The Future Dictionary of America
by Jonathan Safran Foer (Editor), Dave Eggers (Editor), Eli Horowitz (Editor), Nicole Krauss (Editor)
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This book was conceived by Jonathan Safran Foer, Dave Eggers, Nicole Krauss, and the staff of McSweeney's as a way to bring over a hundred authors together to promote progressive causes in the November 2004 election. An imagining of what a dictionary might look like about thirty years hence, when the world's problems are solved and our current president is a distant memory, the book is by turns funny, outraged, utopian, and dyspeptic. 100 percent of the proceeds will go to a mix of political show more organizations to support progressive candidates in the upcoming elections. 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. Released in partnership with Barsuk Records, the book will include a CD compilation, with exclusive songs by the best musicians working. Among them: David Byrne, R.E.M., Death Cab for Cutie, Sleater-Kinney, Flaming Lips, Tom Waits, Bright Eyes, They Might Be Giants, Nada Surf, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
This was a fun book, and includes a CD of songs by lots of good artists. It is a bit dated, however, having come out in 2004. I kept thinking, "What must these people have been doing during the 2016 election?!" As upset as they were about W, Trump probably gave them an aneurysm. Lots of fun "new" words, although some really wander off the path. Definitely worth a read.
A humorous anthology that has many authors projecting present trends and counter-trends into a "devil's dictionary" of the future.
Not as good as it seems like it will be.
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1,063 works; 83 members
Author Information
Jonathan Safran Foer (born 1977) is an American author best known for his novels Everything Is Illuminated (2002) and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2005). He was born in Washington, D.C. and attended Georgetown Day School and Princeton University. In 2000, Foer was awarded the Zoetrope: All-Story Fiction Prize and in 2007 he was included in show more Granta's Best of Young American Novelists. His forthcoming nonfiction book is entitled, Eating Animals. His title Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close made The N.Y. Times Best Seller List for 2012. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Dave Eggers was born on March 12th, 1970, in Boston, Massachusetts. His family moved to Lake Forest, Illinois when he was a child. Eggers attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, until his parents' deaths in 1991 and 1992. The loss left him responsible for his eight-year-old brother and later became the inspiration for his highly show more acclaimed memoir "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius". Published in 2000, the memoir was nominated for a nonfiction Pulitzer the following year. Eggers edits the popular "The Best American Nonrequired Reading" published annually. In 1998, he founded the independent publishing house, McSweeney's which publishes a variety of magazines and literary journals. Eggers has also opened several nonprofit writing centers for high school students across the United States. Eggers has written several novels and his title, A Hologram for the King, was a finalist for the 2012 National Book Award. His most recent work of fiction, entitled The Circle, was published in 2013. His recent nonfiction books are The Monk of Mokha (January 2018) and What Can a Citizen Do? (Illustrated by Shawn Harris)(September 2018). (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Nicole Krauss is an international best selling author. The History of Love (W.W. Norton 2005) won the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing, France's Prix du Meilleur Livre ?tranger, was named #1 book of the year by Amazon.com, and was short-listed for the Orange, Médicis, and Femina prizes. Nicole's first novel, Man Walks Into a Room, show more was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award for First Fiction. In 2007, she was selected as one of Granta's Best Young American Novelists, and in 2010 The New Yorker named her one of the 20 best writers under 40. Her most recent novel is GREAT HOUSE (W.W. Norton October 2010). Nicole's books have been translated into more than thirty-five languages. Krauss recently completed a Cullman Fellowship at the New York Public Library. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- The future dictionary of America
- Original title
- The Future Dictionary of America
- Alternate titles
- The Future Dictionary of America: A Book to Benefit Progressive Causes Featuring Over 170 of America's Best Writers and Artists; The Future Dictionary of America: A Book to Benefit Progressive Causes in the 2004 Elections Featuring Over 170 of America's Best Writers and Artists; The Future Dictionary of America: An Unprecedented Book-CD Package to Benefit Progressive Causes Featuring Over 200 of America's Best Writers, Artists and Musicians
- Original publication date
- 2004
- People/Characters
- George W. Bush
- First words
- This dictionary was conceived as a way for a great number of American writers and artists to voice their displeasure with their current political leadership, and to collectively imagine a brighter future.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)The Negative Alphabet: Shapes Between Letters
In 2010, the Negative Alphabet was devised by an advertising agency as a brainstorming tool for new logos and cartoon mascots. After the Language Saturation Shift of the 2030s, when the traditional alphabet could no longer support the density of meanings packed into each word, these symbols were adopted to allow for a greater range of nuance to be presented within and alongside our positive sentences. -- Brian McMullen
(various negative image markings, corresponding to left- and right-side outlines of typographic letters)
Sport of the 1970s
(various "Helvetica-man" styled athletic icon / images)
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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Statistics
- Members
- 650
- Popularity
- 44,308
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.39)
- Languages
- English, French
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 3
- ASINs
- 2
