“With some envy, I report that the journalist Stefan Fatsis has written actual definitions for more than a dozen words in the Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary . . . Fatsis provides an excellent primer on Merriam-Webster’s role in the culture wars, with thorough accounts of the dictionary’s approach to the N-word, the F-word, ‘Covid-19’ and ‘woke’ . . . Fatsis’ history is charmingly told . . . Its best passages deal with Merriam office life: a debate over the coarser meaning of Dutch oven or a wistful potluck lunch for a retiring colleague. At times, it felt like a Frederick Wiseman documentary about the last days of lexicography, and I wanted more.”—Dan Piepenbring, New York Times Book Review
“A warm, personal paean to Merriam-Webster and its staffers . . . The real pleasure of Unabridged lies in its descriptions of the scrupulous deliberations of Merriam’s lexicographers as they weigh the sense of words, waiting patiently — sometimes for years — to see whether a neologism is a flash-in-the-pan or something that will endure . . . Fatsis conveys clearly just what a slow, ethical process this editing work is — not reactive, partisan or, perish the thought, programmatic.”—Dennis Duncan, Washington Post
“Abounds with curious particulars and zesty turns of phrase . . . For Mr. Fatsis, the dictionary is an item ‘as ubiquitous as a spatula’ and as likely to be gathering dust but, in his experience, both deeply serious in purpose and endlessly diverting.”—Henry Hitchings, Wall Street Journal
“A, seeing firsthand how the vernacular sausage is made. Just who gets to decide when “doomscrolling” and “rizz” make the cultural cut, or how to treat questions of pronoun usage and politically fraught verbiage? The questions are thornier — and older — than you may have guessed.”—New York Times
“Stefan’s book is about the dictionary, obviously. But it’s also about this fascinating history over how people have tried to define American English.” —Gene Demby, NPR CodeSwitch
“This book is juicy. It’s just great. Much more dynamic and animated than I thought a book about dictionaries would be.”—Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone
“Perfect for word nerds . . . [A] lively history of dictionaries that also looks at how they reflect and ratify changes in our language.”—Minnesota Star Tribune
“[Fatsis] once again combines his penchant for indefatigable research with an approachable style, making each chapter relatable and thought-provoking.”—Bookreporter
“Print may going out of style, but sometimes a lexicographer’s work can still be a matter of life and death . . . Between a robust history lesson on American dictionaries and exploration of how the Internet and A.I. have changed the field, Fatsis brings his setting and coworkers to life on the page . . . Unabridged reveals how we’ve grappled with a shared language, with the public good versus profit, and, above all else, the personal fascinations that make us who we are.”—Sophia Lee, Cultured Magazine
“Exhaustively researched, highly entertaining, and often hilarious . . . The book’s format nicely reflects its content with each chapter consisting of a word or term accompanied by its relevant definition . . . All in all, Unabridged is bound to make you a more thoughtful writer and a better Scrabble player.”—Washington Independent Review of Books
“Capacious and revealing, this is a logophile’s dream.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Stefan Fatsis’s erudite, fascinating fourth book is an entertaining deep dive into the history of dictionaries and how language continues to evolve in the 21st century.”—Shelf Awareness
“Word lovers everywhere will appreciate this book”—Library Journal
“A romp in the land of lexicography . . . An entertaining, instructive look into how words make their way into the dictionary.”—Kirkus Reviews
“A funny, inquisitive romp through the past, present, and future of lexicography. Unabridged makes the work of dictionary-making . . . feel vital and exciting.”—Booklist
“A love letter to language . . . Provides a thorough, thoughtful history of dictionaries and the language they both shape and record, while championing the dictionary’s continued relevance in the 21st century. Lively, well-researched, and often entertaining, Unabridged is an essential resource for anyone interested in understanding how language evolves.”—Shelf Awareness
“If you love language, you’ll find yourself thoroughly delighted by Unabridged. It’s smart and funny—Fatsis, a wonderful writer, is a perfect guide into the weird, fascinating, and urgent world of words.”—Susan Orlean, national bestselling author of Joyride and The Library Book
“Word nerds, rejoice! With this deep dive into the dictionary, Stefan Fatsis takes readers on an extraordinary, eye-opening journey. The writing in these pages is beautiful, the research impeccable, and the joy of discovery contagious. I loved every word of this book.”—Jonathan Eig, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning King: A Life
“An erudite, charming, positively rollicking account of American lexicography. Fatsis reveals, in loving detail, the process by which our language is categorized, codified, and of course defined, word by word by word. I’d say that the chapters on slurs and pronouns are particularly eye-opening and illuminating—because they are!—but the entire book is as revelatory as it is joyful.”—Benjamin Dreyer, author of the New York Times bestseller Dreyer’s English
“Unabridged is unputdownable. Is that in Merriam-Webster? I’m not going to check.”—Ken Jennings, host of Jeopardy! and author of Brainiac
“The author of the essential paean to competitive Scrabble now brings us another close-up look at words and the people who are obsessed with them. Unabridged is a fascinating and eloquent dive into Merriam-Webster and the world of dictionaries that is—by definition—another essential read.”—Meg Wolitzer, New York Times bestselling author of The Interestings and The Female Persuasion
“A vivid and uncannily accurate picture of what it’s like to produce dictionaries—and a poignant tale of a rarefied and idealistic world that’s rapidly vanishing. I read it in one gulp, which left me with an Unabridged-sized lump in my throat.”—Jesse Sheidlower, author of The F-Word and former editor at large of the Oxford English Dictionary
“Unabridged is a whip-smart, entertaining, and thoughtful chronicle of the prospects for dictionaries at a time when Google—or, even more so, AI—might seem to be poised to take over all their functions. Fatsis wasn’t just an observer at Merriam-Webster—he was a participant, advocating for the inclusion of such words and phrases as bro hug, GOAT, sheeple, ze (a gender-neutral pronoun), and posterize. Did he succeed? You’ll have to read Unabridged to find out. You’ll be glad you did.”—Ben Yagoda, author of Gobsmacked: The British Invasion of American English
“A captivating look at the inner life of dictionaries. For anyone who’s ever had a favorite word.”—Mignon Fogarty, host of the Grammar Girl podcast
“Stefan Fatsis has written the book I have wanted to read for years: the untold story of the American Language and how it has been curated and developed by the editors at Merriam-Webster. But into this fascinating narrative Fatsis himself becomes part of the story as a rookie lexicographer working his way into the system, giving this book an extra dimension, charm, and wit. You find yourself cheering for Fatsis to score a definition like a Little League parent pulling for their kid.”—Paul Dickson, author of The Dickson Baseball Dictionary and G.I. Jive: A Dictionary of Words at War
“People have to decide what ‘gets into the dictionary.’ This witty book gives us a look into the Rooms Where It Happens.”—John McWhorter, author of Nine Nasty Words and Pronoun Trouble
“Right from the opening pages of Unabridged, you know you’re in the hands of an author who’s having an absolute blast discovering the story that unfolds before you. Read on and Fatsis’s joy will quickly become your own.” —Drew Magary, author of The Hike and The Postmortal
Praise for Stefan Fatsis:
“An engrossing, inside look at the strange and rarefied world of competitive Scrabble. It’s a pleasure to experience vicariously a level of play that I’ll never achieve!”—Will Shortz, New York Times crossword editor, on Word Freak
“[Fatsis] writes with affectionate zeal about the game and the fraternity of brilliant, lonely, and otherwise dysfunctional oddballs it attracts.”—New York Times, on Word Freak
“Word Freak has an impassioned subtitle, and it lives up to every word.”—People
“Fatsis is a wonderful writer.”—New York Times Book Review, on Word Freak
“A can’t-put-it-down narrative that dances between memoir and reportage.” —Los Angeles Times, on Word Freak
“Funny, thoughtful, character-rich, unchallengeably winning writing.”—Atlantic Monthly, on Word Freak
“Fatsis brings drama and suspense to the game . . . His crisp reporting is enough to make the reader hyperventilate.”—Atlanta Journal-Constitution, on Word Freak
“Marvelously absorbing . . . A walk on the wild side of words and ventures into the zone where language and mathematics intersect . . . Fatsis clearly doesn’t regard Scrabble as just ‘a board game,’ and he tells us its history in loving detail.”—San Jose Mercury News, on Word Freak
“An insightful and . . . amusing look at the inner workings of pro football.”—New York Times, on A Few Seconds of Panic
“[Fatsis’s] sharp eye for detail and genuine empathy for his teammates make A Few Seconds of Panic exceptional.”—Bob Costas
“Fatsis deftly explores how business permeates every aspect of the NFL . . . [He] is able to penetrate the players’ psyches in a way that few sportswriters have.”—Los Angeles Times, on A Few Seconds of Panic
“What [Fatsis] has pulled off with his modern twist on Plimpton’s 1966 classic, Paper Lion, is remarkable . . . An unflinching look behind the curtain at America’s most popular professional sport and the men who play it.”—Minneapolis Star-Tribune, on A Few Seconds of Panic
Atlantic Monthly Press
