this book is the devil! i am using it in a lit studies course and loathe every second i waste reading these essays. they seem to be written mostly by stuffy university professors who are attempting to sound like they know what they are talking about. It is not a dictionary, nor does it help the reader properly understand a term. If you are curious about a word that is discussed in the book, i suggest looking it up in the dictionary. it's easier. and you'll actually learn what the word means without having to search through thick sentences that really make no sense and large words that you know the author just pulled out of a thesauraus.