In Made in America, Bill Bryson takes an informed and affectionate look at the history of the United States from the perspective of language and popular culture. Who or what was the real McCoy? Why is the article of minimal attire for strippers called aG-string? Bryson explains why we drive on the right, how the assassination of President James A. Garfield led to the invention of air conditioning, and how a sandwich unknown in Hamburg became venerated as the hamburger. Bryson also brings to light the surprising importance of songs and nursery rhymes in understanding how American English came to be the way it is.