains where Indian names were likely to be kept and why; the fad that gave rise to dozens of Troys and to Athens Georgia as well as suburban Parksides Brookmonts and Woodcrest Manors; why Brooklyn is Dutch but looks English and why Arkansas is Arkansaw except of course when it isn't. His book has delighted generations of road-trippers armchair travelers and anyone who ever wondered how their hometown or (more likely) the next town over could be called that. Stewart's answer is always a story; one of the countless stories that lie behind the rich and strange diversity of America.
language: English
title: Names on the Land: A Historical Account of Place-Naming in the United States
publisher: NYRB Classics