The American Language is a book by H. L. Mencken published in 1919. The book examines spoken English in the United States, its many racial and regional variations. The book was an affront to English prescriptivism, an ideal of proper English language that excluded slang and Americanisms as legitimate words. Inspired by the language of African-Americans, Mencken's book attempts to make sense of the English spoken in America as its own distinctive dialect.
Boasting the largest collection of book summaries, BookRags is the best option for titles you can't find elsewhere. They offer all of the basics (quotes, chapter summary, characters, historical context, literary criticism) but also walk through a few major topics that recur throughout the book, which can be particularly useful for essay writing.