Amid widespread talk about the dominance of English across the world, this volume is a reminder that even at the core of the English-speaking world, English monolingualism is not as universal as is often assumed. The book's subtitle, Pedigree of nations, conveys that, in fact, multilingualism is not only an important element of contemporary daily life in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, and Aotearoa/New Zealand, but also an essential thread in these nations' ancestral lines, indeed part of what has made them what they are today. In this comprehensive effort to dispel the “myth of monolingualism” (p. 3), Viv Edwards has assembled copious evidence of the use and significance of minority languages in English-dominant countries. Readers will find themselves better equipped to counter not only this general misconception but also the pervasive corollaries that position other languages and their speakers as problematic, outside the mainstream, and therefore outside the range of what is valued.

Edwards's exploration of the extent, forms, and functions of multilingualism focuses on the inner-circle countries of the English-speaking world (Kachru 1985), where the myth of monolingualism is strongest. The first of three sections in the book establishes a background to the extent of linguistic diversity in these five countries and discusses issues in the provision of multilingual services. This is followed by two other sections detailing the use of multiple languages, first at home and school and then in the public and international spheres. In the first chapter, Edwards delineates three general categories of minority languages in use in the UK, United States, Canada, Australia, and Aotearoa/New Zealand, and she uses these categories to structure her discussion of language use in various domains throughout the rest of the book. In doing so, she creates a particularly inclusive portrait of the variety of languages used in English-speaking countries. She details the use of (i) indigenous languages such as North American Indian or Australian Aboriginal languages; (ii) established minority languages including Irish, Gaelic, Welsh, Scots, African American English, Australian Aboriginal English, Hawai‘ian Creole English, and sign languages; and (iii) new minority languages belonging to migrant groups. In the second and third chapters, she traces the origins of linguistic diversity in each country and the waxing and waning of sociopolitical tolerance for languages other than English. She describes contemporary interpretation and translation services for speakers of other languages in the legal, medical, and financial spheres. While providing an overview of issues in interpretation, she also offers engaging examples, such as a transcript from an Alaska court case that illustrates the difficulty in translating highly culture-bound concepts such as “fairness.”

Noting in this first section that “bilinguals are the linchpin” (49) in multilingual settings, Edwards goes on in the next section to discuss the primary contexts in which bilingual skills are cultivated: home and school. Despite omnipresent pressures to shift to English, families have many reasons to preserve and develop multilingual skills, from improving intergenerational communication and intellectual benefits to facilitating participation in religious activities. A historical look at minority languages in education is followed by an examination of modern educational programs using and supporting minority languages, including the learning and use of non-English languages by majority speakers. Although others have assembled similar material on bilingualism in the family and in schools in one or another English-dominant country, Edwards examines these topics across all five inner-circle countries together, giving rise to new insights. Present throughout the book but especially evident in this middle section is Edwards's effort not only to highlight similarities among the five inner-circle countries but also to illuminate interesting contrasts that show how these countries can be learning from each other. For example, she notes that in all five countries the sociopolitical climate has swung from early tolerance to increasing restriction of non-English languages, often in reaction to trends in immigration. But within the similarity of this general trend, Edwards pays careful attention to differences: “Bilingual education in the U.S. is notable both for the accompanying political furore and for its preoccupation with providing only transitional support for learning English. Bilingual education in Australia, in contrast, emphasizes bilingualism as a personal and national resource, rather than as an anti-poverty measure” (120). Edwards herself points out the comparative potential in these contrasts: “Dual-language immersion … is limited to the USA, while Australia has accumulated a great deal of experience of content-based learning. There is thus no shortage of opportunities to learn from the experience of others” (144).

A particular strength of Multilingualism in the English-speaking world is that it does not stop at the border of the private sphere. In demonstrating that multilingualism in the inner-circle countries is already widespread in public domains, Edwards neutralizes a major argument of English-only movements: that use of minority languages is fine at home and in private but that their “intrusion” into the public sphere would be too costly, divisive, or impractical. The third section of the book, entitled “Language in the wider community,” encompasses chapters 8 through 12 and covers minority language use in the domains of economy and labor, media, arts, and national defense. While Edwards covers the straightforward economic advantages of bilingual and minority language skills in tourism and international business, she also draws our attention to their importance in minority-run media and minority economies, or the smaller economies of indigenous, established, and new minority communities. Many businesses based in these communities provide work environments where minority languages are welcome, if not essential: for example, the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association and American Indian casinos (150–52). Media, arts, and cultural programs such as the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network in Canada (174) and Radío na Gaeltachta, an all-Irish-language station (177), provide visibility of minority languages and local control over content. Some language revitalization programs such as the Gaelic Energy Centres in Scotland (152), and language minority education programs such as schools for the Deaf (152–53) also create jobs requiring minority language skills.

Edwards is careful to note the contradiction between “the policies which have helped to weaken the multilingual capacity of inner-circle countries over the years and the current rhetoric surrounding the usefulness of other languages in tourism and other areas of the economy: … while the bilingualism of upper-class speakers is valued, the language skills of lower-class employees are often overlooked” (161). This tension is especially clear in chap. 11, where Edwards provides a timely discussion of the domains of international diplomacy and national defense, in which the call for bilinguals has been almost desperate since September 11, 2001. Citing the alarmingly few Arabic speakers among U.S. military personnel in Iraq and a similar lack of language skills in other U.S. federal agencies, Edwards suggests not only that current events should stimulate reassessment of second/foreign language teaching in the inner circle, but also that other languages ought to be valued not only for their role in national defense but also for the protection of minority language speakers themselves.

Having established the extent of linguistic diversity in the British Isles, Aotearoa/New Zealand, Canada, Australia, and the United States, Edwards addresses in the concluding chapter what really lies beneath the myth of monolingualism and its concomitant mistrust of other languages: “the debates which on the surface focus on language are actually about culture, identity, power, and control” (216). In keeping with her unequivocal stance throughout the book, she outlines the benefits, both individual and societal, of preserving and promoting multilingualism and the resources that minority languages embody.