A veteran of the American Civil War who fought at Shiloh and Chickamauga in the Union ranks, Bierce became one of America's best-known writers and journalists, admired for his insolent, entertaining and sometimes courageous columns. In 1913 he set off for Mexico, then in the throes of revolution, and was never seen again. Ralph Steadman is the author of many illustrated books including Sigmund Freud, I Leonardo, The Big I Am, The Scar-Strangled Banner, Alice and Animal Farm. His most recent publication is the novel, Doodaaa.

'The corrosive insights of Ambrose Bierce seem as bitter and fresh as ever. He handles words with delicious precision' Daily Telegraph 'If one book should be issued to every child at birth, this is it What is extraordinary about Bierce's waspish definitions is how accurate they seem, more than a century after he wrote them This edition is exuberantly illustrated by Ralph Steadman Everyone should buy this, and learn from it' Time Out 'A superb book. Steadman has always been one of my heroes' Raymond Briggs 'An American classic, some of its charming (and cynical) definitions are uncannily appropriate to our own day and would make it, I fancy, an ideal Christmas stocking present' Antonia Fraser, Books of the Year, Sunday Telegraph

A veteran of the American Civil War who fought at Shiloh and Chickamauga in the Union ranks, Bierce became one of America's best-known writers and journalists, admired for his insolent, entertaining and sometimes courageous columns. In 1913 he set off for Mexico, then in the throes of revolution, and was never seen again. Ralph Steadman is the author of many illustrated books including Sigmund Freud, I Leonardo, The Big I Am, The Scar-Strangled Banner, Alice and Animal Farm. His most recent publication is the novel, Doodaaa.

'The corrosive insights of Ambrose Bierce seem as bitter and fresh as ever. He handles words with delicious precision' Daily Telegraph 'If one book should be issued to every child at birth, this is it What is extraordinary about Bierce's waspish definitions is how accurate they seem, more than a century after he wrote them This edition is exuberantly illustrated by Ralph Steadman Everyone should buy this, and learn from it' Time Out 'A superb book. Steadman has always been one of my heroes' Raymond Briggs 'An American classic, some of its charming (and cynical) definitions are uncannily appropriate to our own day and would make it, I fancy, an ideal Christmas stocking present' Antonia Fraser, Books of the Year, Sunday Telegraph

A veteran of the American Civil War who fought at Shiloh and Chickamauga in the Union ranks, Bierce became one of America's best-known writers and journalists, admired for his insolent, entertaining and sometimes courageous columns. In 1913 he set off for Mexico, then in the throes of revolution, and was never seen again. Ralph Steadman is the author of many illustrated books including Sigmund Freud, I Leonardo, The Big I Am, The Scar-Strangled Banner, Alice and Animal Farm. His most recent publication is the novel, Doodaaa.

'The corrosive insights of Ambrose Bierce seem as bitter and fresh as ever. He handles words with delicious precision' Daily Telegraph 'If one book should be issued to every child at birth, this is it What is extraordinary about Bierce's waspish definitions is how accurate they seem, more than a century after he wrote them This edition is exuberantly illustrated by Ralph Steadman Everyone should buy this, and learn from it' Time Out 'A superb book. Steadman has always been one of my heroes' Raymond Briggs 'An American classic, some of its charming (and cynical) definitions are uncannily appropriate to our own day and would make it, I fancy, an ideal Christmas stocking present' Antonia Fraser, Books of the Year, Sunday Telegraph