Joshua Kendall

Harvard Book Store is delighted to welcome author and journalist JOSHUA KENDALL for a discussion of his latest book, The Forgotten Founding Father: Noah Webster’s Obsession and the Creation of an American Culture.

Noah Webster (1758-1843) was more than just America’s greatest lexicographer. He was also a Founding Father who helped define American culture. In 1783, he published the first edition of his legendary spelling book, which would teach five generations of Americans how to read. A leading Federalist and a confidant of both George Washington and Alexander Hamilton, Webster was in Philadelphia during the Consitutional Convention where he  wrote a highly influential essay on behalf of the nation’s founding document. During the greater part of the 1790s, he edited American Minerva, New York City’s first daily newspaper. A dedicated public servant, he served as a state rep in both Connecticut and Massachusetts. “America’s pedagogue” was also a founder of Amherst College – he was an early president of the college’s Board of Trustees.

In 1798, the Yale  grad moved back to New Haven with his family to begin his dictionary. Having made a fortune from his publishing ventures, Webster could afford to follow his heart. The first edition of his American Dictionary of the English Language was published in 1828. He would continue working on revisions until the day he died. This obsession, which  was instrumental in helping a high-strung genius live an amazingly vibrant life, ended up giving America a language of its own.
 

“In this mesmerizing tale of a man whose name is a household word but whose life has been sadly neglected by history, Joshua Kendall single-handily rescues the least-known founder of American politics and culture and gives him his long overdue place of importance.  The Forgotten Founding Father makes for fascinating and absorbing reading and is an eloquent paean for Noah Webster.”  James McGrath Morris, author of Pulitzer: A Life in Politics, Print, and Power