Includes bibliographical references (p. [309]-312) and index.

"'In 2006-7 about 80 per cent of the world's home pages were in "some kind of English" while Microsoft publishes no fewer than eighteen versions of its English language spell-checks. There is hardly a transaction in any city in today's world that is innocent of English. This is all the more surprising when the global dominance of the powers that brought this about, namely Britain and America, appears to be on the wane. The English language has, it seems, become a power in itself...'" (Book Cover)

TABLE OF CONTENTS :

Prologue: 'Crazy English'

PART ONE: FOUNDERS
1. In the Beginning: Four Invasions and a Cultural Revolution
2. Defeat into Victory: The DNA of Self-Expression
3. 'Lighte Englisshe': Medieval Mass Communications
4. Eating Paper, Drinking Ink: Shakespeare & Co.

PART TWO: PIONEERS
5. 'A Whole Country of English': Re-inventing Freedom and Originality
6. 'Common Hopes and Common Dreams': Lighting Out for the Territory
7. 'The Audacity of Hope': From Slavery to Redemption

PART THREE: POPULARISERS
8. Rule, Britannia! How England Became British
9. East, in a Western Voice: The People's Empire
10. 'At the Top of the World': The Imperial Swan Song

PART FOUR: MODERNISERS
11. 'A Willingness of the Heart': The American Century I
12. 'The Unity of the English-Speaking Peoples': The American Century II
13. 'The World At Your Fingertips': From Google to Globish, 1989-2009

PART FIVE: GLOBALISERS
14. One World, One Dream: 'Conquer English to Make China Strong'
15. 'Virtually Running America': Inda, the Far East and Beyond

Epilogue

Notes

Select Bibliography

Acknowledgements

Index