Noah Webster was an American lexicographer, textbook author, spelling reformer, political writer, word enthusiast, and editor. He has been called the "Father of American Scholarship and Education". His Blue-backed Speller books taught five generations of children in the United States how to spell and read, and his name became synonymous with "dictionary", especially the modern Merriam-Webster dictionary that was first published in 1828 as An American Dictionary of the English Language.