A veteran of some of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, Ambrose Bierce went on to become one of the darkest and most death haunted of American writers, the blackest of black humorists. This volume gathers the most celebrated and significant of Bierce's writings. In the Midst of Life (Tales of Soldiers and Civilians), his collection of short fiction about the Civil War, which includes the masterpieces "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" and "Chickamauga," is suffused with a fiercely ironic sense of the horror and randomness of war. Can Such Things Be? brings together "The Death of Halpin Frayser," "The Damned Thing," "The Moonlit Road," and other tales of terror that make Bierce the genre's most significant American practitioner between Poe and Lovecraft. The Devil's Dictionary, the brilliant lexicon of subversively cynical definitions on which Bierce worked for decades, displays to the full his corrosive wit. In Bits of Autobiography, the series of memoirs that includes the memorable "What I Saw of Shiloh," he recreates his experiences in the war and its aftermath. The volume is rounded out with a selection of his best uncollected stories. Acclaimed Bierce scholar S. T. Joshi provides detailed notes and a newly researched chronology of Bierce's life and mysterious disappearance.

"Lawyer: One skilled in circumvention of the law." Wickedly lampooning standard dictionaries, this classic of American humor was an instant success upon its 1911 publication. Complete and unabridged, our new paperback gift edition presents more than 1,000 comic definitions praised by H. L. Mencken as "some of the most gorgeous witticisms in the English language."

Bierce's classic work of satirical wit and Steadman's pointed pen redefine the way we see even the seemingly simplest of terms.

Acquaintance, n.: A person whom we know well enough to borrow from but not well enough to lend to.
Bride, n.: A woman with a great future behind her.
Consult, v: To seek another's approval of a course already decided on.

Ambrose Bierce's "dictionary" of epigrams, essays, verses, and vignettes targets the religious, the romantic, the political, and the economic, in equal measure. The book you need to define both friends and enemies, The Devil's Dictionary is also the perfect gift, showcasing Bierce's razor-sharp wit and Ralph Steadman's incisive pen to their best advantage.

If we could only put aside our civil pose and say what we really thought, the world would be a lot like the one alluded to in The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary. There, a bore is ?a person who talks when you wish him to listen,” and happiness is ?an agreeable sensation arising from contemplating the misery of another.” This is the most comprehensive, authoritative edition ever of Ambrose Bierce's satiric masterpiece. It renders obsolete all other versions that have appeared in the book's ninety-year history.

A virtual onslaught of acerbic, confrontational wordplay, The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary offers some 1,600 wickedly clever definitions to the vocabulary of everyday life. Little is sacred and few are safe, for Bierce targets just about any pursuit, from matrimony to immortality, that allows our willful failings and excesses to shine forth.

This new edition is based on David E. Schultz and S. T. Joshi's exhaustive investigation into the book's writing and publishing history. All of Bierce's known satiric definitions are here, including previously uncollected, unpublished, and alternative entries. Definitions dropped from previous editions have been restored while nearly two hundred wrongly attributed to Bierce have been excised. For dedicated Bierce readers, an introduction and notes are also included.

Ambrose Bierce's Devil's Dictionary is a classic that stands alongside the best work of satirists such as Twain, Mencken, and Thurber. This unabridged edition will be celebrated by humor fans and word lovers everywhere.

A prolific journalist and author well known for his tales of horror and stories about the Civil War, Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) was also a mordant commentator on the political, social, legal, and intellectual failings of his countrymen. Throughout his career, he remained an unapologetic curmudgeon who took a dim view of everything from trade unions and the temperance movement to Americans’ insatiable thirst for money. Even the very principles of democracy did not escape his skeptical pen.
  This volume brings together a generous sampling of Bierce’s scathing fictional satires, many of which have not been reprinted since their first appearance a century ago. In writing these works, Bierce often employed fanciful devices, such as assuming the perspective of a future historian looking back on the follies of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Among such selections, “Ashes of the Beacon” is perhaps the finest, with its trenchant comments on socialism, anarchy, and the problems of republican government. In another fictional piece, “The Land Beyond the Blow,” Bierce recounts voyages to an imaginary world in the style of Gulliver’s Travels, commenting on bizarre political and social customs that, not coincidentally, mirror America’s own.
  The volume also includes a rich array of still-relevant nonfiction essays on such topics as capital punishment, the evils of insurance, and the unpleasant disposition of the canines that roam the nation’s capital. These pieces reflect many of the same concerns Bierce addresses in his fictional satires, albeit in a more direct way.  
  The selections are drawn from contributions to newspapers and magazines and from Bierce’s Collected Works, and include many unsigned editorials that Bierce wrote for the San Francisco Examiner. Editors S.T. Joshi and David E. Schultz have thoroughly annotated the pieces and have written a substantial introduction outlining the aspects of Bierce’s political thought. The resulting volume is essential reading for anyone who appreciates lively commentary desgined to puncture the hypocrisies and sentimentality of Bierce’s contemporaries, whatever their beliefs. It fills a major gap in Bierce scholarship and allows us to see the world as the notorious cynic did.

 The Editors: S.T. Joshi and David E. Schultz have collaborated extensively on books devoted to Ambrose Bierce, H.P. Lovecraft, and other literary figures. The edited Bierce’s A Sole Survivor: Bits of Autobiography, also published by the University of Tennessee Press, and an annotated edition of Bierce’s Devil’s Dictionary.

Sixteen dark and vivid selections by great satirist and short-story writer. "A Horseman in the Sky," "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," "Chickamauga," "A Son of the Gods," "What I Saw of Shiloh," "Four Days in Dixie" and 10 more. Masterly tales offer excellent examples of Bierce's dark pessimism and storytelling power. Note.