Awards

• Runner-up for IndieFab awards (Reference Boty) 2006
• Short-listed for Connecticut Book Awards (Nonfiction) 2007

Overview

Named the #2 reference book that is essential for a home library by Donald Altschiller, Wall Street Journal   Named a Best Book of 2006 by Amazon   “Shapiro does original research, earning his 1,067-page volume a place on the quotation shelf next to Bartlett's and Oxford's.”—William Safire, New York Times Magazine   “More comprehensive than any other quotation-reference work.”—Katie Hafner, BookForum   “Meticulously researched. . . . a quotations book with footnotes that are as fascinating to read as the quotes themselves.”—Arthur Spiegelman, Washington Post Book World   This reader-friendly volume contains more than 12,000 famous quotations, arranged alphabetically by author. It is unique in its focus on American quotations and its inclusion of items not only from literary and historical sources but also from popular culture, sports, computers, science, politics, law, and the social sciences. Anonymously authored items appear in sections devoted to folk songs, advertising slogans, television catchphrases, proverbs, and others. For each quotation, a source and first date of use is cited. In many cases, new research for this book has uncovered an earlier date or a different author than had previously been understood. (It was Beatrice Kaufman, not Sophie Tucker, who exclaimed, “I’ve been poor and I’ve been rich. Rich is better!” William Tecumseh Sherman wasn’t the originator of “War is hell!” It was Napoleon.) Numerous entries are enhanced with annotations to clarify meaning or context for the reader. These interesting annotations, along with extensive cross-references that identify related quotations and a large keyword index, will satisfy both the reader who seeks specific information and the curious browser who appreciates an amble through entertaining pages.  

Full Product Details

9780300107982

Table of Contents

Reviews

The Yale Book of Quotations, with Fred Shapiro's original research, will shock many of us out of our state of error. -William Safire, New York Times Magazine A splendid work of painstaking research and wide culture. -Joseph Epstein, from the Foreword

The Yale Book of Quotations, with Fred Shapiro's original research, will shock many of us out of our state of error. --William Safire, New York Times Magazine A splendid work of painstaking research and wide culture. --Joseph Epstein, from the Foreword

Meticulously researched. . . . To find out who said what and when they did it, Shapiro spent six years poring over hundreds and hundreds of databases, using advanced Internet searches as well as using the more old-fashioned methods of going through microfilms, dusty bookshelves and reading the 1,000 or so other quotation books that are out there to find out the truth. . . . The result . . . is a quotations book with footnotes that are as fascinating to read as the quotes themselves. -Arthur Spiegelman, Washington Post Book World [A] hotly awaited tome. -William Safire, New York Times The Yale Book of Quotations, handsomely printed, brings modern voices into the company of standbys like Shakespeare, Samuel Johnson and Mark Twain, who squeeze together and make room for B.B. King, Fran Lebowitz, and Stanislaw Jerzy Lec. -William Grimes, New York Times (The Gifts to Open Again and Again) . . . good-humoured and richly sourced. -Godfrey Smith, The Sunday Times A handsome volume of twelve thousand quotations, some more famous than others-is Bartlett's and Oxford corrected, amplified, amended, modernized and generally spiffed up. Not only is the The Yale Book of Quotations a more profoundly researched work than anything else to date, it is more comprehensive than any other quotation-reference work-the first, in fact, to emphasize modern and American sources and fully to represent popular culture, children's literature, sports, computers, politics, law, and the social sciences. -Katie Hafner, BookForum Named the #2 reference book that is essential for a home library by Donald Altschiller, Wall Street Journal This collection of 12,000 quotations is a real treat! The quotes range over literature, history, popular culture, sports, computers, science, politics, law, and the social sciences, and although American quotations are emphasized, the book's scope is global. The authors represented are as diverse as William Shakespeare, John Lennon, Jack Dempsey, both Presidents Bush, J.K. Rowling, Rita Mae Brown, Confucius, Warren Buffet, and Deng Xiaoping. . . . The scope and detail of research here is impressive, and the . . . typeface and layout make the work inviting. . . . Libraries will want to purchase a copy for reference and for circulation, even if they haven't been buying quotation books recently. Every library will want one for circulation because browsing it is such fun. -Library Journal . . . meticulously researched . . . -The Irish Times . . . a worthy competitor to the Oxford and to Bartlett. -Nigel Rees, Quote...Unquote Selected as a 2007 Outstanding book by AAUP University Press Books for Public and Secondary School Libraries Named a Best Book of 2006 by amazon.com Received Honorable Mention from the Professional and Scholarly Publishing Division of the Association of American Publishers (PSP/AAP) in the category of single-volume reference, humanities and social sciences Winner of the Bronze ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Award in Reference A finalist in the category of Nonfiction for the 2007 Connecticut Book Award, given by the Connecticut Center for the Book The Yale Book of Quotations, with Fred Shapiro's original research, will shock many of us out of our state of error. -William Safire, New York Times Magazine A splendid work of painstaking research and wide culture. -Joseph Epstein, from the Foreword A splendid work of painstaking research and wide culture. -Joseph Epstein, from the Foreword

Author Information

Fred R. Shapiro is associate librarian and lecturer in legal research at the Yale Law School. He is a well-known authority on quotations and the editor of The Oxford Dictionary of American Legal Quotations.  

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