Review: The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual

Norm Goldstein (Editor), et al

ISBN: 0201339854

The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual is the standard most newspapers and magazines follow for such details as names, dates, numbers, and the proper use of hundreds of words and phrases that commonly come up in articles about government, business, and science, as well as words in the common lexicon.

AP is set up dictionary style. This makes it easy to look up most usage terms. Even when a term is not the preferred usage, there is generally a see also entry for the listing that will direct you to the accepted term or usage. Even larger sections such as abbreviations and acronyms, capitalization, datelines, and possessives are covered by dictionary-style entries. Conversely, if all that is needed is the spelling of a word, such as pooh-pooh, questionnaire or shopworn, the word simply appears without further explanation.

The AP’s focus on journalism makes it very useful for general terms and grammar but it is less effective in a technical environment. There is a separate punctuation guide, business guide, sports guide, copyright guide and of course the libel manual. There are also some newspaper specific guidelines such as how to file electronic copy.

This is a very handy book to have when your are working in a journalistic environment. There are very few entries for technical terms, but very detailed entries for public places as well as governmental names and terms.