Facts on File Dictionary of Cultural and Historical Allusions: From the Middle Ages Through the 20th Century (Facts on File Library of Language and Literature)

Explains more than 1,500 words and expressions from literature, art, history, politics, sports, film, and popular culture, which have transcended their original meanings to refer to other attributes or circumstances.

Allusions add color to our language and symbolize shared knowledge or experience. When they are obscure (and even when they're not), they are the stuff of frequently asked reference questions. This book's origins lie in The Facts On File Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Allusions (1991), revised and expanded to include more than 600 new entries spanning the millennium just ending.

Shakespearean characters, infamous criminals, advertising slogans, baseball and boxing expressions, movie titles, tycoons, tag lines, and more are explained in alphabetically arranged entries that incorporate definitions, quotations in context, and examples of usage. Many of the allusions cited are literary in origin, but just as many are historical as well as part of popular culture and politics. Clara Barton and Clara Bow, Galahad and glasnost, Jacobin and jihad, paladin and perestroika all find a place in this helpful handbook. An index facilitates the location of particular names, words, or phrases. This volume complements The Facts On File Dictionary of Classical, Biblical, and Literary Allusions (1987) and is recommended for most, if not all, reference collections. REVWR
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