The Oxford Companion to Charles Dickens: Anniversary edition - Tapa dura

This is a book where most redundant matter has been left out, and where a simple (and therefore memorable) yet comprehensive scheme of variations across the democratic phenomenon is presented and discussed ... I find that the book makes democratic theory very accessible. It will definitely be on my bookshelf, right next to classics on the subject by, for instance, Lijphart, Held and Dahl. (Ulrik Kjaer, Local Government Studies, 38:2)

This is a valuable book ... mostly superb (Times Literary Supplement)

Reissued to celebrate the bicentenary of Charles Dickens's birth, The Oxford Companion to Charles Dickens (formerly The Oxford Reader's Companion to Dickens) draws together an unparalleled diversity of information on one of Britain's greatest writers: covering his life, his works, his reputation, and his cultural context. Featuring more than 500 A-Z articles, it throws new and often unexpected light on the most familiar of Dickens's works, and explores the experiences, events, and literature on which he drew. There is also a chronology of Dickens' life, a list of characters in his works, a list of entries by theme, a family tree, three maps, an invaluable bibliography, and a general index.

Compiled by a distinguished editorial team, and written in a lucid, easy style that would have pleased him, The Oxford Companion to Charles Dickens offers a more authoritative and accessible range of information than any other reference work on Dickens.
Aspects covered include:

The private man and the public figure - his family, friends, colleagues, and convictions

The age in which he lived and worked - the people, events, and institutions that informed his writing

The places that were significant to him - his homes, his London, and the countries he visited

The ideas and social theories of the time - the attitudes he satirized and the ideologies he advocated

The works on which his reputation rests - their history, structure, inspiration, and significance