Book excerpt: Using material dating from up to 5,000 years ago, but concentrating on the past 200 years, this book studies messengers and newsmen, focusing on news agency journalists. Informed by North American and European scholarship, and considering the interplay between British English and American English and the products of wordsmiths since the 16th century, the book will appeal to historians, social scientists, linguists, globalization specialists, media professionals and “news addicts”.