Going Nucular: Language, Politics, and Culture in Confrontational Times

Product Description

The words that echo through Geoffrey Nunberg’s brilliant new journey across the landscape of American language evoke exactly the tenor of our times. Nunberg has a wonderful ear for the new, the comic and the absurd. He pronounces that: “‘Blog’ is a syllable whose time has come,” and that “You don’t get to be a verb unless you’re doing something right,” with which he launches into the effect of Google on our collective consciousness. Nunberg hears the shifting use of “Gallic” as we suddenly find ourselves in bitter opposition to the French; perhaps only Nunberg could compare
America the Beautiful with a Syrian national anthem that contains the line “A land resplendent with brilliant suns…almost like a sky centipede.”

At the heart of the entertainment and linguistic slapstick that Nunberg delights in are the core concerns that have occupied American minds. “Going Nucular,” the title piece, is more than a bit of fun at the President’s expense. Nunberg’s analysis is as succinct a summary of the questions that hover over the administration’s strategy as any political insider’s. It exemplifies the message of the book: that in the smallest ticks and cues of language the most important issue and thoughts of our times can be heard and understood. If you know how to listen for them. Nunberg has dazzling receptors, perfect acoustics and a deftly elegant style to relay his wit and wisdom.

Review

“Smart, funny and informed- an unbeatable combination.” —
San Jose Mercury News

“Witty, entertaining, informative and unfailingly fascinating.” —
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“[Nunberg is] a master at showing why certain ways of speaking flourish and in suggesting what ends they serve.” —
The Boston Globe

Reading these shrewd, engaging, playful mini-essays makes you wonder why Nunberg has no British counterpart. —
The Guardian, September 17, 2005

Something of a time capsule of America’s culture wars in those three very contentious years [2001-2003]. —
Ruminator Review, October/November 2005 Issue

About the Author

Geoffrey Nunberg, a linguist, is a professor at the UC Berkeley School of Information. Since 1987, he has done a language feature on NPR’s
Fresh Air, and his commentaries have appeared in the
New York Times and many other publications. He is the emeritus chair of the Usage Panel of the American Heritage Dictionary and a winner of the Linguistic Society of America’s Language and the Public Interest Award. His previous books include
Talking Right and
Going Nucular. Nunberg lives in San Francisco.