The cover says this book is "edited by Nancy McPhee" but she must have been very busy at the time. There is no rhyme, no reason, no order whatsoever to this book. It's not even a good book to leave on the toilet for momentary readings, as there are no reasonable ends or beginnings. It's just a bunch of quotes, organized as though each was printed on a separate piece of paper, the pile of all of them were thrown into the air, and then they were typed up in whatever order they happened to land.
I'd explain this book with one of the insults it contains if I had a chance of finding anything appropriate. ( )

A compendium of the best insults, is of course not an objective anthology. McPhee's book is pretty good, and not startlingly original. But if imagination fails you at a moment of stress, these examples, and quotes are all here. I think there are enough here for most occasions. ( )

NOT DONE YET (in progress) We live in a degraded age when insults are largely confined to the same old cliched epithets involving human body parts and functions. Nearly 500 years after Shakespeare, we dare not compare one another to animals or cast aspersions on ethnic heritage, personal ancestry, religion, sexual preference, hygiene, physical appearance, or intellectual shortcomings. To violate this code is to not risk a clever and cutting retort, but a belligerent body- part epithet and a threat of physical violence. If civilization was born with the first swear word, our inarticulate rages show show how quickly we can return to pre-verbal savagery.

Nancy McPhee's book draws on the rich historical heritage of verbal insult... the rapier wit and clever repartee that has long characterized English language discourse. ( )