The title of Peter Martin’s new book, The Dictionary Wars, is not a stretch by any definition. This deeply researched volume about the heady days when “meter” split from “metre” and “labor” from “labour” also describes a period during which America was coming to terms with itself as a real power in the world. Most Americans have used or owned a Webster’s Dictionary. Martin’s book tells a very human story, mostly tracing the life of Noah Webster, an innovator and a zealot for the creation of an American tongue.

It’s easy to think writing a dictionary would be just about the least contentious project a person could take on because a dictionary is fundamentally a boring book used for reference, not storytelling. But it wasn’t a dull undertaking in the least. Webster made a lot of enemies and left many of them in his wake. Martin vividly describes a trail of somewhat bitchy intellectual arguments Webster had with lexicographers and publishers on both sides of the Atlantic.