The New Penguin Dictionary of Modern Quotations Book

This book rounds out the usual limited service provided by quotations dictionaries in a fascinating way. Skilfully written thumbnail biographies of the quotations' authors and incisive, brief annotations to the quotes themselves fill in a world of background and link the actual quotations to their contexts in illuminating ways. Take Barbara Cartland's "micro-biography" as a sample: "Hailed 'the queen of romantic fiction' she sold over 650 million copies of her 623 books, whose titles enabled her to claim the longest entry in Who's Who. She was famous for her pink chiffon and extravagant false eyelashes, and was portrayed by the wit Arthur Marshall as 'a tireless purveyor of romance and now a gleaming telly-figure with a Niagara of jabber.'". Neville Chamberlain is introduced to those of us for whom the origins of the Second World War are a little misty, and his famous "peace in our time" quote is given its even more damning context--he claimed to be bringing back to "Downing Street peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time ... go home and sleep quietly in your beds." You can't have everything--Cartland's entry misses her famous comment to an interviewer who asked her if the English class system had gone--"Of course, or I wouldn't be talking to someone like you." Chesterton's entry manages to avoid any of the paradoxical utterances for which he is famous, or indeed any on the religious topics he wrote so much about. But these are quibbles. This book is not just a collection of quotations, it's a wonderful companion to the 20th century.--If you like that aspect of it, Brewer's Dictionary of Modern Phrase and Fable makes a fine companion volume. If you just enjoy the quotations for their own sake, the book is full of treasures, and there are even indexes by keyword and theme at the back if you can't find a quote you want by author. It even manages to disprove its own contents here and there--Churchill may have said that "It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations" but the most over-educated could still find interest and amusement here. --David PickeringRead More