Thoughtful, intelligent human beings have a hard time learning language through conventional means of memorization, repetition, and the performance of tedious exercises and drills。 The world is full of language-learning books that employ these artificial and mechanical means, but we forgot that we learned our own language by understanding things that we had an interesting understanding, and saying things we felt we need to say。This is how most people actually learn, and they learn best when their imaginations and intellects are engaged, through profound questions, interesting characters, unforgettable stories。 We need more language books that draw on the mind’s natural hunger to understand important things。
Your book is one of the few that seeks to teach English by filling this hunger, and may it be followed by many such books。It appeals to the reader eager for stories that are both gripping and real, and for a way to understand how part of modern world was made。 Who better to write such a book than a scholar of such breadth of interests, boundless enthusiasm for learning, and vivid grasp of English? Hopefully, students will come away from this book not only with larger vocabularies and ability to assimilate complex English sentences, but also inspired to learn more about the whole panorama, to read further, and to find expression for their own thinking。 May this book open new doors for her readers。——Professor Krishnan Venkatesh 美国新墨西哥州圣约翰学院研究生院院长
“German students are facing the same problems which prompted you to embark on this project in the first place: a dearth of good German texts, very bulky and to detailed American ones。”——Professor(em.)Dr. Knud Krakau, 德国柏林自由大学北美历史研究专家
“Matthew, I would like my own students to read your book。”——Professor Amy Kaplan, 美国宾夕法尼亚大学英语学院院长
“I enjoy the book. While proofreading it, I have been arguing with Matthew in my mind。”——Professor Howard B. Woods, 加拿大英语语言学家,原加拿大政府英语公共服务署官员
“I hope that you will have every good fortune in introducing young people to American history as well as literature。”——Professor Bernard Bailyn, 美国哈佛大学美国历史学家