It seems incredible that much of the work in this volume has not been widely available since the publication of Bierce's Collected Works more than ninety years ago. It seems particularly incredible in the case of the two long satires, "Ashes of the Beacon" and "The Land Beyond the Blow", since these constitute perhaps his most sustained attack on the absurdities of American society, and contain some of his most pointed and iconoclastic writing. Bierce himself seems to have held them in high regard, but until the Collected Works no publisher took an interest. "The Land Beyond the Blow" is a voyage to strange lands, undertaken courtesy of a large hairy fist applied to the narrator's eye; the various customs and other foibles of the peoples encountered serve to parody the government, judiciary, public taste, dog lovers, etc., etc., of Bierce's own time and place. "Ashes of the Beacon" purports to be "An Historical Monograph Written in 4930" and gives a few indications concerning the lamentable failure of "self-government" in America. It is less amusing and more analytical; and while practically everyone will find much in it to disagree with, there is also plenty to think about. Though generally conservative (with some startling exceptions) and frequently pigheaded, Bierce is neither a fool nor a hypocrite, and he makes his points with thoroughgoing clarity. His work as a whole is (among many other things) a lifelong battle against woolly thinking, murky logic and bad writing, and the pieces in The Fall of the Republic are no exception. Besides the long satires, the book includes a number of short essays on such topics as capital punishment (which Bierce favours), insurance (which he does not favour), temperance (which he demolishes completely) and the Decay of the Nose (upon which he is coolly judicious and commendably straight-faced). A further section is devoted to the Annals of the Future Historian, a series of pieces in which the Future Historian's misconceptions and presuppositions serve to point the reader towards uncomfortable questions not only about the present but, by implication, about the possible misconceptions and presuppositions embedded in our own perception of history. There is also a scholarly and sympathetic critical introduction by the editors who, in hunting out this work and making it available to a general readership, have done satire, literature and the rest of us an immense service.

Alphabetical listing of over 30,000 persons buried in Gwinnett Co GA from 1818-1989. A must have for persons having roots in this county for several generations. Includes directions to cemeteries. Also, includes some relationships, such as "s/o John Doe".

I was extremely impressed by these stories when I read them in April of 1951. The book was the best book read that year. I have selected a "best book read this year" each of the years of my reading life, and this book is the only collection of short stories which has ever won that accolade!

This book was very interesting to say the least. It's simple plot and out come where not at all demening to the subject itself. The manner in which it protrayed human thought process was incredible. The main character was a clear example of all men, in there persuit of victory over reality. All in all this story was a great advancement in the history of literature.

It's easy to look back and view wars as things of glory - the history books tend to lead us in that direction by viewing the action from lofty heights, speaking in terms of armies and strategies and generals. The reality - as those who have 'been there' know too well (and no, I'm not claiming to be a veteran) - is that the old adage is all too true: war is definitely hell, and we should never, ever forget that fact.

Ambrose Bierce is known today mainly through his fiction - many fine examples of which appear in this collection - and through THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY. He 'might or might not' be the subject and/or inspiration for Carlos Fuentes' novel THE OLD GRINGO, also made into a film. His stories have a decidedly 'creepy' feel to them - he was no Edgar Allan Poe, perhaps, but he was a talented writer nonetheless...and as not only the short stories, but also the non-fiction pieces collected here demonstrate, he was a careful and articulate observer. We are truly blessed that he chose to recount what he had seen, both in the form of short stories and memoirs. His disappearance in 1914 in Mexico has added to his mystique over the ensuing years.

The most famous of the short stories contained in this volume is undoubtedly 'An occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge'. I remember reading it in high school (NO, I won't say how long ago that was...) - and it was filmed to great effect by director Roberto Enrico in 1962, and was subsequently aired in the US as an episode in the last season of THE TWILGHT ZONE on CBS. It won an Oscar in 1964 as Best Foreign Short Film. The story is a masterpiece of suspense - it's a great literary epitaph for Bierce.

Bierce served in the Civil War - he enlisted at its outset and saw quite a bit of action. He rose through the ranks to lieutenant and served on the staff of various high-ranking officers. It is his observations and experiences - and his empathy with the troops, the enlisted men, the common man - that lend such a value to his writings. Too much 'Hollywood-izing' has been forced upon the truth - about the Civil War and almost everything the film industry touches. It's a treasure to have the pieces here to vividly remind us of what the experience was really like.

There is humor here as well - Bierce's wit was an acerbic sword, and he unsheathed it on the high and low alike, without sparing himself in the process. His characterizations of the generals under whom he served, as well as the enlisted soldiers, the post-war opportunists, and the intellectual crowd with whom he mingled both in the US and abroad, are rich indeed.

The language is understandably a bit archaic in places - but I found myself getting used to it pretty quickly. As a result, the book took me a bit longer to read than the contemporary fiction I normally favor - but it was definitely worth the time. I can recommend this collection to aficionados of fiction and history buffs alike - a great read.

This is the first book where the reader is taken through Bierce's life in his own words. From his experiences in the Civil War until his mysterious disappearance into Mexico in 1913, "Sole Survivor" tells Bierce's tale through his stories, newspaper work, and personal correspondence. A must-have volume for anyone interested in the great American journalist and author.

What is remarkable in itself is a firsthand account of a famous American War, The Civil War, written by a legendary author. It is an old world, almost archaic, style of writing that was difficult for me to read, and to understand the underlying stories. At least one of Ambrose Bierce's classic writings, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek", was produced into a truly amazing Twilight Zone episode. I personally didn't enjoy the book that much, and I don't naturally gravitate to these subject matter type of books, but I bent old attitudes and habits of thinking by reading a page or two a day. I'm glad I bought it and read it.

You would never think of these stories as having been written in the 19th century, but they were. Ambrose Bierce was a Civil War veteran who seems almost to have tried to exorcise the horrors of the war he lived by writing about it. The result is gripping and utterly believable; the style is immediate, you-are-there, not-one-word-too-many. Not the flowery elaborate style you might have associated with Victorian prose.

The results convey the horrors of war as well as anything written in your lifetime. The story about the little boy who gets lost near his home when it is surrounded by a battle...I don't think I'll ever forget it. I won't spoil if for you but you've got to read it. If you think that 130+-year-old stories have nothing to say to you, give these a try, you will see otherwise.

Not to mention the Dover version is NOT EVEN TWO DOLLARS at the time of this writing. You spent more than the price of this book on your coffee this morning, I'll bet. What have you got to lose? Add it to a Supersaver order, there won't even be a shipping charge. Best pocket change you will ever have spent on a book.

Amrose Bierce's Civil War Stories is an excellent and unique book. No, it's not a narrative history like Shelby Foote's or Catton's books; no it's not a biography or autobiography; no, it's not a socio-economic discussion of the causes of the civil war; no, it's not a strategy and tactics book of a particular battle. This book is something altogether different and unique.

It starts with Ambrose Bierce. One, the guy can write, as he was an able journalist and satirist for many years. Two, the guy was there. And it is this combination that makes his stories unique.

Take "What I Saw Of Shiloh", for example. There are no discussions of tactics, no discussions of glory and honor. Only confusion and chaos, shivering wet and cold, unrelenting noise and fear, and gruesome death. Yet through all this, there is a satire and humor that will evoke a smirk from the astute reader.

Beginning in 1881 and continuing to 1906, Ambrose Bierce created a series of sardonic word definitions of his own. Many of these were collected and published as The Cynic's Word Book, which he later protested was "a name which the author had not the power to reject or happiness to approve." So in 1911, he pulled together a collection that was more to his own liking and called it The Devil's Dictionary. The entries are a tad uneven in quality, but most are amusing and some are great. Each reader will have his own favorites, some of mine are as follows : ACQUAINTANCE, n. A person whom we know well enough to borrow from, but not well enough to lend to. A degree of friendship called slight when its object is poor or obscure, and intimate when he is rich or famous. ALLIANCE, n. In international politics, the union of two thieves who have their hands so deeply inserted in each other's pockets that they cannot separately plunder a third. BIGOT, n. One who is obstinately and zealously attached to an opinion that you do not entertain. BORE, n. A person who talks when you wish him to listen. CONSULT, v.i. To seek another's disapproval of a course already decided on. CYNIC, n. A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be. Hence the custom among the Scythians of plucking out a cynic's eyes to improve his vision. DICTIONARY, n. A malevolent literary device for cramping the growth of a language and making it hard and inelastic. This dictionary, however, is a most useful work. DISCRIMINATE, v.i. To note the particulars in which one person or thing is, if possible, more objectionable than another. EDUCATION, n. That which discloses to the wise and disguises from the foolish their lack of understanding. FUTURE, n. That period of time in which our affairs prosper, our friends are true and our happiness is assured. HISTORY, n. An account mostly false, of events mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers mostly knaves, and soldiers mostly fools.... A member of a large and powerful tribe whose influence in human affairs has always been dominant and controlling... He has the last word in everything; his decision is unappealable. He sets the fashions and opinion of taste, dictates the limitations of speech and circumscribes conduct with a dead-line. POLITICS, n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage. And, my choice for the very best among them : CONSERVATIVE, n. A statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from the Liberal, who wishes to replace them with others. By all means, read it and pick out your own; you're sure to find a few that tickle your fancy. GRADE : A

I first acquired this book about five years ago, after reading Bierce's fictional works. I could not put it down. You don't read this book sequentially, but rather it is a book to leaf through, stopping where you find a word that interests you. With the format of a dictionary, Bierce sets up the look and feel of the official word, which is what we expect from a dictionary. Then, reading the definitions, you at first think, "Bierce is being a wise guy." But after a few more definitions, you realize that Bierce is actually delivering a concise treatise on Western Culture by giving you a shot-by-shot commentary, using as his basis the essential element of any society -- its language. Birece may not have realized it when he wrote the book, but The Devil's Dictionary aligns with some 21st-century literary experimentations with concise presentation, irony, and non-linear exploration. Even reading it non-linearly, however, you soon find you've read every entry in the book. Then, of course, you'll want to start again...

My favorites are the definitions pertaining to religion.

Ambrose Bierce was a man of many distinctions - writer, journalist, humorist, and Civil War veteran. We all remember reading his classic story "An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge" in eighth grade English class. Bierce is best known for his ghoulish horror tales, which were on a par with Edgar Allan Poe, but his greatest work was The Devil's Dictionary. A scathing parody of Webster's dictionary, Bierce's volume was a showcase for his brilliant, caustic wit. This is Bierce at his best, mixing comedy with social commentary, unleashing his anarchistic convictions to the hilt! Bierce blasts away at God and country and all that is respected and proper. He defines patriot as "the dupe of statesmen and the tool of conquerors", a Conservative as "a statesman who is enamored of existing evils" and a clergyman as "a man who undertakes the management of our spiritual affairs as a method of bettering his temporal ones" and so on. Nothing is sacred and no one is safe in this classic work of 19th century American literature which continues to attract just as much controversy and outrage today as it did when it was first published. A must read for all students of literature, dissenters, and fans of caustic humor!

This is a splendid selection of Bierce's work,and includes The Devil's Dictionary, Tales of Soldiers and Civilians, Can Such Things Be?, and other works of importance. It does desire to be the definitive selection, however, and therefore omits some extremely interesting criticism,journalism, some proto-Dada plays and political satires. These omissions all confirm Clifton Fadiman's genteel bias, evident in his Introduction. He characterizes Bierce as merely a cynic--as though that were not a tenable position--but in fact Bierce was a satirist of the first order. A true "cynic" would not bother to satirize anything at all. By all means read the Introduction, but try to imagine, as I do, separate afterlives for Bierce and Fadiman, the ones they deserve. Bierce is having a roaring good time in Hell, while Fadiman is serving herbal teas in dull Eternity.

These are about the only ghost stories that I like to read, and I usually like to think that I am a lot smarter than that. But I am inclined to think that some people were a lot better educated in the days of Ambrose Bierce, or he wouldn't have written his poem about "poor Salmasius" in THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY's definition of the word logomachy, a concept which is like psychoanalysis in its quest for effectiveness. What is absolutely lacking today is any evidence for the truth of the final line of that poem, "For reading Milton's wit we perish too." (p. 295) In these days, it is far more likely that the TV news and entertainment will be competing for most of the attention devoted to whoever is being more fatal.

These hard-hitting tales expose the human condition for what it is. They deserve much better than the incompetent criticism offered by Clifton Fadiman, whose preface is little more than a compilation of his own shortcomings.

I read this book when I was doing research about one of the taboos of warfare. That was the discussion of the Coup De Grace of a fellow soldier. During my research I found that virtually no one had ever written (either in books or screenplays) about this with the exception of Bierce. It is an interesting paradox to ask yourself whether you would have the capability to put a friend out of their misery rather than let them suffer if you knew that help was not available. In fact, Bierce's short story is entitled, "The Coup De Grace". You'll find it and 27 others in this volume. The most famous is, "An Occurrence At Owl Creek". A story that was made into a short film and was the Short Subject winner of the Cannes Film Festival in 1962, and earned an Academy Award in 1964 as best Foreign Film.

All of the stories you find in this book are told with the tight, economical style of Bierce and many have an O'Henry or Sterling twist at the end. They are told in the frank and bloody prose that Bierce witnessed (and physically experienced) first hand as an Officer in the Union Army. As one reads these stories you can clearly see the basis for Bierce's caustic and acidulous writing style that stayed with him throughout his life including as a columnist for William Randolph Hearst at the San Francisco Examiner and until he walked away into the Mexican desert in 1913. His demise is the source of great conjecture (as he would have wanted it) but that is for other books about the man and his writing.

Ambrose Bierce, a soldier in the Civil War, focused on the war in many of his short stories, which are truly phenominal. With the surreal and supernatural sensibilities of Poe and ironic endings worthy of O. Henry, Bierce deserves a place among our most treasured authors.