From an early age, Noah Webster was an odd fellow who liked to talk big and who loved learning.  He went to school for many years and even became a teacher, but he had no use for British textbooks.  Noah knew that American children came from many different countries and didn't speak like British children or even speak like each other.  Noah thought America needed its own national language, and he knew he was just the man to create it.  He started with a speller and a small dictionary, and he rode around on a horse, selling his books by hand.  Many folks found Noah and his ideas completely annoying, but his speller became a bestseller.  Then Noah moved on to a bigger project:  creating a complete and comprehensive dictionary of American English.  He thought the book would take him five years to finish.  It took twenty, but his dictionary today is the second-most printed book in the English language.  Noah, the odd fellow, became an American hero.

From the dust jacket