JavaScript has already won part 2 of 2

JavaScript is the small insignificant scripting language that ended up taking over the world. This talk is a walkthrough of 20-plus years of JavaScript history, with a focus on JavaScript having grown into being a language with great power and great responsibility. Today JavaScript is more in demand, more important, and more useful than ever.
Some links with further resources:

The graph with JavaScript's grammar comes from here:

Wikipedia's article about browser wars

Don't break the web

"monkey dance" quote:

jQuery keeps thriving amongst calls to use it less -- it's simply a comfortable way to do DOM

JavaScript. the Good Parts

You Don't Know JavaScript

A nice explanation about transitioning from old-school to new-school JavaScript

Always bet on JS

Edument's JavaScript Foundation