The Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations (Oxford Quick Reference) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0198609515 ISBN 13: 9780198609513

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2007

Synopsis

This up-to-date collection offers a vivid picture both of the world today, and of the landmark events and key voices leading to it. From Scott's Antarctic Expedition in 1912 to the attack on the World Trade Centre in 2001, it charts watersheds such as two World Wars as well as the ebbs and
flows of popular culture.

Containing 5,000+ quotations from authors as diverse as Elizabeth Arden, Billy Connolly, Bertolt Brecht, Linda Evangelista, Eddie Izzard, Alison Lurie, Carl Sagan, William Shatner, and Desmond Tutu, the dictionary is author-organized with generous cross-referencing and keyword and thematic indexes.
Special categories for film taglines and cartoon captions have been added to accompany misquotations, official advice, newspaper headlines, and many more. Informative and entertaining, this book is a vital part of the modern reference shelf, perfectly designed to answer the questions, 'Who said
that...and when...and why?'

About this title

About the Author

Elizabeth Knowles has been Managing Editor of Oxford Quotations Dictionaries since 1993 and is a historical lexicographer, having previously worked for ten years on the New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary.

From Booklist

New editions of reliable reference books inevitably invite comparisons with earlier versions, and that is certainly the case here. Although both titles have kept their original format, they have also added new material, deleted less popular passages, and expanded their indexing. In the second edition of The Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations, modern now refers to the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and "authors who were alive in or after 1914," while the first edition concentrates on the twentieth century and quotations from those "still alive after 1900." While retaining most of the quotations found in the earlier edition, this one adds a number of new selections, such as quotations referring to the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Once again, the quotations are listed chronologically under each of the alphabetically arranged authors' names. Several special features are included: 14 "special categories," including "Advertising Slogans" (found under "Anonymous" in the first edition), "Misquotations," "Opening Lines" and "Taglines for Films," which present these quotations alphabetically by the first word of each passage; an expanded keyword index; and a "Selective Thematic Index," which points the way to quotations on such motifs as "America," "Britain," "Computing," and "Royalty."

The second edition of The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase, Saying, and Quotation has been similarly updated. Themes such as "Computers and the Internet," "Management," and "Photography" have been added to the list of topics that opens the book. As in the earlier edition, the material is arranged by subject and then further categorized as "Proverbs and Sayings," "Phrases," and "Quotations." Although this edition retains the format of its predecessor, there has been an effort to strengthen "the links between individual remarks and fixed phrases and sayings," which are the hallmark of this particular work. Modern sayings related to the topic at hand as well as earlier (sometimes the earliest) forms of an adage have been added to many sections. The keyword index has been expanded and now forms almost one-fourth of the entire book.

Although there is some overlap between editions and even between these two titles, large or comprehensive collections will want to add both new editions as well as keep the earlier ones. A collection can never have too many quotation sources. RBB
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Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0198609515
• ISBN 13: 9780198609513
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 512
• Editor: Knowles Elizabeth