The Lexicon: A Cornucopia of Wonderful Words for the Inquisitive Word Lover

by William F. Buckley Jr., Arnold Roth

This boon to logophiles, culled from Buckley: The Right Word, presents the author’s most erudite, outré, and interesting words - from prehensile and sciolist to rubric and histrionic - complete with definitions, examples, and usage notes. Introduction by Jesse Sheidlower; illustrations by Arnold Roth.

Genres: Reference, Nonfiction, Language, Writing, Words

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

William Frank Buckley, Jr. was an American author and conservative commentator. He founded the political magazine National Review in 1955, hosted 1,429 episodes of the television show Firing Line from 1966 until 1999, and was a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist. His writing style was famed for its erudition, wit, and use of uncommon words.

Buckley was "arguably the most important public intellectual in the United States in the past half century," according to George H. Nash, a historian of the modern American conservative movement. "For an entire generation he was the preeminent voice of American conservatism and its first great ecumenical figure." Buckley's primary intellectual achievement was to fuse traditional American political conservatism with economic libertarianism and anti-communism, laying the groundwork for the modern American conservatism of US Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater and US President Ronald Reagan.

Buckley came on the public scene with his critical book God and Man at Yale (1951); among over fifty further books on writing, speaking, history, politics and sailing, were a series of novels featuring CIA agent Blackford Oakes. Buckley referred to himself "on and off" as either libertarian or conservative. He resided in New York City and Stamford, Connecticut, and often signed his name as "WFB." He was a practicing Catholic, regularly attending the traditional Latin Mass in Connecticut.

Reviews

[Mike Duron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, Smart Read -- B

This is like a dictionary written by Bill Buckley over many years, with citations of his own work included. Beyond that, it isn't just a collection of rarely-used words you can use to impress (read, "annoy and alienate") friends, family, and colleagues. This is a collection of words that any word lover would love to own. For a writer of fiction, for instance, this little book could launch novels -- provided that writer wasn't biased against Buckley for political reasons.

If you enjoyed reading Bill Buckley's columns and watching him in interviews, you'll really love this book. I thought it was great and would love to have it in e-book format.

[Neil McCrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't agree with the man's politics, but I've found all of his books on rhetoric, language and etymology to be fantastic. This one is no exception.

[T · Rating 1 out of 5]

As a word lover, I was looking forward to this book. Unfortunately, I was disapointed. Considering that there are apps that now provide this type of reference, buying a book that reads more like a dictionary isn't too much fun.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is more reference, so to say that I 'read' it is reaching, but I have used it several times.

[Atlantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pocket dictionary especially designed for the word lover.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Usually I like books with word definitions. This one was not as enjoyable. Half the words are ordinary for college graduates. The other half are so difficult, that William Buckley's definitions and sample sentences offered only a little help in the understanding of the words. The illustrations were unpleasant, as many made no sense to me.

[Lee]

mentioned in June Casagrande's Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies.