This book was very interesting to say the least. It's simple plot and out come where not at all demening to the subject itself. The manner in which it protrayed human thought process was incredible. The main character was a clear example of all men, in there persuit of victory over reality. All in all this story was a great advancement in the history of literature.

It's easy to look back and view wars as things of glory - the history books tend to lead us in that direction by viewing the action from lofty heights, speaking in terms of armies and strategies and generals. The reality - as those who have 'been there' know too well (and no, I'm not claiming to be a veteran) - is that the old adage is all too true: war is definitely hell, and we should never, ever forget that fact.

Ambrose Bierce is known today mainly through his fiction - many fine examples of which appear in this collection - and through THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY. He 'might or might not' be the subject and/or inspiration for Carlos Fuentes' novel THE OLD GRINGO, also made into a film. His stories have a decidedly 'creepy' feel to them - he was no Edgar Allan Poe, perhaps, but he was a talented writer nonetheless...and as not only the short stories, but also the non-fiction pieces collected here demonstrate, he was a careful and articulate observer. We are truly blessed that he chose to recount what he had seen, both in the form of short stories and memoirs. His disappearance in 1914 in Mexico has added to his mystique over the ensuing years.

The most famous of the short stories contained in this volume is undoubtedly 'An occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge'. I remember reading it in high school (NO, I won't say how long ago that was...) - and it was filmed to great effect by director Roberto Enrico in 1962, and was subsequently aired in the US as an episode in the last season of THE TWILGHT ZONE on CBS. It won an Oscar in 1964 as Best Foreign Short Film. The story is a masterpiece of suspense - it's a great literary epitaph for Bierce.

Bierce served in the Civil War - he enlisted at its outset and saw quite a bit of action. He rose through the ranks to lieutenant and served on the staff of various high-ranking officers. It is his observations and experiences - and his empathy with the troops, the enlisted men, the common man - that lend such a value to his writings. Too much 'Hollywood-izing' has been forced upon the truth - about the Civil War and almost everything the film industry touches. It's a treasure to have the pieces here to vividly remind us of what the experience was really like.

There is humor here as well - Bierce's wit was an acerbic sword, and he unsheathed it on the high and low alike, without sparing himself in the process. His characterizations of the generals under whom he served, as well as the enlisted soldiers, the post-war opportunists, and the intellectual crowd with whom he mingled both in the US and abroad, are rich indeed.

The language is understandably a bit archaic in places - but I found myself getting used to it pretty quickly. As a result, the book took me a bit longer to read than the contemporary fiction I normally favor - but it was definitely worth the time. I can recommend this collection to aficionados of fiction and history buffs alike - a great read.

I bought this audio version of Bierce stories because it contained a few pieces I had not read. But since the AudioFile Magazine review above was not encouraging, I came within a whisker of passing it up. Luckily, I went ahead and got it. If you're a Bierce fan, you MUST have this. Forget what the fool above wrote. The narrator of these pieces is sensational. Every single story possesses that eeriness which is intrinsic to Bierce's material. How he accomplishes this through vocal range, characterization and music and sound effects has to be heard to be believed. Take my advice and get this volume, then go home, turn out the lights and listen to "The Moonlit Road." Brilliant.

This is the first book where the reader is taken through Bierce's life in his own words. From his experiences in the Civil War until his mysterious disappearance into Mexico in 1913, "Sole Survivor" tells Bierce's tale through his stories, newspaper work, and personal correspondence. A must-have volume for anyone interested in the great American journalist and author.

In The Weird Tale, Joshi analyses the work of half a dozen writers whose influence on the modern supernatural horror story is either incalculable (Lovecraft, James and possibly Bierce) or else not nearly large enough (Blackwood, Machen, Dunsany). Joshi's central theoretical tenet is that weird fiction is an inherently philosophical mode, since it offers writers the chance to remake the world according to their own rules. H P Lovecraft is the prime example, possessing a coherent and thoroughly worked out philosophy which colours and powers all his best work. Much the same applies to Blackwood, though his mystical and sometimes sentimental author's personality was the polar opposite of Lovecraft's. Similarly, Machen's mysticism (whenever he could keep off his Anglo-Catholic hobbyhorse for long enough), Bierce's misanthropy and Dunsany's unique and complex blend of anti-modernism and ultra-Olympian cynicism all provide Joshi with a lens through which to see their work in its most rewarding light. The only writer for whom Joshi displays little enthusiasm is M R James, primarily because his work never goes beyond the ghastly-revenant plot - however inventively James may manage it at times. Joshi is miraculously well-read, has a sharp eye for the best among frequently voluminous works, and is even honest enough to say when he's talking from prejudice rather than analysis. The Weird Tale brings genuine literary criticism to bear on a genre where literary and critical standards have been debased to a condition rather worse than that of science fiction, and is of vast help in pointing out the works to whose quality writers (and readers) of supernatural fiction could aspire.

1998 is the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Maine and the Spanish-American War, instigated, many still say, by William Randolph Hearst. "Yellow" (for yellow journalism) recounts the period leading to the Maine's sinking through the first-person fictional account of Ambrose Bierce, the legendary American artist and writer, as he traveled to Cuba on Hearst's payroll. Fascinating for fans of true Americana. Lynch is a gifted storyteller.

Beginning in 1881 and continuing to 1906, Ambrose Bierce created a series of sardonic word definitions of his own. Many of these were collected and published as The Cynic's Word Book, which he later protested was "a name which the author had not the power to reject or happiness to approve." So in 1911, he pulled together a collection that was more to his own liking and called it The Devil's Dictionary. The entries are a tad uneven in quality, but most are amusing and some are great. Each reader will have his own favorites, some of mine are as follows : ACQUAINTANCE, n. A person whom we know well enough to borrow from, but not well enough to lend to. A degree of friendship called slight when its object is poor or obscure, and intimate when he is rich or famous. ALLIANCE, n. In international politics, the union of two thieves who have their hands so deeply inserted in each other's pockets that they cannot separately plunder a third. BIGOT, n. One who is obstinately and zealously attached to an opinion that you do not entertain. BORE, n. A person who talks when you wish him to listen. CONSULT, v.i. To seek another's disapproval of a course already decided on. CYNIC, n. A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be. Hence the custom among the Scythians of plucking out a cynic's eyes to improve his vision. DICTIONARY, n. A malevolent literary device for cramping the growth of a language and making it hard and inelastic. This dictionary, however, is a most useful work. DISCRIMINATE, v.i. To note the particulars in which one person or thing is, if possible, more objectionable than another. EDUCATION, n. That which discloses to the wise and disguises from the foolish their lack of understanding. FUTURE, n. That period of time in which our affairs prosper, our friends are true and our happiness is assured. HISTORY, n. An account mostly false, of events mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers mostly knaves, and soldiers mostly fools.... A member of a large and powerful tribe whose influence in human affairs has always been dominant and controlling... He has the last word in everything; his decision is unappealable. He sets the fashions and opinion of taste, dictates the limitations of speech and circumscribes conduct with a dead-line. POLITICS, n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage. And, my choice for the very best among them : CONSERVATIVE, n. A statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from the Liberal, who wishes to replace them with others. By all means, read it and pick out your own; you're sure to find a few that tickle your fancy. GRADE : A

Ambrose Bierce is definitely the past master of the incredible. He has written fantastic stories that are still taught in the English classroom today such as his most famous work "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge". Bierce, however, takes a turn from storywriting to give us his cynical defintions to our everyday words that we use in our everyday language. His definitions are both hilarious and well done, and will keep any reader entertained. There are highly quotable lines in this book, such as his definition for abstainer - a weak person who yields to the temptation of denying himself a pleasure.
These definitions are priceless, and I would highly recommend any reader, whether a fan of Bierce or not, to give this book a try.

I first acquired this book about five years ago, after reading Bierce's fictional works. I could not put it down. You don't read this book sequentially, but rather it is a book to leaf through, stopping where you find a word that interests you. With the format of a dictionary, Bierce sets up the look and feel of the official word, which is what we expect from a dictionary. Then, reading the definitions, you at first think, "Bierce is being a wise guy." But after a few more definitions, you realize that Bierce is actually delivering a concise treatise on Western Culture by giving you a shot-by-shot commentary, using as his basis the essential element of any society -- its language. Birece may not have realized it when he wrote the book, but The Devil's Dictionary aligns with some 21st-century literary experimentations with concise presentation, irony, and non-linear exploration. Even reading it non-linearly, however, you soon find you've read every entry in the book. Then, of course, you'll want to start again...

My favorites are the definitions pertaining to religion.

This is a splendid selection of Bierce's work,and includes The Devil's Dictionary, Tales of Soldiers and Civilians, Can Such Things Be?, and other works of importance. It does desire to be the definitive selection, however, and therefore omits some extremely interesting criticism,journalism, some proto-Dada plays and political satires. These omissions all confirm Clifton Fadiman's genteel bias, evident in his Introduction. He characterizes Bierce as merely a cynic--as though that were not a tenable position--but in fact Bierce was a satirist of the first order. A true "cynic" would not bother to satirize anything at all. By all means read the Introduction, but try to imagine, as I do, separate afterlives for Bierce and Fadiman, the ones they deserve. Bierce is having a roaring good time in Hell, while Fadiman is serving herbal teas in dull Eternity.

These are about the only ghost stories that I like to read, and I usually like to think that I am a lot smarter than that. But I am inclined to think that some people were a lot better educated in the days of Ambrose Bierce, or he wouldn't have written his poem about "poor Salmasius" in THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY's definition of the word logomachy, a concept which is like psychoanalysis in its quest for effectiveness. What is absolutely lacking today is any evidence for the truth of the final line of that poem, "For reading Milton's wit we perish too." (p. 295) In these days, it is far more likely that the TV news and entertainment will be competing for most of the attention devoted to whoever is being more fatal.

These hard-hitting tales expose the human condition for what it is. They deserve much better than the incompetent criticism offered by Clifton Fadiman, whose preface is little more than a compilation of his own shortcomings.

Once again, Stephen Ambrose gives a realistic account of battle during WWII.

I became interested in this book after seeing the trailer for the HBO Miniseries of the same name. I bought the book and read it in a matter of days. The book chronicles "Easy Company" of the 101st Airborne division in WWII. They had some of the hardest assignments and among the highest rate of death in the Army during the war.

The book follows Easy company from their training to Hitler's Eagle's nest. Ambrose does a good job of describing the horrific events that the soldiers of Easy went through and how this formed a bond that made the a "Band of Brothers."

I liked the book. I would not run out and buy it, but if it is laying around I would pick it up. My major issue was with the emphasis on the Battle of the Bulge. A good portion of the book is devoted to The Bulge and it slows down the pace of reading. There are a lot of details that make for mundane reading.

Overall, Band of Brothers is a solid effort by Ambrose, but comes up a bit short.

Since reading Citizen Soldiers about a year ago, Stephen Ambrose has been one of my favorite military historians. Having read several different unit histories before, I found Band of Brothers a refreshing exception. Choosing more personal level instead of usual "platoon this did that while being supported by X squad" is an excellent way of telling about small unit actions. Ambrose follows 1944-1945 Screaming Eagles' European battles mainly through certain members of E company. He has chosen just the right level of telling their (E company's) story without writing too much about same person at a time or certain battle or other happening. While reading this book one finds out that these elite soldiers were just ordinary men with same problems all other people had at that time. This book isn't some serious tactical study but a true war story which has been told just like war stories should be told.

Apart from this book I also highly recommend Ambrose's Citizen Soldiers and D-Day for all those who are interested about US Army in western Europe during later part of WW2.

Band of Brothers, by Stephen Ambrose, is the story of E (Easy) Company of the 101st Airborne Division in World War II. It's a very personal account, as Ambrose conducted numerous interviews with the surviving members of the company and uses those interviews to imbue a sense of closeness to the action and the men who went into that action. It's a very effective book, though it does seem to be "history lite." I'm not really sure why, because Ambrose has obviously done a lot of research in producing this story. Perhaps it is because it's not a typical history book with documentation from all over the place. Instead, he seems to have used only a couple of sources besides the men of Easy themselves. Then again, is that a bad thing? Personally, I don't think so, at least not in this case. Ambrose is not attempting to write a history of World War II. He's writing the story of a group of men who formed relationships and bonds that would carry them through the rest of their lives.

I found this book fascinating. Most of the history books I have read have been very abstract, telling about the moving of units and what they did and how successful they were in battle. They always have some personal angles involved, either talking about letters written home, or some personal stories of valor. Ultimately, though, they are about the battles themselves. These books can be very interesting.

Band of Brothers tells us everything about a group of men and how they fought. We get to laugh with them, we get to see the horrors that they have seen. We also get to see the incompetence that sometimes becomes prevalent in wartime. Ambrose doesn't pull any punches, and neither do the men of Easy to whom he spoke. They are very outspoken about the people they didn't like. Not just people, but also nationalities. One thing to keep in mind when reading this book is that the only impression of nationalities that these men had were when they were going through territory, wondering whether or not they would be running into enemy fire at any time. Some people of these nationalities may take offense at some of the statements in this book. One fault with it is that Ambrose doesn't really make clear whether or not these feelings are just the feelings of the men at the time, or if these feelings have stayed with the men ever since.

The descriptions of the action are just incredible. Never before have I seen war from this perspective. While I have seen graphic descriptions of combat before, this story takes the reader to a much deeper level. We get to see the fear and the determination of these soldiers, the comradeship that forms among them. We get to see individual episodes of action in each battle, we see friends die, we see true heroism, and how situations can get messed up in an instant. We also get to see the foibles of the men, how some of them got drunk at every opportunity, how they dealt with war and what it did to them. It truly is remarkable.

One other thing that is missing in this book, to an extent, is a sense of context to these events. Ambrose does provide this occasionally, especially when talking about Market Garden and the plight of the British paratroopers in the city of Arnhem, but he's not always successful in doing this. I wasn't expecting long passages about what was going on elsewhere, but there are times in this book where the action seems very isolated from the war around the men. It's a very narrow view, and while it is understandable since this isn't a history of the war, it does make the actions of Easy seem a little removed.

There are few maps in the book, but they do the job. They are at the front of the book, and they consist of a map of northern France and England, a close-up map of Utah Beach (the beach behind which Easy dropped on D-Day), a close up view of Market Garden, and close-up view of Bastogne. They do the job, letting you follow a bit of the action. I don't know if it would have been possible, but it would have been nice to see some maps of the cities involved in the battles, so we could get a sense of what the men of Easy were doing in each battle. But again, that may not have been possible, so I won't hold it against Ambrose.

I really liked the chapter talking about the men after the war. I felt it really solidified the relationship that the reader has with these men. You have spent the rest of the book getting to know these men and seeing the horrors of war with them, and now you get to find out "the rest of the story." It adds the perfect climax to the book, and reinforces the feeling that this is a personal history of a group of men and not a history of warfare. Some of the fates are tragic, but most of them just got on with their lives. It was nice to see.

Ultimately, this is a very valuable book for anybody who likes reading about warfare. It adds a very personal touch to the whole thing. There aren't long descriptions of blood and guts, but you do see just enough to feel the tension along with these men. I feel like I know these men, and I'm proud to know them. They put their lives on the line for freedom, and they did it willingly and without question. They didn't like it, but they did it anyway. Seeing their story told in such a manner was a wonderful experience. So what if it's history lite? It's a valuable story and it's wonderfully told. That's all that matters.

I'll admit it, I'm a tech dork. I work for an Internet company and this book is perfect for tag and signature lines for email. Although on a more serious note the definitions found here are not the dictionary definitions but the definitions that modern day society has reflected upon them. While a word, item, or identification for something may mean one thing in the dicitonary we tend to stereotype or re-clasify it in our times as something completly different. Read the exerpts for some good examples. Whil the book was compiled of pieces written back in the turn of the 20th centurey a lot of the sarcastic or sardonic definitions still hold true. Definatly an interseting book.

Ambrose Bierce, in this hilarious book, satirizes all aspects of human behavior. This lexicon that he has created provides often true insight in to the tacit meanings of otherwise benign words. For example, PRAY, v. To ask that the laws of the universe be annulled in behalf of a single petitioner confessedly unworthy. This book is a must-get.