This title narrates the history of English spelling from the Anglo-Saxons to the present-day. It also examines the changing attitudes to spelling, including numerous proposals for spelling reform, ranging from the introduction of new alphabets to more modest attempts to rid English of its silent letters, and the differing agendas they reveal.

What is English? Can we be as certain as we usually are when we say something is not English? To find some answers, Tim Machan explores the language's present and past and looks ahead to its futures among the one and a half billion people who speak it.