Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary in Bloomington, MN

Keywords for Today
takes us deep into the history of the language in order to better understand our contemporary world. From
nature
to
cultural appropriation
and from
market
terror
, the most important words in political and cultural debate have complicated and complex histories. This book sketches these histories in ways that illuminate the political bent and values of our current society. Written by The Keywords Project, an independent group of scholars who have spent more than a decade on this work,
updates and extends Raymond Williams's classic work,
Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society
. It updates some 40 of Williams's original entries and adds 86 new entries, ranging from
access
youth
. The book is both a history of English, documenting important semantic change in the language, and a handbook of current political and ideological debate. Whether it is demonstrating the only recently-acquired religious meaning of
fundamentalism
or the complicated linguistic history of
queer
,
will intrigue and enlighten.