For language buffs and lexicographers, copy editors and proofreaders, and anyone who appreciates the connection between language and culture8212;the illuminating story of 8220;proper English.8221; In its long history, the English language has had many lawmakers8212;those who have tried to regulate, or otherwise organize, the way we speak. The Lexicographer8217;s Dilemma offers the first narrative history of these endeavors, showing clearly that what we now regard as the only 8220;correct8221; way to speak emerged out of specific historical and social conditions over the course of centuries. As literary historian Jack Lynch has discovered, every rule has a human history, and the characters peopling his narrative are as interesting for their obsession as for their erudition. The struggle between prescriptivists, who prescribe a correct approach, and descriptivists, who analyze how language works, is at the heart of Lynch8217;s story. From the sharp-tongued satirist Jonathan Swift, who called for a governmentsponsored academy to issue rulings on the language, and the polymath Samuel Johnson, who put dictionaries on a new footing, to John Horne Tooke, the crackpot linguist whose bizarre theories continue to baffle scholars; Joseph Priestley, whose political radicalism prompted riots; and the ever-crotchety Noah Webster, whose goal was to Americanize the English language8212;Lynch brings to life a varied cast as illuminating as it is entertaining. Grammatical 8220;rules8221; or 8220;laws8221; are not like the law of gravity, or laws against theft or murder8212;they8217;re more like rules of etiquette, made by fallible people and subject to change. Charting the evolution of English, Jack Lynch puts today8217;s debates8212;whether about Ebonics in the schools or split infinitives in the New York Times8212;in a rich historical context, and makes us appreciate anew the hard-won standards we now enjoy.