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The Economist Book of isms: From Abolitionism to Zoroastrianism [Hardcover]

John Andrews (Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
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Book Description

Publication Date: July 26, 2010 | ISBN-10: 1846682983 | ISBN-13: 978-1846682988 | Edition: 1
"Isms" help to inform us, educate us and sometimes even amuse us. What would life be like without altrusim or cynicism, dogmatism or optimism? Below are just some of the "isms" explained in this collection of more than 400.
  • Absolutism
  • Albigensianism
  • Aphorism
  • Atavism
  • Behaviouralism
  • Bolshevism
  • Buddhism
  • Butskellism
  • Calvinism
  • Capitalism
  • Communism
  • Confucianism
  • Dadaism
  • Deontologism
  • Dystopianism
  • Eclecticism
  • Empiricism
  • Euphemism
  • Existentialism
  • Fascism
  • Fauvism
  • Fourierism
  • Frotteurism
  • Gaullism
  • Geophagism
  • Globalism
  • Gnosticism
  • Hedonism
  • Hermeticism
  • Hypopituitarism
  • Idealism
  • Ignosticism
  • Irredentism
  • Isomorphism
  • Jansenism
  • Jingoism
  • Journalism
  • Judaism
  • Kabbalism
  • Keynesianism
  • Know-nothingism
  • Lacanianism
  • Leninism
  • Lollardism
  • Malthusianism
  • Manichaeism
  • Maoism
  • Marxism
  • Masochism
  • Narcissism
  • Neologism
  • Nestorianism
  • Obscurantism
  • Onanism
  • Orphism
  • Ostracism
  • Paganism
  • Phallocentrism
  • Poststructuralism
  • Quakerism
  • Quietism
  • Quixotism
  • Racism
  • Reaganism
  • Reductionism
  • Romanticism
  • Sacerdotalism
  • Sadism
  • Sapphism
  • Solipsism
  • Stoicism
  • Sufism
  • Tantrism
  • Taoism
  • Thatcherism
  • Transvestism
  • Trotskyism
  • Ultramontanism
  • Unilateralism
  • Utilitarianism
  • Utopianism
  • Valetudinarianism
  • Vorticism
  • Voyeurism
  • Wahhabism
  • Zeism
  • Zionism
  • Zoomorphism

Frequently Bought Together

The Economist Book of isms: From Abolitionism to Zoroastrianism + The Economist Style Guide
Price for both: $33.18

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Editorial Reviews

Book Description

The Economist Book of Isms is a wonderfully illuminating and erudite guide to every ism you could ever want explained.

Entries include: Absurdism, Altruism, Atheism, Bohemianism, Buddhism, Capitalism, Colonialism, Cubism, Darwinism, Deism, Determinism, Epicureanism, Fanaticism, Feminism, Freeganism, Globalism, Hedonism, Historicism, Humanitarianism, Imperialism, Institutionalism, Islamism, Isolationism, Jingoism, Keynesianism, Libertarianism, Localism, Maoism, Militarism, Modernism, Multiculturalism, Neoconservatism, Nihilism, Optimism, Orientalism, Paganism, Pan-Africanism, Poststructuralism, Quietism, Racism, Rastafarianism, Realism, Republicanism, Romanticism, Sikhism, Stoicism, Structuralism, Surrealism, Symbolism, Taoism, Thatcherism, Unionism, Utilitarianism, Veganism, White Nationalism, Zionism, Zoratrianism.

From the Inside Flap

What is an "ism?" The etymologists, harking back – via medieval French and Latin – to Greek words that end in "ismos," will say those three letters are a convenient suffix: add them to a noun or adjective, or to the stem of a verb, and, to the delight of the philologists, you add meaning, distinction and nuance. Terror becomes terrorism; global becomes globalism; baptise becomes baptism. For Messrs Reagan, Thatcher and Marx, their "isms" define their political and economic ideologies, but inventive types will add "ism" to all manner of words – a "Bushism," for example, for any of the many malapropisms uttered by America's 43rd president.

For those who want to be on top of their "isms," here is an illuminating and witty guide to more than 400.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (July 26, 2010)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1846682983
  • ISBN-13: 978-1846682988
  • Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.8 x 7.4 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #864,419 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A very fun book, makes a great gift for anyone! September 27, 2010
By Daniel Smith
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I love this little book! Not only is it full of interesting information, but it is a lot of fun too. There is a very subtly, wry, witty sense of humor that peers out at you with a wink and a nod from behind every "ism". Did not expect that from a book published by the Economist! Well organized, well written, and I ordered two more to give as gifts. Highly recommended!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating! December 12, 2010
By Pierre Gauthier
Format:Hardcover
This short book is quite straightforwardly a dictionary of words ending in `ism', whether they derive from other words, such as `socialism', or not, as for `schism'.

If read in sequence, it provides short, well written discussions of a broad spectrum of topics and as such is extremely interesting and educational. Otherwise, it may of course be used as a reference.

The work appears very rigorous overall and the reader should not be distressed by two unfortunate mistakes that occur in the Preface and on page 1: Margaret Thatcher is introduced with two gentlemen as Messrs. (which is strictly masculine) and 1678 is misprinted in the very first entry as 1878.

This book is definitely a worthwhile investment in both time and money.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Another Book Review from the Aleph Blog January 26, 2011
By David Merkel
Format:Hardcover
This book is different, and it will get a different book review from me. I have not read it, but I have scanned it.

This book aims to give extended yet compact explanations of the definitions of words that end in -isms. It does so with varying success.

Here is my thesis: the more you care about a given ism, the less you will like the explanations in the book. The entries are long compared to a dictionary, but short compared to an encyclopedia. Personally, I found entries in areas that I have detailed knowledge of to be too short, and in some cases inaccurate. This applies to many of the entries on Christianity, and some on economics.

Aside from that I found that it was less than consistent to add in isms that were not belief structures. In that were a variety of diseases, and words like prisms and schisms. Also there were behaviors, like Bushisms and Spoonerisms. I would have stuck to belief structures, and expanded them. A brief volume focused on comparative religion and philosophy would have been more valuable.

Then there are the accidents of spelling: Cataclysms and Paroxysms. Why don't they get into the book, if prisms and schisms can get in?

I did not find this to be a book that one can sit down and read. It is worthy for reference to understand the basics of an ism.

If you want to buy the book, you can buy it here: The Economist Book of isms: From Abolitionism to Zoroastrianism

Who would benefit from this book

This book impresses me as a good book to give to someone that you're not sure what he would like. Even new, the book is modestly priced, interesting, and doesn't poke anyone in the eye, at least too hard. The book is small at ~240 pages, and 4X6'. It would make an excellent small gift for those for which you have no idea what to get.
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