Story of Ain't

<p>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.<br />--Simon Winchester <em>New York Times</em> bestselling author of <em>The Professor and the Madman</em></p><p><em>The Story of Ain't</em> by David Skinner is the captivating true chronicle of the creation of <em>Merriam Webster's Third New International Dictionary</em> in 1961 the most controversial dictionary ever published. Skinner's surprising and engaging erudite and witty account will enthrall fans of Winchester's <em>The Professor and the Madman</em> and <em>The Meaning of Everything</em> and <em>The Know-It-All</em> by A.J. Jacobs as it explores a culture in transition and the brilliant colorful individuals behind it. <em>The Story of Ain't</em> is 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 (<em>Infinite Jest</em>) once called the Fort Sumter of the Usage Wars. <br /></p>