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The Dictionary People
- The Unsung Heroes Who Created the Oxford English Dictionary
- Narrated by: Joan Walker, Sarah Ogilvie
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
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Publisher's summary
A WASHINGTON POST BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION FINALIST • The New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice • A history and celebration of the many far-flung volunteers who helped define the English language, word by word.
“Enthralling and exuberant, Sarah Ogilvie tells the surprising story of the making of the OED. Philologists, fantasists, crackpots, criminals, career spinsters, suffragists, and Australians: here is a wonder book for word lovers.”—Jeanette Winterson, author of Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
The Oxford English Dictionary is one of mankind’s greatest achievements, and yet, curiously, its creators are almost never considered. Who were the people behind this unprecedented book? As Sarah Ogilvie reveals, they include three murderers, a collector of pornography, the daughter of Karl Marx, a president of Yale, a radical suffragette, a vicar who was later found dead in the cupboard of his chapel, an inventor of the first American subway, a female anti-slavery activist in Philadelphia . . . and thousands of others.
Of deep transgenerational and broad appeal, a thrilling literary detective story that, for the first time, unravels the mystery of the endlessly fascinating contributors the world over who, for over seventy years, helped to codify the way we read and write and speak. It was the greatest crowdsourcing endeavor in human history, the Wikipedia of its time.
The Dictionary People is a celebration of words, language, and people, whose eccentricities and obsessions, triumphs, and failures enriched the English language.
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“Sprightly, elegant. . . . Engrossing. . . . Lively and entertaining. . . . The real joy of The Dictionary People is to be reminded that any group of people pinned at its intersection will still burst forth every which way, a tapestry of contradictions, noble and ignoble, wild and banal. In the lives of these uneminent Victorians, Ogilvie has shown us that humanity, even for word nerds, is always—as Jane Austen might put it—sprawly, fragmented and irrepressible.”—The New York Times Book Review
“[A] delightful grab-bag of brief biographies. . . . Again and again, The Dictionary People emphatically demonstrates that even seemingly dry-as-dust scholars weren’t that at all. . . . [To] all the ‘unsung heroes’ celebrated in The Dictionary People, we owe much of our appreciation of the range, beauty and history of the English language.”—The Washington Post
“Ogilvie’s history unites a choice selection of these fascinating personalities still further, turning aspects of their colorful lives into the driving force of this absorbing book.“—The Wall Street Journal
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Prosecuting attorney in the Manson trial Vincent Bugliosi held a unique insider's position in one of the most baffling and horrifying cases of the 20th century: the cold-blooded Tate-LaBianca murders carried out by Charles Manson and four of his followers. What motivated Manson in his seemingly mindless selection of victims, and what was his hold over the young women who obeyed his orders? Now available for the first time in unabridged audio, the gripping story of this famous and haunting crime is brought to life by acclaimed narrator Scott Brick.
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Everything I remembered about the case was wrong..
- By karen on 06-22-12
By: Vincent Bugliosi, and others
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The Emerald Tablets of Thoth the Atlantean
- By: M. Doreal
- Narrated by: John Marino
- Length: 2 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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The history of the tablets translated in the following book is strange and beyond the belief of modern scientists. Their antiquity is stupendous, dating back some 36,000 years. The writer is Thoth, an Atlantean Priest-King, who founded a colony in ancient Egypt after the sinking of the mother country. He was the builder of the Great Pyramid of Giza, erroneously attributed to Cheops. In it he incorporated his knowledge of the ancient wisdom and also securely secreted records and instruments of ancient Atlantis.
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Excellence...
- By Light Worker on 04-21-18
By: M. Doreal
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The Pagan World
- Ancient Religions Before Christianity
- By: Hans-Friedrich Mueller, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Hans-Friedrich Mueller
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Original Recording
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In The Pagan World: Ancient Religions Before Christianity, you will meet the fascinating, ancient polytheistic peoples of the Mediterranean and beyond, their many gods and goddesses, and their public and private worship practices, as you come to appreciate the foundational role religion played in their lives. Professor Hans-Friedrich Mueller, of Union College in Schenectady, New York, makes this ancient world come alive in 24 lectures with captivating stories of intrigue, artifacts, illustrations, and detailed descriptions from primary sources of intriguing personalities.
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The Pagan World
- By arnold e andersen md Dr Andersen on 03-28-20
By: Hans-Friedrich Mueller, and others
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Napoleon's Hemorrhoids…And Other Small Events That Changed History
- By: Phil Mason
- Narrated by: LJ Ganser
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Hilarious, fascinating, and a roller coaster of dizzying, historical what-ifs, Napoleon's Hemorrhoids is a potpourri for serious historians and casual history buffs. In one of Phil Mason's many revelations, you'll learn that Communist jets were two minutes away from opening fire on American planes during the Cuban missile crisis, when they had to turn back as they were running out of fuel. You'll discover that before the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon's painful hemorrhoids prevented him from mounting his horse to survey the battlefield.
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They just throw the facts too fast
- By Concerned_llama on 12-11-20
By: Phil Mason
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The Roman Empire: From Augustus to the Fall of Rome
- By: Gregory S. Aldrete, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Gregory S. Aldrete
- Length: 12 hrs and 41 mins
- Original Recording
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The Roman Empire: From Augustus to the Fall of Rome traces the breathtaking history from the empire’s foundation by Augustus to its Golden Age in the 2nd century CE through a series of ever-worsening crises until its ultimate disintegration. Taught by acclaimed Professor Gregory S. Aldrete of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, these 24 captivating lectures offer you the chance to experience this story like never before, incorporating the latest historical insights that challenge our previous notions of Rome’s decline.
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Gregory S. Aldrete is a treasure
- By Laurel Tucker on 02-04-19
By: Gregory S. Aldrete, and others
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Tribal Justice
- The Struggle for Black Rights on Native Land
- By: Allison Herrera, Adreanna Rodriguez
- Narrated by: Allison Herrera
- Length: 1 hr and 21 mins
- Original Recording
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On September 26, 2020, Michael was in a great mood. He’d recently returned home to Oklahoma after years in the military. He’d bought a house and had a job teaching and coaching basketball at the local high school. But that night, Michael’s life would turn upside down. Around two o’clock in the morning, he heard people banging on the doors and windows of his home. He called 911 for help. This is the story of what happened next, and why. To understand it, we have to go back to the Trail of Tears that the Five Tribes were forced to walk.
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The next great battleground for Native America and Racial Justice
- By AGifford on 10-14-24
By: Allison Herrera, and others
What listeners say about The Dictionary People
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Yenrab Namrehs
- 03-12-24
A Book In Search of a Story
If only the author, a thorough researcher, could only write. Or, more to the point, while she loves the topic—which is interesting (who were the people who contributed to the OED?)—she can’t weave a story out of it. Well organized from A to Z (literally), the small and sometimes larger vignettes and biographies of the people who contributed words to the OED is, at the end, not a story. Most of their lives were not all that interesting or, for those who were interesting (generally the more eccentric ones), it wasn’t always clear how or why their contributions to the OED were part of the fabric of their lives. Yes, we know Mr. or Ms. So-and-So contributed 120 words to the dictionary (I did say it was well researched) but so what? How or why was this important to their lives? How does it build a story? Sadly, it doesn’t. Perhaps an opportunity missed.
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- Bill. Thirdson
- 11-15-23
Delicious and important
Delightful for those of us who love words and have been enaamored of all that has been written about the greatest autodidact ever, James A. H. Murray, who, as second editor of the OED brought it nearly to completion over thirty years. This is the mostly incomplete but necessary story of the many people in the English speaking world who zealously found words and quotations as crowd sourcers to send to Murray's Oxford Scriptorium. Many were women, some were famous but most were everyday readers. Sone were suffragists. One was Shaw's model for Henry Higgins. Ogilvie brilliantly goes through the alphabet telling stories that she has gleaned from tracing them. Loved it and I honor the work it took her and her students to bring it forth.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Harriet
- 12-13-23
Let’s here it for the unsung language heroes
Interesting story, but told with an unnecessary romanticism tone of voice. Many of the anecdotes did not warrant it.
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- Biker29
- 04-17-24
A small handful of characters
Too many stories of the noninteresting people and not enough to peak my interest. it was more background noise than anything.
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