Masterfully researched and eloquently written, this is an extraordinary tale of madness, genius, and the incredible obsessions of two remarkable men that led to the making of the Oxford English Dictionary—one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken. As definitions were collected, the OED’s overseeing committee, led by Professor James Murray, was stunned to discover that one man, Dr. W. C. Minor, had submitted more than 10,000 entries. But their surprise would pale in comparison to what they were about to discover when the committee insisted on honoring him. Dr. Minor, an American Civil War veteran, was also an inmate at an asylum for the criminally insane.