The Devil’s Dictionary

Ambrose Bierce was an American writer and journalist.  Bierce was born to a large family of 13 children in Ohio.  Even though the family was poor, Bierce’s parents had an appreciation of reading and writing that was passed onto him at a young age.  At just 15 years old, Bierce left home to become a writer at a small Ohio newspaper.

Bierce fought in the Civil War including the battle of Shiloh which he wrote about in his famous memoir “What I saw of Shiloh”.  After sustaining a serious head wound near the end of the war, Bierce was discharged in January 1865 and would suffer from complications for the rest of his life.  Bierce would spend the next few years as an editor of a San Francisco newspaper before moving to England and contributing to a magazine from 1872 to 1875.  Bierce moved back to San Francisco and resumed working as a journalist.

Bierce was known as a harsh critic which earned him the nickname “Bitter Bierce”.  Bierce’s most famous works were The Devil’s Dictionary and the short story An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.  In 1913 at the age of 71, Bierce traveled with Mexican rebel troops who were fighting in the Mexican Revolution.  Bierce was last seen on December 26, 1913 before disappearing without a trace.

This edition of The Devil’s Dictionary includes a Table of Contents and images of Bierce and his life.