The American Heretic's Dictionary

Overview

The best modern successor to Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary. 

This new edition includes over 650 mordant definitions by Bufe—twice as many as in the original edition—and 40 illustrations by San Francisco artist and filmmaker J. R. Swanson. The definitions skewer such targets as religion, the "right to life" movement, capitalism, marxism, the IRS, politicians of all stripes, and common euphemisms, as well as male-female relations and sexual attitudes, something which Bierce, writing in more conservative times, was not free to do. The book concludes with a lengthy appendix of the best 200 definitions from Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary.

Reviews

"Such bitterness, such negativity, such unbridled humor, wit and sarcasm." —Mensa Bulletin

"The quirky cartoons by J.R. Swanson nicely complement Bufe's cruel wit. Recommended." —Free Inquiry

"You'll never be at a loss for a droll definition again. Keep this on your desk for that emergency epigram or nicely worded insult." —Fact Sheet Five

Author Biography

Chaz Bufe is the author, co-author, editor/translator, or compiler/editor of 10 other books, including Alcoholics Anonymous: Cult or Cure?, An Understandable Guide to Music Theory, and The Heretic's Handbook of Quotations. He has also written for dozens of magazines and newspapers, including Eye, Utne Reader, Communities, and New Times Weekly (now Phoenix New Times). J.R. Swanson has been a professional illustrator since the 1980s. His work appeared regularly in the underground political magazine Processed World, and also in the book Bad Attitude (Verso).