E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett and James Trefil are accomplished authors and educators, and have written over twenty books between the three of them. The first Dictionary was published in 1988, a revised edition came out in 1993, and the editors have recently (2002) compiled The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy. Much has happened in the past decade, but most of the information in the newer Dictionaries remains the same: George Washington still holds his place in history as the first American president; the symbol for water is still H2O, etcetera. I can see the editors coming out with a new version every few years, following in the great tradition of What Color is Your Parachute?; Men are from Mars, women are from Venus, and a host of other perennial best sellers. This review focuses on the 1993 edition.
The Dictionary contains a lot of information that informed Americans should know, as well as what any informed individual should know, regardless of nationality. Considering that the United States is one of the two world superpowers, a familiarity with American history (dealt with in two successive parts by The Dictionary) is more important to know than, say, the history of Iceland, Laos or Luxembourg. This sounds pompous, but is true.
The Dictionary is large, bulky, and filled with small print and extraneous information. I spent six months reading this 600-page tome, and I wouldn't recommend that others do the same. There are precisely 23 sections, arranged as follows: The Bible; Mythology and Folklore; Proverbs; Idioms; World Literature, Philosophy and Religion (why they're consolidated, I don't know); Literature in English (why not "English Literature?); Conventions of Written English; Fine Arts; World History to 1550; World History Since 1550; American History to 1865; American History since 1865; World Politics; American Politics; World Geography; American Geography (they might have combined these last two); Anthropology, Psychology and Sociology; Business and Economics; Physical Sciences and Mathematics; Earth Sciences; Life Sciences; Medicine and Health (these last three might also have been combined) and Technology.
Redundancies abound. Some examples: with a grain of salt See GRAIN OF SALT (p.81); Loyola, Ignatious of See IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA (p. 98); yellow press Newspapers that practice YELLOW JOURNALISM (p. 299). Under the entry yellow journalism, The Dictionary explains: Inflammatory, irresponsible reporting by newspapers. . .(ibid), yet fails to mention that the term alluded specifically to a certain comic strip that was printed in yellow to attract readers' attention. Other entries contain errors, as well.
The editors accurately judged much of the content as essential knowledge for any educated American, but much of the writing seems condescending. I can't think of anyone who needs to have Donald Duck (p. 34) or Brontosaurus (p. 510) explained. Conversely, some other entries are so obscure, so arcane, that only the most egregious pedants (such as myself : ) would know or want to know them. When was the last time that The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle came up in conversation?
The biographical entries lack specific date information. Rather than giving someone's date of birth and death, which is standard practice, The Dictionary will merely say "nineteenth-century biologist." This is as inaccurate and misleading as calling World War I simply "a twentieth-century conflict." Some of the editors' opinions permeate the literary style of the entries, as when they refer to "so-called primitive cultures," several times throughout the book. As far as I am concerned, people who live in mud huts and garb themselves in loincloths are primitive.
With a little thought and some concerted editorial effort, Messrs. Hirsch, Kett and Trefil could produce a cleaner, leaner Dictionary that would stand as a good reference on American culture, but they have yet to do so.
Recommended:
