The Future Dictionary of America (Hardcover)

~ Jonathan Safran Foer (Author), Nicole Krauss (Author), Dave Eggers (Author), Eli Horowitz (Author), Jonathan Safran Foer (Editor), Staff of McSweeney's (Editor), Nicole Krauss (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This book was conceived by Safran Foer Foer, Nicole Krauss, and Dave Eggers as a way to bring over a hundred authors together to promote progressive causes in the November 2004 election. The book is an imagining of what a dictionary might look like about thirty years hence, when all of the world's problems are solved and our current president is a distant memory. The book is by turns funny, outraged, utopian, and dyspeptic.

Over 150 writers contributed to the book, including: Stephen King, Robert Olen Butler, Glen David Gold, Richard Powers, Susan Straight, Sarah Vowell, Billy Collins, C.K. Williams, Colson Whitehead, Donald Antrim, Jonathan Franzen, Edwidge Danticat, Edward Hirsch, Joyce Carol Oates, Katha Pollitt, Padgett Powell, Paul Auster, Anthony Swofford, Julia Alvarez, Susan Choi, Jim Shepard, Aimee Bender, and Art Spiegelman.

Hardcover editions of the book will also include a CD compilation, with all new songs by the best musicians working. Among them: David Byrne, R.E.M., Death Cab for Cutie, Moby, Sleater-Kinney, Flaming Lips, Tom Waits, Yo La Tengo, Bright Eyes, They Might Be Giants, Elliott Smith, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

About the Author

Dave Eggers is the author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, as well as the novel You Shall Know Our Velocity and the forthcoming short story collection How We Are Hungry (both published by Hamish Hamilton). Jonathan Safran Foer is the author of Everything Is Illuminated. His new novel will be published by Hamish Hamilton in 2005. Nicole Krauss is the author of Man Walks into a Room and A History of Love, which will be published by Viking in 2005. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 250 pages
• Publisher: McSweeney's Books; Book & CD edition (August 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 193241620X
• ISBN-13: 978-1932416206
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #624,798 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

71 of 76 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars unique, fun, August 27, 2004

By	D. Anthony "bibliophile" (Denton, tx United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a really unique book. I kept hearing about how it was supposed to be really funny, and some of it is funny, but a lot of the entries are philosophical, or just artsy writing, or fun to think about in a science fiction kind of way; some of them aren't really political at all. Though I don't agree with conservative politics I don't like personal, mean attacks on people with different opinions and I was happy to find that overall, this book isn't caustic. With a few exceptions. Mostly its just fun, and the $$ is for a good cause.

It also contains some interesting extras like the Declaration of Independence and a charting of the evolution of Indo-European language families (I don't want to give a lot of stuff away). It's definitely worth having, I would like to give it 4 1/2 stars. But, the CD that comes with the book is truly a jewel and it definitely deserves 5 stars.

The CD contains several folksy type songs, several good rock songs, a couple of punk songs, a good r&b song, an interesting a capella song, and a remake of a real 19th century campaign ditty.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A funny and trenchant look "back" at our time, August 12, 2004

By	Victor Serge (San Francisco) - See all my reviews

Who would think of reading a dictionary straight through, and for laughs? And who would have thought of writing one that anyone would want to? This "future dictionary", like all good utopian and dystopian literature, is a mordant comment on our age. Ostensibly published at some distant point in the future -- perhaps 100 years from now or more, judging from some of the entries -- the dictionary consists mostly of invented words, and invented definitions of familiar words. Some of it is slightly absurdist, some of it reflects a broad critique of the state of our culture, and some of it is a scalpel-edged swipe at the outrages of our current administration. The 150 or so writers who contributed entries for the book obviously had a great time. It is hard to imagine that they were not smiling to themselves as they wrote their definitions, just as it is hard to imagine any reasonably conscious American failing to smile as he or she reads them. Art and ideas can have consequences in the larger social and political arena, and the creators of this book obviously hope to have an impact. Whether or not it contributes to the outcome on November 2, though, this is a terrifically well conceived and well executed piece of work.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing and Somewhat Outdated, April 7, 2008

By	Frank Adamson - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Future Dictionary of America (Hardcover)

It's hard for me to write a fair review of this book for a number of reasons. When I ordered it from the McSweeney's website, it was as a part of their Cheapo Bundle, and the brief description mentioned absolutely nothing about politics (there was also no easily accessible link to the book's own web page). The book was said to contain "over 1,000 definitions by almost 200 authors, including Stephen King, Jonathan Safran Foer, Kurt Vonnegut... Jonathan Franzen, Joyce Carol Oates... Art Spiegelman," etc., so I figured this was a "dictionary" of words created in the novels and stories of these authors, collected for the first time in one volume. I'm not mad that the volume turned out to be a political screed, since I only paid $4.50 for it (they don't call it the Cheapo Bundle for nothing), but I am disappointed.

The main problem with this book is that it isn't particularly funny. It seems to have been cobbled together in the last days before the 2004 election in an effort to gain more liberal votes, and I can't help but wonder if there wasn't too much of a rush. For a "future" dictionary of our country, many of the references are already well-outdated (though some have admittedly gained even more ground over the last four years). Most of the humor comes off as cynical or mean, sometimes both. Humorists like Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert can pull this off, but that's because they're actually funny. Most of the people involved in this project are the writers of serious fiction, and aren't too good with pithy humor.

I did, however, laugh at the definition of "misteak."

The music CD that came with the book is decent, if depressing. Most of the tracks are anti-war songs.

If you're looking for something to inflame your anger towards the Bush Administration, this is the book for you. If you're looking for an intellectual approach to current political issues, give it a pass.