Synopses & Reviews
Shallow Water Dictionary is both a celebration of the richness of our vernacular language and a lament on its passingand with it, the passing of the words we need to understand our shallow water regions, once the primary landscape of America and now facing extinction, both physical and linguistic.
This small book is an intriguing and valuable addition to our knowledge of a changing landscape. Literary, etymological, historical, and vernacular investigations of such varied terms as "guzzle, " "creek, " and "chartreuse, " Stilgoe's definitions are lyric explanations of words whose original meanings have been eroded by time.
Review
"Provides readers with thought-provoking insights to our language and leaves them with the unanswered question: How can we accurately and usefully describe a landscape which lacks modern-day vocabulary?" Underwater Naturalist
About the Author
John R. Stilgoe is the Robert and Lois Orchard Professor in the History of Landscape at Harvard University. He lives in Norwell, Massachusetts.