About the Author

DENIS BOYLES is the author of more than a dozen books of poetry, travel, humor, essays, and criticism. He is a veteran magazine editor, and currently a coeditor of The Fortnightly Review. Boyles teaches journalism and political science at the Institut Catholique d’Études Supérieures in La Roche-sur-Yon, France. 

www.denisboyles.com

Reviews

Praise for Denis Boyles
EVERYTHING EXPLAINED THAT IS EXPLAINABLE
 
“Delightful . . . Lively and quirky, ballasted by hard work, lit by flashes of wit. Like the 11th itself, it highlights interesting people and odd turns of events, without ever losing the long arc of its purpose.”
—Richard Brookhiser, Claremont Review of Books
 
“Compelling . . . Brilliant . . . EB Eleven has 40,000 entries, more than double that of EB Nine, and an index with ten times that number of topics, but its most miraculous achievement may have been that of its American promoter and overseer in bringing the project to its conclusion. It’s a terrific tale, and Boyles has told it more fully than his predecessors.”
—Robert DeMaria Jr., The Times Literary Supplement
 
 “Clever . . . A remarkable story of American ingenuity . . . We see the yearnings of an informed populace on the frontier, seeking wisdom with their newfound wealth. We also discover a last hurrah for an age whose belief in endless progress would soon be doomed by the Great War, World War I. This is not just a book about the rebirth of a great literary event, though it is that, it is a metaphor for what that world view represented, on the eve of its demise.
—John Davis, Decatur Daily
 
“A suspenseful new work of history.”
—Rob Nufeld, Ashville Citizen-Times
 
“Highly readable . . . Denis Boyles limns the intricate business of negotiations that went into the creation of the Eleventh Edition . . . Boyles provides excellent portraits of the key figures responsible for the 19th- and early-20th-century editions of the Britannica.”
—Joseph Epstein, The Wall Street Journal
 
“A thorough and engaging telling of the Eleventh Edition’s conception and birth, midwifed by an eclectic group of madcaps who succeeded in producing a literary treasure the likes of which will never be seen again.”
—David Bahr, National Review
 
“Almost reads like fantastic fiction. The book drops you into a time when print publishers possessed the same dynamism as today’s web developers and authors celebrated as much fame as prime time pundits . . . Engaging.”
—Jeff Milo, Paste
 
“An encyclopedic biography of the iconic reference work . . . A surfeit of information on the Encyclopædia Britannica . . . Entertaining . . . Fun . . . Boyles shows in great detail that the Britannica was as much a product of advertising and marketing as it was of condensed knowledge . . . Boyles writes with such a mordant touch his chapters move along even as they assault you with hurricanes of information.”
—Matthew Price, The Boston Globe
 
“A definitive and meticulously researched chronicle of the creation of the Encyclopædia Britannica’s Eleventh Edition.”
—Donald Liebenson, The Chicago Tribune
 
“The latest word on everything—that was the eleventh edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica when it first appeared in 1910. It would become immortal, not only because of its distinguished contributors, from Swinbourne to Huxley and Bertrand Russell, but because it was considered “the sum of human knowledge’—or almost. Dennis Boyles's lively, unexpected and erudite set of essays tells us why.”
—Meryle Secrest
 
“In Everything Explained that is Explainable, Denis Boyles brings to life a rollicking saga of outlandish schemes, copyright theft, lawsuits, buyouts, and bankruptcies.”
—James Gibney, The American Scholar
 
“Boyles’s account of how this classic reference work came to be published in 1910-1911 makes for enthralling business history.”
—Michael Dirda, The Washington Post
 
“How grit and determination created an encyclopedia for the modern world . . . Boyles traces the evolution of the Britannica and the fate of the Times through lawsuits, battles for ownership, and ongoing money woes involving colorful, earnest, sometimes eccentric characters . . . Illuminating . . . A well-researched, brightly told history of the men and women who saved a great compendium of knowledge.”
—Kirkus Reviews