Here is a wonderful Baedeker to down-and-dirty politics--more than six hundred slang terms straight from the smoke-filled rooms of American political speech. Hatchet Jobs and Hardball: The Oxford Dictionary of American Political Slang illuminates a rich and colorful segment of our language. Readers will find informative entries on slang terms such as Beltway bandit and boondoggle, angry white male and leg treasurer, juice bill and Joe Citizen, banana superpower and the Big Fix. We find not only the meaning and history of familiar terms such as gerrymander, but also of lesser-known terms such as cracking (splitting a bloc of like-minded voters by redistricting) and fair-fight district (which refers to areas redistricted to favor no political party). Each entry includes the definition of the word, its historical background, and illuminating citations, some going back more than 200 years. (We learn, for instance, that a term as seemingly current as political football actually dates back to before the Civil War.) Selected entries will have extended encyclopedic notes. The book also features sidebar essays on topics such as political words in Blogistan; a short history of "big cheese"; all about chads and the 2000 election; the suffix "-gate" and all the related Watergate terms; and the naming of legislation. Political junkies, policy wonks, journalists, and word lovers will find this book addictive reading as well as a reliable guide to one of the more colorful corners of American English.

Essays on intellect, passion, alienation, and America’s geeky subcultures. What happens when math nerds, band and theater geeks, goths, sci-fi fanatics, Young Republican debate poindexters, techies, Trekkies, D&D players, wallflowers, bookworms, and RPG players grow up? And what can they tell us about the life of the mind in the contemporary United States? With recent years bringing us phenomena from #GamerGate to The Big Bang Theory, it’s clear that nerds, policy wonks, and neoconservatives play a major role in today’s popular culture. The Year’s Work in Nerds, Wonks, and Neocons delves into subcultures of intellectual history to explore their influence on contemporary American intellectual life. Not limiting themselves to describing how individuals are depicted, the authors consider the intellectual endeavors these depictions have come to represent, exploring many models and practices of learnedness, reflection, knowledge production, and opinion in the contemporary world. As teachers, researchers, and university scholars continue to struggle for mainstream visibility, this book illuminates the other forms of intellectual excitement that have emerged alongside them and found ways to survive and even thrive in the face of dismissal or contempt.

Joe and Mike Cantillon: Firebrands of Baseball is a true and inspirational story. The book tells the story of two first-generation Irish-American brothers from a struggling immigrant family. They rose from hardscrabble beginnings in Wisconsin to reach the upper echelons of baseball and achieve their baseball dreams in the major leagues. The inspiration for this book was the author’s interest in his family history; Joe Cantillon was his great-great-uncle and Mike Cantillon was his great-grandfather. This is a touching tribute that documents their contributions to baseball. It is an entertaining look at the Cantillon brothers’ journey during a wild and wooly time in our favorite pastime. About the Author Michael D. Bosanko worked for thirty-four years in New York State Government in the finance field and is now retired. He has an undergraduate degree from St. John’s University in Minnesota and a master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Wisconsin. Bosanko is also an avid tennis player, enjoys traveling, and likes historical novels and television programs. He lives in upstate New York with his wife Marge. They have two children, Nick and Brendan. He is a professional sports fan, especially tennis, football, and baseball. He has been a member of the Society for American Baseball Research for over five years.

To all corporate executives: Warning! There are now thousands of aggressive, ambitious young journalists out there who desperately want to become the next Bob Woodward, the next Mike Wallace or the next Seymour Hersh. They want to get there quick. They want to get there with minimal effort. And they won't mind getting there by destroying your company and marching over its corpse. These are the predatory journalists. They disguise themselves as "investigative reporters," but investigation is the least of their concerns. What they want is the hot headline that portrays you as a villain and that ignites public outrage. They know this is the fast track to stardom in the news media, and they're not about to let little things like facts, truth and context get in the way. Where do they get their stories? Often from Corporate America's most ruthless antagonists: plaintiff attorneys and social activists. Traditional PR says that you must kowtow to these thugs. Hardball PR says you can fight back--and win. Read this book. The life you save could belong to your company.

Named a Library Journal Best Reference of 2023 - From Library Journal's Starred Review: "This ambitious and entertaining update solidifies Berger’s volume as a must-have title for librarians, booksellers, collectors, and students of the book arts and book history." This new edition of The Dictionary of the Book adds more than 700 new entries and many new illustrations and brings the vocabulary and theory of bookselling and collecting into the modern commercial and academic world, which has been forced to adjust to a new reality. The definitive glossary of the book covers all the terms needed for a thorough understanding of how books are made, the materials they are made of, and how they are described in the bookselling, book collecting, and library worlds. Every key term—more than 2,000—that could be used in booksellers’ catalogs, library records, and collectors’ descriptions of their holdings is represented in this dictionary. This authoritative source covers all areas of book knowledge, including: The book as physical object Typeface terminology Paper terminology Printing Book collecting Cataloging Book design Bibliography as a discipline, bibliographies, and bibliographical description Physical Condition and how to describe it Calligraphy Language of manuscripts Writing implements Librarianship Legal issues Parts of a book Book condition terminology Pricing of books Buying and selling Auctions Items one will see an antiquarian book fairs Preservation and conservation issues, and the notion of restoration Key figures, presses / publishers, and libraries in the history of books Book collecting clubs and societies How to read and decipher new and old dealers’ catalogs And much more The Dictionary also contains an extensive bibliography—more than 1,000 key readings in the book world and it gives current (and past) definitions of terms whose meaning has shifted over the centuries. More than 200 images accompany the entries, making the work even more valuable for understanding the terms described.

Whether you want to pay homage to history, marvel at the seat of power, take in world-class museums and art galleries, or see the cherry trees in bloom, the nation’s capital offers a wealth of wonderful choices for visitors. With information on the top sights plus some really interesting lesser-known attractions, this friendly guide gives you the scoop on: The shrines to freedom and the halls of government, including the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Library of Congress, the White House, the Capitol, and more Three great itineraries and three great day trips Moving sights such as the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Arlington National Cemetery, and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial The after-dark scene, with options ranging from country, rock, and jazz clubs to world-class symphony, dance, opera, and theater Free shows, including the National Symphony’s summer concerts, the Shakespeare Theatre’s summer performances, concerts by the military bands, and performances at the Kennedy Center Hotel options ranging from power palaces to charming inns to welcoming B & Bs Dining, including places the rich and famous feast, great ethnic restaurants, and terrific, affordable delis and bakeries Like every For Dummies travel guide, Washington, D. C. For Dummies, 4th Edition, includes: Down-to-earth trip-planning advice What you shouldn’t miss — and what you can skip The best hotels and restaurants for every budget Handy Post-it® Flags to mark your favorite pages If you want practical planning help that gets to the point and gets you to the sights you want to see, this guide will get your vote.

Here is a feast of words that will whet the appetite of food and word lovers everywhere. William Grimes, former restaurant critic for The New York Times, covers everything from bird's nest soup to Trockenbeerenauslese in this wonderfully informative food lexicon. Eating Your Words is a veritable cornucopia--a thousand-and-one entries on candies and desserts, fruits and vegetables, meats, seafood, spices, herbs, wines, cheeses, liqueurs, cocktails, sauces, dressings, and pastas. The book includes terms from around the world (basmati, kimchi, haggis, callaloo) and from around the block (meatloaf, slim jims, Philly cheesesteak). Grimes describes utensils (from tandoor and wok to slotted spoon and zester), cooking styles (a bonne femme, over easy), cuts of meat (crown roast, prime rib), and much more. Each definition includes a pronunciation guide and many entries indicate the origin of the word. Thus we learn that olla podrida is Spanish for 'rotten pot' and mulligatawny comes from the Tamil words milaku-tanni, meaning 'pepper water.' Grimes includes helpful tips on usage, such as when to write whiskey and when to write whisky. In addition, there are more than a dozen special sidebars on food and food word topics--everything from diner slang to bad fad diets--plus a time line of food trends by decade and a list of the best regional snack foods. Even if you don't know a summer sausage from a spring chicken, you will find Eating Your Words a delectable treat. And for everyone who loves to cook, this superb volume is an essential resource--and the perfect gift.