{"product_id":"unabridged-the-thrill-of-and-threat-to-the-modern-dictionary","title":"Unabridged: The Thrill of (and Threat To) the Modern Dictionary","description":"\n\u003ctable align=\"center\" border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"2\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\"\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd class=\"productDetailSmallElements\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBrief Description\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"From the author of the New York Times bestseller Word Freak, a vibrant, lively, and illuminating journey through the exotic world of Merriam-Webster, dictionaries, and language, at a time of rapid-fire change in the way we create, consume, define, and use words. Words are the currency of culture - and never more than today. From selfie to doomscrolling to rizz, our hyper-connected digital world coins and spreads new words with lightning speed and locks them into mainstream consciousness with unprecedented influence. Journalist and bestselling author Stefan Fatsis embedded as a lexicographer-in-training at America's most famous dictionary publisher, Merriam-Webster, to learn how words get into the dictionary, where they come from, who decides what they mean, and how we write and think about them. In so doing, as he recounts in Unabridged, he discovered the history and fascinating subculture of the dictionary and of those who curate and revere \"one of the most basic features of our collective humanity.\" Fatsis reveals the little-known story of how the brothers George and Charles Merriam acquired Noah Webster's original American dictionary and reshaped the business of language forever. Merriam-Webster became America's most successful and enduring compendium of words, withstanding intense competition and cultural controversies - only to be threatened by the power of Google and artificial intelligence today. Delving into Merriam's legendary archives and parsing its arcane rules, Fatsis learns the painstaking precision required for writing good definitions. He examines how the dictionary has handled the most explosive slurs and the revolutionary change in pronouns. He votes on the annual Word of the Year, travels to the legendary Oxford English Dictionary, and visits the world's greatest private dictionary collection in a Greenwich Village apartment stuffed with more than 20,000 books. Fatsis demonstrates how words are weaponized in our polarized political culture-from liberal to woke to DEI-and, in a time of insurrections and pandemics, how they can be a literal matter of life and death. Along the way, he manages to write a few definitions that crack the code and are enshrined in the pixelated dictionary. \"I fell in love with the dictionary on my eleventh birthday,\" Fatsis writes about the full-color college lexicon he received on that day. \"The dictionary projects permanence, but the language is Jell-O, slippery and mutable and forever collapsing on itself.\" Unabridged takes readers to the heart of an industry in flux, celebrating as it does the sheer thrill and wonder of words\"--\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBrief Description\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"From the author of the New York Times bestseller Word Freak, a vibrant, lively, and illuminating journey through the exotic world of Merriam-Webster, dictionaries, and language, at a time of rapid-fire change in the way we create, consume, define, and use words. Words are the currency of culture - and never more than today. From selfie to doomscrolling to rizz, our hyper-connected digital world coins and spreads new words with lightning speed and locks them into mainstream consciousness with unprecedented influence. Journalist and bestselling author Stefan Fatsis embedded as a lexicographer-in-training at America's most famous dictionary publisher, Merriam-Webster, to learn how words get into the dictionary, where they come from, who decides what they mean, and how we write and think about them. In so doing, as he recounts in Unabridged, he discovered the history and fascinating subculture of the dictionary and of those who curate and revere \"one of the most basic features of our collective humanity.\" Fatsis reveals the little-known story of how the brothers George and Charles Merriam acquired Noah Webster's original American dictionary and reshaped the business of language forever. Merriam-Webster became America's most successful and enduring compendium of words, withstanding intense competition and cultural controversies - only to be threatened by the power of Google and artificial intelligence today. Delving into Merriam's legendary archives and parsing its arcane rules, Fatsis learns the painstaking precision required for writing good definitions. He examines how the dictionary has handled the most explosive slurs and the revolutionary change in pronouns. He votes on the annual Word of the Year, travels to the legendary Oxford English Dictionary, and visits the world's greatest private dictionary collection in a Greenwich Village apartment stuffed with more than 20,000 books. Fatsis demonstrates how words are weaponized in our polarized political culture-from liberal to woke to DEI-and, in a time of insurrections and pandemics, how they can be a literal matter of life and death. Along the way, he manages to write a few definitions that crack the code and are enshrined in the pixelated dictionary. \"I fell in love with the dictionary on my eleventh birthday,\" Fatsis writes about the full-color college lexicon he received on that day. \"The dictionary projects permanence, but the language is Jell-O, slippery and mutable and forever collapsing on itself.\" Unabridged takes readers to the heart of an industry in flux, celebrating as it does the sheer thrill and wonder of words\"-- Provided by publisher.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBiographical Note\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eStefan Fatsis \u003c\/b\u003eis the author of the \u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e bestseller \u003cem\u003eWord Freak\u003c\/em\u003e, about the world of competitive Scrabble; \u003cem\u003eA Few Seconds of Panic\u003c\/em\u003e, about life in the National Football League; and \u003cem\u003eWild and Outside\u003c\/em\u003e, about minor league baseball. In four decades as a journalist, Fatsis has written and talked for Slate, the\u003cem\u003e Wall Street Journal\u003c\/em\u003e, NPR, the \u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eSports Illustrated\u003c\/em\u003e, and many other outlets. He lives in Washington, D.C.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003eUnabridged\u003c\/i\u003e: \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFinalist for the\u003ci\u003e Los Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e Book Prize\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eOne of \u003ci\u003eSmithsonian's \u003c\/i\u003e10 Best History Books of 2025\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eWashington Independent Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e Best Book of 2025\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn Amazon Editors' Choice Best History Book of October\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eLiterary Hub\u003c\/i\u003e Most Anticipated Book of 2025\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"With some envy, I report that the journalist Stefan Fatsis has written actual definitions for more than a dozen words in the Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary . . . Fatsis provides an excellent primer on Merriam-Webster's role in the culture wars, with thorough accounts of the dictionary's approach to the N-word, the F-word, \"Covid-19\" and \"woke\" . . . Fatsis' history is charmingly told . . . Its best passages deal with Merriam office life: a debate over the coarser meaning of Dutch oven or a wistful potluck lunch for a retiring colleague. At times, it felt like a Frederick Wiseman documentary about the last days of lexicography, and I wanted more.'\"--\u003cb\u003eDan Piepenbring, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"A warm, personal paean to Merriam-Webster and its staffers . . . The real pleasure of \u003ci\u003eUnabridged\u003c\/i\u003e lies in its descriptions of the scrupulous deliberations of Merriam's lexicographers as they weigh the sense of words, waiting patiently -- sometimes for years -- to see whether a neologism is a flash-in-the-pan or something that will endure . . . Fatsis conveys clearly just what a slow, ethical process this editing work is -- not reactive, partisan or, perish the thought, programmatic.\"--\u003cb\u003eDennis Duncan, \u003ci\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Abounds with curious particulars and zesty turns of phrase . . . For Mr. Fatsis, the dictionary is an item 'as ubiquitous as a spatula' and as likely to be gathering dust but, in his experience, both deeply serious in purpose and endlessly diverting.\"--\u003cb\u003eHenry Hitchings, \u003ci\u003eWall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Fatsis' capacious, and at times score-settling, personal history of the reference book reveals what the dictionary can still tell us about language in modern life . . . Fatsis' most compelling writing involves his work digging into history.\"--\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Nation\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"\u003c\/i\u003eA charming celebration of lexicography, paying tribute to dictionaries and their creators even as the author acknowledges that the rapid pace of the internet threatens to render storied publishers like the Oxford English Dictionary obsolete.\"--\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Smithsonian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"This book is juicy. It's just great. Much more dynamic and animated than I thought a book about dictionaries would be.\"--\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNobody Listens to Paula Poundstone\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Perfect for word nerds . . . [A] lively history of dictionaries that also looks at how they reflect and ratify changes in our language.\"--\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eMinnesota Star Tribune\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"For this spirited examination of the state of language, Fatsis embedded at Merriam-Webster, seeing firsthand how the vernacular sausage is made. Just who gets to decide when \"doomscrolling\" and \"rizz\" make the cultural cut, or how to treat questions of pronoun usage and politically fraught verbiage? The questions are thornier--and older--than you may have guessed.\"--\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Stefan's book is about the dictionary, obviously. But it's also about this fascinating history over how people have tried to define American English.\"--\u003cb\u003eGene Demby, NPR CodeSwitch\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"[Fatsis] once again combines his penchant for indefatigable research with an approachable style, making each chapter relatable and thought-provoking.\"--\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBookreporter\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Print may going out of style, but sometimes a lexicographer's work can still be a matter of life and death . . . Between a robust history lesson on American dictionaries and exploration of how the Internet and A.I. have changed the field, Fatsis brings his setting and coworkers to life on the page . . . \u003ci\u003eUnabridged \u003c\/i\u003ereveals how we've grappled with a shared language, with the public good versus profit, and, above all else, the personal fascinations that make us who we are.\"--\u003cb\u003eSophia Lee, \u003ci\u003eCultured Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"An exceptional, seminal and groundbreaking study, \u003ci\u003eUnabridged: The Thrill of (and Threat to) the Modern Dictionary\u003c\/i\u003e by Stefan Fatsis is fascinating, informative, original, and thoroughly 'reader friendly' . . . takes readers to the heart of an industry in flux, celebrating as it does the sheer thrill and wonder of words . . . truly exceptional and unreservedly recommended.\"--\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMidwest Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Exhaustively researched, highly entertaining, and often hilarious . . . The book's format nicely reflects its content with each chapter consisting of a word or term accompanied by its relevant definition . . . All in all, \u003ci\u003eUnabridged\u003c\/i\u003e is bound to make you a more thoughtful writer and a better Scrabble player.\"--\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWashington Independent Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"A love letter to language . . . Lively, well-researched, and often entertaining, Unabridged is an essential resource for anyone interested in understanding how language evolves. Stefan Fatsis's erudite, fascinating fourth book is an entertaining deep dive into the history of dictionaries and how language continues to evolve in the 21st century.\"--\u003cb\u003eShelf Awareness\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Capacious and revealing, this is a logophile's dream.\"--\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e, starred review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Word lovers everywhere will appreciate this book\"--\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"A romp in the land of lexicography . . . An entertaining, instructive look into how words make their way into the dictionary.\"--\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"A funny, inquisitive romp through the past, present, and future of lexicography. \u003ci\u003eUnabridged\u003c\/i\u003e makes the work of dictionary-making . . . feel vital and exciting.\"--\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"If you love language, you'll find yourself thoroughly delighted by \u003ci\u003eUnabridged\u003c\/i\u003e. It's smart and funny--Fatsis, a wonderful writer, is a perfect guide into the weird, fascinating, and urgent world of words.\"--\u003cb\u003eSusan Orlean, national bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eJoyride\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Library Book\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Word nerds, rejoice! With this deep dive into the dictionary, Stefan Fatsis takes readers on an extraordinary, eye-opening journey. The writing in these pages is beautiful, the research impeccable, and the joy of discovery contagious. I loved every word of this book.\"--\u003cb\u003eJonathan Eig, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for\u003ci\u003e King: A Life\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"An erudite, charming, positively rollicking account of American lexicography. Fatsis reveals, in loving detail, the process by which our language is categorized, codified, and of course defined, word by word by word. I'd say that the chapters on slurs and pronouns are particularly eye-opening and illuminating--because they are!--but the entire book is as revelatory as it is joyful.\"--\u003cb\u003eBenjamin Dreyer, author of the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestseller \u003ci\u003eDreyer's English\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eUnabridged\u003c\/i\u003e is unputdownable. Is that in Merriam-Webster? I'm not going to check.\"--\u003cb\u003eKen Jennings, host of Jeopardy! and author of \u003ci\u003eBrainiac\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"The author of the essential paean to competitive Scrabble now brings us another close-up look at words and the people who are obsessed with them. \u003ci\u003eUnabridged \u003c\/i\u003eis a fascinating and eloquent dive into Merriam-Webster and the world of dictionaries that is-- by definition--another essential read.\"--\u003cb\u003eMeg Wolitzer, \u003ci\u003e New York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestselling author of\u003ci\u003e The Interestings\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Female Persuasion\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"A vivid and uncannily accurate picture of what it's like to produce dictionaries--and a poignant tale of a rarefied and idealistic world that's rapidly vanishing. I read it in one gulp, which left me with an \u003ci\u003eUnabridged\u003c\/i\u003e-sized lump in my throat.\"--\u003cb\u003eJesse Sheidlower, former editor at large, \u003ci\u003eOxford English Dictionary\u003c\/i\u003e and author of \u003ci\u003eThe F-Word\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eUnabridged\u003c\/i\u003e is a whip-smart, entertaining, and thoughtful chronicle of the prospects for dictionaries at a time when Google--or, even more so, AI--might seem to be poised to take over all their functions.\"--\u003cb\u003eBen Yagoda, author of Gobsmacked! The British Invasion of American English\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"A captivating look at the inner life of dictionaries. For anyone who's ever had a favorite word.\"--\u003cb\u003eMignon Fogarty, host of the Grammar Girl podcast\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Stefan Fatsis has written the book I have wanted to read for years: the untold story of the American Language and how it has been curated and developed by the editors at Merriam-Webster. But into this fascinating narrative Fatsis himself becomes part of the story as a rookie lexicographer working his way into the system, giving this book an extra dimension, charm, and wit. You find yourself cheering for Fatsis to score a definition like a Little League parent pulling for their kid.\"--\u003cb\u003ePaul Dickson, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Dickson Baseball Dictionary \u003c\/i\u003eand\u003ci\u003e G.I. Jive: A Dictionary of Words at War\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Right from the opening pages of \u003ci\u003eUnabridged\u003c\/i\u003e, you know you're in the hands of an author who's having an absolute blast discovering the story that unfolds before you. Read on and Fatsis's joy will quickly become your own.\"--\u003cb\u003eDrew Magary, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Hike \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Postmortal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"People have to decide what 'gets into the dictionary.' This witty book gives us a look into the Rooms Where It Happens.\"--\u003cb\u003eJohn McWhorter, author of \u003ci\u003eNine Nasty Words \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003ePronoun Trouble\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for Stefan Fatsis: \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"An engrossing, inside look at the strange and rarefied world of competitive Scrabble. It's a pleasure to experience vicariously a level of play that I'll never achieve!\"--\u003cb\u003eWill Shortz, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e crossword editor, on \u003ci\u003eWord Freak\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"[Fatsis] writes with affectionate zeal about the game and the fraternity of brilliant, lonely, and otherwise dysfunctional oddballs it attracts.\"--\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, on \u003ci\u003eWord Freak\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eWord Freak\u003c\/i\u003e has an impassioned subtitle, and it lives up to every word.\"--\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePeople\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Fatsis is a wonderful writer.\"--\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e, on \u003ci\u003eWord Freak\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"A can't-put-it-down narrative that dances between memoir and reportage.\" --\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e, on \u003ci\u003eWord Freak\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Funny, thoughtful, character-rich, unchallengeably winning writing.\"--\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eAtlantic Monthly\u003c\/i\u003e, on \u003ci\u003eWord Freak\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Fatsis brings drama and suspense to the game . . . His crisp reporting is enough to make the reader hyperventilate.\"--\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eAtlanta Journal-Constitution\u003c\/i\u003e, on \u003ci\u003eWord Freak\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Marvelously absorbing . . . A walk on the wild side of words and ventures into the zone where language and mathematics intersect . . . Fatsis clearly doesn't regard Scrabble as just 'a board game, ' and he tells us its history in loving detail.\"--\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSan Jose Mercury News\u003c\/i\u003e, on \u003ci\u003eWord Freak\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"An insightful and . . . amusing look at the inner workings of pro football.\"--\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, on \u003ci\u003eA Few Seconds of Panic\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"[Fatsis's] sharp eye for detail and genuine empathy for his teammates make \u003ci\u003eA Few Seconds of Panic\u003c\/i\u003e exceptional.\"--\u003cb\u003eBob Costas\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Fatsis deftly explores how business permeates every aspect of the NFL . . . [He] is able to penetrate the players' psyches in a way that few sportswriters have.\"--\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e, on \u003ci\u003eA Few Seconds of Panic\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"What [Fatsis] has pulled off with his modern twist on Plimpton's 1966 classic, \u003ci\u003ePaper Lion\u003c\/i\u003e, is remarkable . . . An unflinching look behind the curtain at America's most popular professional sport and the men who play it.\"--\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMinneapolis Star-Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e, on \u003ci\u003eA Few Seconds of Panic\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"I've been spending some time with this book and it is *such* a delight, I can see it being a huge hit not only for me personally but for our voracious bibliophiles and readers-of-everything. It's got a long, gorgeous life on the permanent shelf ahead of it. What a joy! Thank you so much for sharing it and I hope its onramp to selling-in is fruitful and exciting, as it should be. And I love the cover!\"--\u003cb\u003eCamden Avery, The Booksmith, San Francisco, CA\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"I really loved it. Laughed out loud so many times. Learned a lot. My new favorite word\/concept is \u003ci\u003eammosexual!\u003c\/i\u003e Talk about a bloodline into toxic masculinity (or ze-anger)-\u003cb\u003e-now I don't know what the hell to call anyone.\u003c\/b\u003e I loved the reportage\/journaling aspect. I felt like I was on a journey of discovery that--because of the humor and his politics--kept me engaged. My favorite chapter was \"Slur.\" Utterly fascinating and hopeful, meaning: the participation of people through response and censure of definitions was illuminating to me. My favorite line is on page 210: \"While dictionaries are in the business of validating words, not social change, sometimes the act of validating words validates change, too.\" Fatsis proves this to be more than occasional through his running game of comparing Merriam to the OED, etc. Who accepts what words and when.\"--\u003cb\u003eLucy Kogler, Talking Leaves, Buffalo, N.Y.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"A fascinating and informative look at the history of the dictionary. Fatsis artfully details the evolution of the modern dictionary from Webster's first to today's digital age. By turns serious and amusing, the reader gets an on-the-ground view of the state of the profession as the author embeds himself at the company that continues to be the gatekeeper of our language. Perfect for wordsmiths and the curious alike, \u003ci\u003eUnabridged\u003c\/i\u003e is sure to make you think of this most necessary part of our lives in a whole new light.\"--\u003cb\u003eCody Morrison, Square Books, Oxford, MS\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Lexicographers will devour this encyclopedic and exhaustive tour through the study, research, and record-keeping involved in dictionary compilation. Fatsis gives us just enough of his own story to frame the immense amount of information included in this volume. I loved learning the origins of so many words and the reasons behind how American language has evolved. Readers who can engage in debating semantics and grammatical intricacies will get the most fun with this, while those of us meekly pausing to look up \"gerund\" find a lot to like about this book. I can see parts of this book in the \u003ci\u003eNew Yorker \u003c\/i\u003ealready!\"--\u003cb\u003eKathleen Johnson, Prairie Lights Books, Iowa City, IA\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"I liked the writing style...witty, jocular and conversational. I felt I was being drawn into a conversation rather than lectured. I also appreciated the number of definitions supplied either in the text or in footnotes. Instead of having to stop and look up definitions or, worse, simply continuing to read without knowing a given word's meaning, I felt I was learning as I went. It is a book about words to be sure but it is more broadly about the history of words. Words are not static with meanings fixed at some point in time. How words enter, leave, or change in usage is another important theme. In sum, the idea of a dictionary, indeed the need for dictionaries, as a compendium of a language's, and by extension, a culture's, basic elements, words, seems, at first glance, to be universal. But the devil is in the details. And it is those details that make the book thought provoking and provocative.\"\u003cb\u003e--Jon Grand, The Book Stall, Winnetka, IL\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher Marketing\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNamed a Best Book of 2025 by \u003ci\u003eSmithsonian\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eWashington Independent Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"[A] spirited examination of the state of language.\"--\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom the author of the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestseller \u003ci\u003eWord Freak\u003c\/i\u003e, a vibrant, lively, and illuminating journey through the exotic world of Merriam-Webster, dictionaries, and language, at a time of rapid-fire change in the way we create, consume, define, and use words\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWords are the currency of culture--and never more than today. From \u003ci\u003eselfie \u003c\/i\u003eto \u003ci\u003edoomscrolling \u003c\/i\u003eto \u003ci\u003erizz\u003c\/i\u003e, our hyper-connected digital world coins and spreads new words with lightning speed and locks them into mainstream consciousness with unprecedented influence. Journalist and bestselling author Stefan Fatsis embedded as a lexicographer-in-training at America's most famous dictionary publisher, Merriam-Webster, to learn how words get into the dictionary, where they come from, who decides what they mean, and how we write and think about them. As he recounts in \u003ci\u003eUnabridged\u003c\/i\u003e, he discovered the history and fascinating subculture of the dictionary and of those who curate and revere \"one of the most basic features of our collective humanity.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFatsis reveals the little-known story of how the brothers George and Charles Merriam acquired Noah Webster's original American dictionary and reshaped the business of language forever. Merriam-Webster became America's most successful and enduring compendium of words, withstanding intense competition and cultural controversies--only to be threatened by the power of Google and artificial intelligence today.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDelving into Merriam's legendary archives and parsing its arcane rules, Fatsis learns the painstaking precision required for writing good definitions. He examines how the dictionary has handled the most explosive slurs and the revolutionary change in pronouns. He votes on the annual Word of the Year, travels to the legendary Oxford English Dictionary, and visits the world's greatest private dictionary collection in a Greenwich Village apartment stuffed with more than 20,000 books. Fatsis demonstrates how words are weaponized in our polarized political culture--from \u003ci\u003eliberal \u003c\/i\u003eto \u003ci\u003ewoke \u003c\/i\u003eto \u003ci\u003eDEI\u003c\/i\u003e--and, in a time of insurrections and pandemics, how they can be a literal matter of life and death. Along the way, he manages to write a few definitions that crack the code and are enshrined in the pixelated dictionary.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"I fell in love with the dictionary on my eleventh birthday,\" Fatsis writes about the full-color college lexicon he received on that day. \"The dictionary projects permanence, but the language is Jell-O, slippery and mutable and forever collapsing on itself.\" \u003ci\u003eUnabridged \u003c\/i\u003etakes readers to the heart of an industry in flux, celebrating as it does the sheer thrill and wonder of words.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations:\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/span\u003e 08\/01\/2025 (EAN 9780802165824, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/span\u003e 08\/01\/2025 pg. 95 (EAN 9780802165824, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/span\u003e 08\/25\/2025 (EAN 9780802165824, Hardcover) - *Starred Review\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eBooklist\u003c\/span\u003e 09\/01\/2025 (EAN 9780802165824, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eShelf Awareness\u003c\/span\u003e 10\/11\/2025 (EAN 9780802165824, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n","brand":"Atlantic Monthly Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51496149254422,"sku":"9780802165824","price":36.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0857\/9910\/8886\/files\/9780802165824.jpg?v=1783054059","url":"https:\/\/lusper.myshopify.com\/products\/unabridged-the-thrill-of-and-threat-to-the-modern-dictionary","provider":"Lusperbooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}