| The Devil's Dictionary Contributor(s): Bierce, Ambrose (Author), Morris, Roy, Jr. (Introduction by) |
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ISBN: 0195126270 ISBN-13: 9780195126273 Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA OUR PRICE: $18.99 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: January 1999 Annotation: The caustic aphorisms collected in "The Devil's Dictionary" helped earn Ambrose Bierce the epithets Bitter Bierce, the Devil's Lexicographer, and the Wickedest Man in San Francisco. The words he shaped into verbal pitchforks a century ago--with or without the devil's help--can still draw blood today. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Reference | Dictionaries - Humor | Form - Parodies - History | United States - Civil War Period (1850-1877) |
| Dewey: 423.020 |
| LCCN: 98022576 |
| Physical Information: 0.9" H x 5.4" W x 8.4" (0.70 lbs) 256 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 1851-1899 - Topical - Civil War |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: History, n. an account mostly false, of events mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers mostly knaves, and soldiers mostly fools. Marriage, n. The state or condition of a community consisting of a master, a mistress, and two slaves, making in all two. Self-Esteem, n. An erroneous appraisement. These caustic aphorisms, collected in The Devil's Dictionary, helped earn Ambrose Bierce the epithets Bitter Bierce, the Devil's Lexicographer, and the Wickedest Man in San Francisco. First published as The Cynic's Word Book (1906) and later reissued under its preferred name in 1911, Bierce's notorious collection of barbed definitions forcibly contradicts Samuel Johnson's earlier definition of a lexicographer as a harmless drudge. There was nothing harmless about Ambrose Bierce, and the words he shaped into verbal pitchforks a century ago--with or without the devil's help--can still draw blood today. |