As variegated as the American experience itself, this original treasury reflects the vibrant role of the short story in our national literature. Fourteen outstanding tales by famous American authors unfold in settings ranging from the decaying family mansion of Edgar Allan Poe's dark psychological thriller, "The Fall of the House of Usher," to the bustling modern apartment building of John Cheever's domestic drama, "The Enormous Radio." Moods and attitudes shift from the simmering menace of a lynch mob in William Faulkner's "Dry September" to the gentle optimism of an elderly couple in Ring Lardner's "The Golden Honeymoon."
Other stories include "A Worn Path" by Eudora Welty, Katherine Anne Porter's "He," "A Wagner Matinee," by Willa Cather, F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz," and "The Open Boat" by Stephen Crane. Additional contributors include Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mark Twain, Henry James, Edith Wharton, and O. Henry. An affordable resource for classroom use, this anthology is also a fine companion for all who appreciate well-crafted tales.