Shady Characters：The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols, and Other Typographical Marks

FromancientGreecetotheInternet—viatheRenaissance,Gutenberg,andMadisonAvenue—ShadyCharactersexposesthesecrethistoryofpunctuation.Acharmingandindispensabletouroftwothousandyearsofthewrittenword,ShadyCharactersweavesafascinatingtrailacrosstheparallelhistoriesoflanguageandtypography.Whetherinvestigatingtheasterisk(*)anddagger(†)—whichalternatelyilluminatedandskeweredhereticalversesoftheearlyBible—ortheatsign(@),whichlanguishedinobscurityforcenturiesuntilrescuedbytheInternet,KeithHoustondrawsonmyriadsourcestochartthelifeandtimesoftheseenigmaticsquiggles,bothexotic(¶)andeveryday(&).FromtheLibraryofAlexandriatothehallsofBellLabs,figuresasdiverseasCharlemagne,VladimirNabokov,andGeorgeW.Bushcrosspathswithmarksasobscureastheinterrobang(?)andasdivisiveasthedash(—).AncientRomangraffiti,Venetiantradingshorthand,ColdWardoubleagents,andMadisonAvenueroundoutanevermorediversesetofepisodes,characters,andartifacts.Richlyillustrated,rangingacrosstime,typographies,andcountries,ShadyCharacterswilldelightandentertainallwhocherishtheunpredictableandsurprisinginthewritinglife.