William Safire

"You needn't have pondered the difference between formalists and notionalists or stayed awake wondering why English speakers often substitute a periphrastic modal phrase for the simple subjunctive to appreciate Safire's latest collection of "On Language" columns from the New York Times. Watching My Language is as much …

"Safire has published more than a dozen, often bestselling, collections (No Uncertain Terms, etc.) of his acerbic weekly columns on the English language. In his crisply witty commentaries, he does more than elucidate the origins of slang or correct common grammatical mistakes: he alerts readers to the rhetorical …

William Safire uses the same sly wit and insider knowledge that make his New York Times journalism so lively in this jolly, mordant romp about a Soviet agent who has become a Bill Gates-like American billionaire using KGB money. When reporter Irving Fein gets a tip about this mole's plan to surface, it could either be …

Provides information on terms and expressions, catchwords and slogans of American politics and government.