Braj B. Kachru (1932–2016) spent most of his career at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and served as Head of the Department of Linguistics (1968–79), Director of the Division of English as an International Language (1985–91) and Director of the University's Center for Advanced Study (1996–2000). He became the Jubilee Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Illinois in 1992, and the Sir Edward Youde Memorial Fund Visiting Professor at Hong Kong University in 1998. He co-founded the International Association of World Englishes and the journal World Englishes, and authored or edited over a dozen books on World Englishes and Kashmiri.

• Part I. World Englishes Today: 1. The agony and ecstasy; 2. The second diaspora; 3. Culture wars; 4. Standards and codification; 5. The power and politics; Part II. Context and Creativity: 6. The speaking tree; 7. Creativity and literary canons; Part III. Past and Prejudice: 8. Liberation linguistics; 9. Sacred linguistic cows; 10. The paradigms of marginalization; Part IV. Ethical Issues and the ELT Empire: 11. Applying linguistics; 12. Leaking paradigms; Part V. World Englishes and the Classroom: 13. Mythology in teaching; Part VI. Research Areas and Resources: 14. Research resources.

'A classic collection that enlarges and illuminates a range of key issues relating to culture, literary creativity, linguistic inquiry, multilingualism and the dynamics of Englishes worldwide … Essential reading for all those interested in the theoretical underpinnings of World Englishes as an academic discipline.' Kingsley Bolton, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore