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Names on the Land: A Historical Account of Place-Naming in the United States (New York Review Books Classics)
by George R. Stewart
from NYRB Classics
Customer Reviews:
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Avg. Customer Rating: 5.0 / 5.0 
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Great Book!
What a wonderful book! And such a pleasure to learn where the names of places come from. A great find.
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Fascinating History Lesson in the names we all take for granted.
I learned so much from this book. When I purchased it, I thought it might be like an annotated dictionary of sorts -- perhaps in alphabetical order, so that I could look up Topeka or New York. But it's not like that at all. The author starts with the blank canvas of the American landscape, before recorded history, and describes how a place becomes a name.
The book is arranged chronologically, so the reader moves from pre-history to native Americans to colonists; and from the edges of the country (like... more info
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Fascinating Introduction to What We Should Already Know
It is always humbling to discover how limited my education is in key areas, especially geography. Names on a map that I have seen dozens of times, cities and towns I have visited but never given deep thought to, and the evolution of language are all present in this slim volume. I found myself surprised that I had read thirty or forty pages without realizing any passage of time. I lost myself in this book -- like exploring familiar territory for the very first time. An engaging, worthwhile, illuminating... more info
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Names on the Land is not just about names, it's about history
So far I'm only about 1/3 of the way through "Names on the Land," but I'm enthralled. The sub-title, "A Historical Account of Place Naming..." is right on. The book approaches it subject from a historical perspective. The reader travels with the early explorers as they encounter landmarks on their journeys, so one learns about the namers and their times, as well as about the names they left behind them. Based on my reading so far, I can strongly recommend this book.
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