The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, Volume 11 / Antepenultimata

Chapter 2: PUBLISHERS’ NOTE

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About This Book

A collection of sharp essays and sketches that apply sardonic wit and historical anecdote to political and social subjects. The writer defines and contrasts movements such as socialism, anarchism, and nihilism, probes the motives and patterns behind political violence, and draws on curious historical incidents to reflect on law, property, and public morality. Satire, skeptical analysis, and dark humor recur as instruments for examining authority, reformist rhetoric, and the contradictions of modern life, shifting between polemic, cultural history, and ironic observation.

PUBLISHERS’ NOTE

The greater part of the contents of this volume is published in admirable form by A. M. Robertson, of San Francisco, with the title The Shadow on the Dial and Other Essays. When the prospectus of Mr. Bierce’s Collected Works was issued by our house in 1908 no allowance was made for this matter, but through the generosity of Mr. Robertson, and of Mr. S. O. Howes, the book’s compiler and editor, we are now able to include it in our scheme, with revisions and additions by the author. For this courtesy we are greatly indebted to Messrs. Robertson and Howes.

The Neale Publishing Company.

April, 1912.