THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY W/NEW INTRO BY MORRIS

Bierce, Ambrose,Morris Jr., Roy

ISBN 10: 0195126270 / ISBN 13: 9780195126273

Published by Oxford University Press, 1999

About this Item

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY W/NEW INTRO BY MORRIS
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication Date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0195126270
• ISBN 13: 9780195126273
• Binding: paperback
• Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

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.

About the Author

Roy Morris, Jr., is the editor of America's Civil War and the author of Ambrose Bierce: Alone in Bad Company and Sheridan: The Life and Wars of General Phil Sheridan. He lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee.