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. ( )

I recently read two books by George R. Stewart -- Names on the Land and Earth Abides. The former is a lyrical history of how places in the United States got their names. The latter is a novel that considers humanity's place in the world following a catastrophic plague.

Despite their obvious differences, these two books share some common themes. Names on the Land looks at one way in which humans attempt to control nature -- a constant theme in the book is that people name places in order to manifest their ownership of them. Earth Abides, by comparison, portrays an Earth where place names cease to have meaning in the absence of humanity. Both books compellingly demonstrate Stewart's fascination with man's imprint on his world and the world's indifference to it.

In Names on the Land, a constant theme is that, more often than not, place-names are impermanent and contingent on human events. Stewart takes pains to show that history's winners are generally responsible for the longest-lived names, though names contain something of the losers' stories as well. His account of how America was named is always fascinating, and all the more so for his breathtaking prose style.

Earth Abides in a way examines the question of man's legacy from the Earth's point of view. Stewart follows one survivor, Ish Williams, through to his death of old age. In the process, he demonstrates in lyrical passages that resemble the prose in Names on the Land how the Earth quickly erases the works of man. The novel, though unique and effective in many ways, shows that Stewart's true talent lay in description. The dialogue is fairly stilted and the story a bit predictable, but Stewart's account of the Earth reclaiming itself is breathtaking.

Names on the Land is unlike any other book I've ever read, and is a wonderful addition to NYRB's reprint series. Earth Abides is not wholly successful as a novel, but is interesting for its stunning prose passages and for its window into the concerns of post-WWII Americans. ( )

A brilliant, imaginative, and maddeningly informative book. Fun too. Stewart tells the story of how places all across the country got their name. Grand. From Indians to modern-day Americans, all nationalities and ethnicities are represented here, and on the face of the land. The stories range from epic to trivial, but always entertaining. Included in the new 2008 paperback are the original illustrations (which are way too few) the book's several forewords and a brand new introduction. My only wish is that Stewart took the time to more rigorously cite his works, but, with a little legwork, you can track down his sources. ( )

Names on the Land isn't a book that sucks one in directly. The style of the first sections is so consciously epic that it becomes nearly laughable. But really, is there a better excuse for epic style than the naming of a new land? Stewart seems to take the tone of the first explorers and colonists themselves as they sought to place themselves on the map.

What's best about the book, though, is how it makes one aware of the process of naming. Names often become "invisible" after the first few generations, so that the reminder that names are not fixed, immutable constants but rather a reflection of changing values and culture is a welcome one. How often does one overlook treasures of names like Cincinnati or Spokane or Martha's Vineyard? Stewart makes the names visible again and demonstrates how names fell out of favor, were revived, and, in one case, settled by bare-knuckle boxing in a New England barn.

This may be more of a dipping-into book than a book to read straight through, and certainly it's designed that way, with sections on classical names, French names, street names and so forth, as well as a useful index. At the same time, a straight read-through offers a gorgeous panorama of the history of naming that is, while occasionally exhausting, also enlightening. ( )

Names on the Land is a positively charming account of the great place-naming process begun with the exploration of the New World. European place names were so old that they had lost virtually all meaning, so the explorers were faced with a large and unfamiliar undertaking. Names were descriptive, borrowed from the native populations, or given in honor of a wealthy landowner or patron monarch.

George Stewart's tone throughout is friendly and gently humorous. While it is easy to tell that Names on the Land was written over 60 years ago, there is nothing stilted or boring about it—the writing feels instead comfortable and pleasant, perfectly apt for telling the stories of exploration and building up of the new continent along with its folklore.

Many of the stories had become, for me, only vague recollections from middle school US history classes. It was fascinating to re-read the stories of Joliett, La Salle, and Lewis and Clark and—instead of hearing the usual accounts of meeting with natives and surveying new territories—hear about the lasting marks they had left on these lands, in the form of town, river and state names. A great pick for New York Review Books to bring back into print.

"Names On The Land" by George R Stewart is a re-release of a book originally published in 1945. If you are a fan of language, history, or Americana, you will be fascinated and delighted by this read. Stewart (1895-1980) stated in his original forward that he wrote the book mostly due to his fascination with names. As I read this book, I myself became fascinated with the logic behind names. From names that truly sprouted 'from the ground' and describe an area or place, to how and why some foreign names survived and some were quietly (or not so quietly) laid to rest, to the names that reflect the history of America and its tumultuous relations with various foreign realms, to the names which reflect the reawakening of various heritages, not the least of which is our own native American, the sheer scope of the book is breathtaking. This riveting tale is composed of short chapters that easily allow one to read straight through or in shorter passages as time or temper allow. If the true measure of a book is its ability to stand the test of time, Stewart's effort suffered very few changes in this latest version. Most of the changes are the result of political and geographical change (i.e. Alaska and Hawaii were not states when the book was originally written) and yet his comments are still piercingly valid today. ( )