History in English Words Author:Owen Barfield Barfield's 1st nonfiction book (originally published in 1953) seeks to discover the evolution of consciousness in Western civilization by exploring the changes in meanings of various Indo-Aryan words as used in the British Isles in particular. The History of Words is a pathway to discovering our humanity. Barfield's purpose is to understand wo... more »rds as speech that reveals the mind and allows for deeper communication.« less