Customer Reviews

Safire's Political Dictionary

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You will love this whopper of a book - all 896pp! William Safire belongs to the delightfully patrician generation of political insiders alongside the likes of radio columnist Alistair Cooke Alistair Cooke's America and Ted Sorenson, speechwriter and adviser to JFK. Safire, who has contributed his own fair share of speeches on the Republican side, (it was he who added alliterative relief to Spiro Agnew's barren verbal landscape through phrases such as "nattering nabobs of negativism") has a keen ear for political language and he rises above partisanship simply because he is fascinated by the provenance and meaning of political language. As he points out, a political dictionary is fascinating because the language has been chosen to either inspire or inflame - it is rich, sometimes explosive emotive fuel.

- This very complete dictionary, fully updated, provides a rich journey and explains where so many of our commonly used and extremely colorful phrases really come from.
- It is comprehensive: reaching back to historic phrases, that go back beyond the original era of pork-barrel politics, and coming right up to the present to include the words of McCain, Clinton and Obama.
- It highlights the hidden agendas behind the language we hear: the phrases designed to make headlines, the sayings that are used to bring a folksiness to our sometimes aloof politicians.
- The dictionary does this with real panache. Safire is part wit, part journalist and part investigator - and he makes great company for the reader. It is a treat to dip into.

And yes, it is election year, so a tour of duty through Safire's fascinating lexical battleground will leave you ready for the speeches to come: your BS detectors set on full alert, your sense of irony and history sharpened. What an excellent book.

Perfect for students of political studies. Ideal for journalists. Essential for voters of all stripes. Democracy may be messy sometimes, but as this book shows - the language of politics is always darned colorful.

What is the significance of a president's 'First Hundred Days'? What is a 'spoiler,' and is it good or bad? And what the heck was a mugwump, anyway?

Whether you're deciphering an archaic term from the first days of the Republic or reading today's headlines, Safire's dictionary is a valuable and entertaining resource. You'll be tempted, as I was, to read it through from A to Z like a novel. Even everyday words and phrases like 'perks,' gridlock,' and 'rhetoric' have interesting derivations, while obscurities like 'thumbsucker,' 'magnet issue,' and 'break all the china' illustrate the surprising (to anyone stuck watching TV news) richness of the American political landscape.

While this is a handy book to have around when you forget what "New Federalism" means, it's also much more than that. I read a portion of The Political Dictionary each day, and so you could say that this book functioned as an "intellectual devotional."

This edition of the Dictionary is fascinating, funny, and impressively up-to-date, with references to both McCain and Obama. (No "hockey moms," however.)

Speaking of presidential candidates, I want to emphasize that Safire has done a very good job of officiating his material and staying neutral. Yes, Safire is, of course, a Republican; his most recent column was "The Audacity of Hype," and referred to how unimpressed Safire was with Obama's nomination acceptance speech. (Hard to believe that this former speechwriter couldn't appreciate it, but anyway.) Having just gone through this superlative book with an attentive eye, I feel Safire treats his material fairly and with a penchant for the trenchant anecdote that illustrates his point brilliantly.

Highly recommended.

If you are a political junkie like I am, some of the language used is a little out there. I haven't read this cover to cover, but what I had to look up explained things very well to me. I keep this with whatever political book I'm reading at the time and it make things a little more understandable. I would recommend this.

A comprehensive guide and literal dictionary on the subject from a man who knows what he's talking about. "Safire's Political Dictionary" is a massive, thick tome of 862 pages, each covered with invaluable information on the shaky language that so covers today's political landscape. This new and expanded edition covers terms such as regime change, red/blue state, triangulation, moonbat/wingnut and so many more terms that muddle political language. Written by presidential speech writer and Pulitzer prize winner William Safire, "Safire's Political Dictionary" is highly recommended for community library politics collections.

How can one peruse the entries in this collection and marvel at the amount of research that must have gone into it? How can one not admire the style of writing that maintains a clear flow of thought through an immense diversity of topics? The word "Political" used in the title is broadly inclusive, definitions incisive. Safire's remarks on seemingly random topics reflect a mix of common sense and humor. Did you know that the expression 'Egg Heads" was used by Carl Sandburg at the beginning of the twentieth century, that the Monroe Doctrine was NOT a doctrine when it was formulated, that there is a paraphrasing of the Gettysburg address, as President Eisenhower might have composed it? Some of these entries may be familiar stuff, but I doubt lay readers (those who are not specialists in the field) can claim that they knew it all!

The collection could be a goldmine for those who need new material for after dinner speeches. In the classroom, the entries could change an ordinary coverage of a topic in history into an eye-opener. Those actively engaged in politics would find many examples to emulate or to avoid, as times might demand. As a presidential speech writer at the beginning of his career, William Safire had the training to recognize how public opinion is molded. Safire's awareness of what worked and what did not work, how individuals rose and fell in the public eye, is stimulating reading, to share with friends or enjoy at bedtime. You chuckle with him, and deplore that he is no longer there to share his insights.

Bought this for my mother and she loves this book! She likes to keep up with politics and this book is a great reference tool.

I looked into getting this book when a college text used it consistently to explain certain governmental terms. I was disappointed that it didn't come with political cartoons like it showed in our text, but it's great no matter what.

I got the book for under $6 including s/h. So it's a great deal for me.

I got this book for my husband to give as a gift. I guess that shows you how much he likes it, he wanted another one to give as a gift.

Safire's POLITICAL DICTIONARY is a MUST READ and MUST KEEP for those who value and appreciate the art, science and practice of politics.