I doubt that most readers of this book would begin at the first page and read straight through to the end. Instead as I imagine many readers would do, I checked the index for a topic I was interested. I found an intriguing account of how the spelling of Pittsburgh came to include with the ending 'h'. Scottish soldiers stationed at Fort Pitt during the founding of the city were responsible. As there was no method for establishing an official or standard spelling then, the city name came to vary with and without the 'h'. In the late 19th century the US Postal service standardized place names and decided upon 'Pittsburg'. The decision sparked a several year old campaign by a local newspaper supported local politicians to reverse the decision and return to 'Pittsburgh'. Eventually the locals prevailed. Checks of tales of the naming of other cities and geography I had a connection with yielded similar interesting stories. Such a dip and taste method of reading I suspect will be the norm and will be rewarding.

This is not the first time I have read Stewart's opus about place naming in North America. In college I took a course in historical geography. I remember two things about the course: that the classroom was near the seismograph in Cramer Hall (one of my favorite places to wander past), and this book. The way that people express their cultural shape through naming has always intrigued me. Much of Stewart's theory was foundational enough that it stuck with me during the decade between that class and my recent re-reading: the types of place naming (transplantation of old names, adopting forms of native names, names describing events or attributes, biographical naming); trends in naming (colonial towns almost universally named after British counterparts, then post-Revolution rejection of English terms, then embracing of down-home American naming and Romantic notions). He traces the linguistic roots of name pieces (town-name-emes?) that we take for granted: -hurst, -glen, -ville.

A book that could easily have read like a laundry list of towns and rivers is instead an adventure. Stewart comes across as one of the last of a dying breed: born in the 19th century, he projects an aura of pith helmets and wooden drawers full of collected specimens. He recaps centuries of expanding frontiers from a vantage (the first edition came out between the wars) where those frontiers had finally bumped up against oceans. The age of heady exploration and gentlemanly academic pursuit was waning. Stewart's tone is both poetic and wistful. It imparts an engaging enthusiasm.

Names on the Land, though a carefully-researched (and vast-flung) labor of love, does suffer from its age. I noted a few inaccuracies, including his claim for how Pompey's Pillar (Montana) got named. Modern accounts explain that Pompey was the nickname of Sacagawea's son. Stewart, however, posits that "The [then] current classical furor and the love of the republican heroes may account for Pompey's Pillar." Much discussion is had over the origin of the naming of Oregon, and Stewart leans toward a sloppy map engraver misspelling or transposing a version of "Wisconsin." This theory is still in the mix, but has fallen slightly out of favor.

Stewart is masterful at weaving the stories of the cultures that influenced the names on our land. He traces the Spanish era of California and the Southwest. He gives a romp of an account of the French explorers Jolliet and Marquette, who, in the course of a summer's paddling trip, established some of the greatest names of the central continent: Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Omaha, Arkansas, others. He follows the ebbs and flows of popularity: pro-French naming after the Revolution, classical revival, mellifluous and "proper" names of the Victorian era. He shows a soft spot for the rustic and honest names of the mountains and the west.

Take this sentence as an epitome of the book's character: "Deathball Creek in Oregon originated from the attempt of an amateur cook to make biscuits." You can sense Stewart's tongue-in-cheek affection for the rough-and-tumble pioneer naming style, yet once again a slight inaccuracy is unearthed: McArthur's Oregon Geographic Names (a source I'll call more reliable with respect to Oregon-specific names) cites the feature as Deathball Rock (not Creek).

This book sticks with you if you are of the right inclination. It has a strong sui generis feel to it. It will always maintain a safe, revered position on my bookshelf. ( )

Names on the Land is a remarkable book. It is a history of the United States in names. Beginning with Pre-Columbian Indians and continuing to the modern day (c. 1956, when the book was last revised), Stewart documents the men and women who left their mark on the country by giving it its names, along with the kinds of names they gave. The amount of detail in the book is amazing and never boring. He provides plenty of examples for each trend and no state is left untouched. You can watch names change with the times, as people move in and move on. Each chapter is like a different thread in the the overall narrative, so it is easy to pick up and put down without missing anything. Stewart is clearly in his element here and you can feel his enthusiasm for the subject. The only sticking points are appendices on Alaska and, especially, Hawaii, which feel as tacked on as they actually were. The rest of the book is perfect and if you have any interest in the flow of people and ideas in American history, you should certainly read this book. ( )

I got this book for Early Reviewers, but it's been very slow reading for me - although that might have to do with its being non-fiction. Since I think it will be awhile before I finish, I'm putting at least a temporary review here. I can say that I have greatly enjoyed what I have read of it so far. It makes history interesting, and it's fascinating to see how some of the names came about in the US. I think this book could be an especially helpful reference to those who like building worlds of their own, in deciding how and what to name places. ( )

Names on the Land is an excellent compilation of where our placenames come from (or where they may come from.) It isn't a dry book, as you may expect. If you have any interest in American History this book is for you. This book is excellent, although, I would love to have an index about places in states and the like. I'd love to look up Pennsylvania and see what specifics there are to my state. Or be able to look up a place I'm about to visit to see if there's something specific about it. ( )