The Devil's Dictionary [Hardcover]

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 inThe Devil's Dictionary, helped earn Ambrose Bierce the epithets Bitter Bierce, the Devil's Lexicographer, and the Wickedest Man in San Francisco. First published asThe 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.

An enjoyable work, fun to read as well as thought-provoking....Just because the dictionary is 90 years old doesn't make it any less apropos for modern readers. --Naples Daily News

Roy Morris, Jr., is the editor ofAmerica's Civil Warand the author ofAmbrose Bierce: Alone in Bad CompanyandSheridan: The Life and Wars of General Phil Sheridan. He lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee.