The Devil's Dictionary

Ambrose Bierce's literary reputation is based primarily on his short stories about the Civil War and the supernatural-a body of work that makes up a relatively small part of his total output. Often compared to the tales of Edgar Allan Poe, these stories share an attraction to death in its more bizarre forms, featuring depictions of mental deterioration, uncanny, otherworldly manifestations, and expressions of the horror of existence in a meaningless universe.