The year 2011 will mark the 400th anniversary of the publication of what we know as the "King James Version" of the Bible. Seven years in preparation, the version "authorized" by King James I of England was finally published in 1611.
It is generally acknowledged that for 300 years, the KJV had enormous influence on the development and usage of the English language. In the U.S. its influence and echoes can be heard in such important documents as the Declaration of Independence and Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.
For anyone who might be interested in learning more about how this monumentally influential book came about I can recommend the following from personal experience (that is to say, I've read them both):
Adam Nicolson, God's Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible (HarperCollins, 2003)
Alister McGrath, In the Beginning: The Story of the King James Bible and How It Changed a Nation, a Language, and a Culture (Anchor Books/Random House, 2002)
Neither is a "religious book." They are studies of the KJV as an historical and cultural document.