The story of ain't: America, its language, and the most controversial dictionary ever published

“It takes true brilliance to lift the arid tellings of lexicographic fussing into the readable realm of the thriller and the bodice-ripper….David Skinner has done precisely this, taking a fine story and honing it to popular perfection.”
—Simon Winchester,New York Timesbestselling author ofThe Professor and the Madman

The Story of Ain’tby David Skinner is the captivating true chronicle of the creation ofMerriam Webster’s Third New International Dictionaryin 1961, the most controversial dictionary ever published. Skinner’s surprising and engaging, erudite and witty account will enthrall fans of Winchester’sThe Professor and the MadmanandThe Meaning of Everything, andThe Know-It-Allby A.J. Jacobs, as it explores a culture in transition and the brilliant, colorful individuals behind it.The Story of Ain’tis a smart, often outrageous, and altogether remarkable tale of how egos, infighting, and controversy shaped one of America’s most authoritative language texts, sparking a furious language debate that the late, great author David Foster Wallace (Infinite Jest) once called “the Fort Sumter of the Usage Wars.”