A celebrated journalist in his lifetime, Ambrose Bierce was the author of sardonic, mischievous definitions of words that appeared in various San Francisco newspapers. Over several years these were compiled for a mock dictionary, originally published in 1906 as The Cynic s Word Book and reissued in ...

A celebrated journalist in his lifetime, Ambrose Bierce was the author of sardonic, mischievous definitions of words that appeared in various San Francisco newspapers. Over several years these were compiled for a mock dictionary, originally published in 1906 as The Cynic s Word Book and reissued in an expanded version as The Devil's Dictionary in 1911.

One of the most popular satirical works of world literature, The Devil s Dictionary here enriched with over 800 definitions left out from the original publications brilliantly lays bare the hypocrisies of American society and displays a razor-sharp wit to rival that of Bierce s contemporary Mark Twain.

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