''The Story of English'' illustrates the compelling history of how the relatively obscure dialects spoken by tribes from what are now Denmark, the Low Countries and northern Germany, became the most widely spoken language in the world, and of how that language evolved during the last two millennia. Chronologically ordered and divided into six main sections covering pre-Roman and Latin influences, the ascent of Old English, and the succession of Middle English, Early Modern and then Late Modern English to today's global language, this fascinating book also explores such factors as the history of the printing press, the works of Chaucer, the evolution of ''The American Dictionary of the English Language'' - commonly known as Webster's - and the magisterial ''Oxford English Dictionary'', to the use of slang in today's speech and the coming of electronic messaging: language for a post-modern world. ''The Story of English'' is the perfect gift for any lover not just of English, but of the history and development of language.