A celebrated journalist in his lifetime, Ambrose Bierce's began
circulating his own sardonic, mischievous definitions of words in his
various columns for San Francisco newspapers. Over several years these
were then compiled and expanded into entries for a mock dictionary
originally published as The Cynic's Word Book.
One of the most popular satirical works of American literature, The
Devil's Dictionary - here published in its most complete 1911 version -
brilliantly lays bare the hypocrisies of American society and displays a
razor-sharp wit to rival that of Bierce's contemporary Mark Twain.