Raymond Seitz
Kilroy Was Here
Tippecanoe and Tyler Too: Famous Slogans and Catchphrases in American History
By Jan R van Meter
University of Chicago Press 334pp £11.50 order from our bookshop
At first glance, this book would seem destined for the bedside table in the guest room or perhaps that tatty little basket of diverting reading material in the downstairs loo. But as Mark Twain once said about Wagner’s music – that it’s better than it sounds – so this slim tome is better than it looks.
Jan van Meter, a former CIA analyst and professor of English, has compiled a collection of fifty-seven quotations from the annals of American history. He distinguishes between a slogan, which is a word derived from a Scottish battle cry and is a call to action, and a catchphrase, which encapsulates a national characteristic or attitude. Almost all the quotes he has chosen would be recognisable to the average, university-educated citizen of a certain age, but a fair guess would be that only half would be identifiable as to who said them and in what circumstances. So van Meter writes a brief essay setting each quote in historical context, and his compositions are concise, lucid and factual. Together, they make up an excellent refresher summary of American history.
The sing-song rhyme and alliteration of the title quote is a good example. The slogan is familiar to most American ears, but few could tell you exactly who Tyler was, let alone Tippecanoe. A popular American war hero of the early nineteenth century, General William Henry Harrison put down an
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Wrote some nice things and some less nice things about Edward St Aubyn for @Lit_Review. Something for everyone https://literaryreview.co.uk/sociable-scientists
'Heaven for him was being caressed by duchesses in gilded salons and entertaining royalty in his palatial mansion ... where he showed off his gemmed gewgaws and laced the cocktails with Benzedrine.'
Piers Brendon on the diaries of Chips Channon (£).
https://literaryreview.co.uk/he-played-sardines-with-the-aga-khan
'Like so many of Ishiguro’s human narrators ... Klara contains within herself divisions and contradictions, pockets of knowledge that she isn’t able to synthesise fully.'
@infomodernist reviews 'Klara and the Sun'.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/our-virtual-friend