Great American Short Stories

Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was an American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist, and satirist.

Bret Harte is the author behind Prentice Hall Literature--Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes--The American Experience. His work focuses on American literature, offering readers a look into classic themes and voices.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman was a writer and social reformer whose work often explored the lives of women. She's best known for her chilling short story "The Yellow Wallpaper," a powerful look at mental health and societal pressures. Gilman's writing frequently touched on themes of feminism and social critique.

Runyon was best known for his short stories celebrating the world of Broadway in New York City that grew out of the Prohibition era. To New Yorkers of his generation, a "Damon Runyon character" evoked a distinctive social type from the Brooklyn or Midtown demi-monde. The adjective "Runyonesque" refers to this type of character as well as to the type of situations and dialog that Runyon depicted. He spun humorous tales of gamblers, hustlers, actors, and gangsters, few of whom go by "square" names...

Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective-fiction genre. He is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction.[1] He was the first well-known American writer to try to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in...

Edith Wharton was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, short story writer and designer. The Age of Innocence (1920) won the 1921 Pulitzer Prize for literature, making her the first woman to win the award. She spoke fluent French as well as several other languages and many of her books were published in both French and English. ([Source][1]) [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Wharton

Ernest Miller Hemingway (21 July 1899 – 2 July 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist whose spare, understated prose reshaped twentieth-century fiction. Born in Oak Park, Illinois, he worked briefly as a reporter before serving as an American Red Cross ambulance driver on the Italian front in the First World War, where he was seriously wounded by mortar fire in July 1918 and decorated for helping other wounded men to safety. He settled in Paris in the early 1920s as a...

Eudora Welty's work is featured in Prentice Hall Literature--Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes--The American Experience, offering readers a look into classic American literature. She's a writer whose selections are a great addition to any literary exploration.

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are evocative of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the twentieth century's greatest writers. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost Generation" of the Twenties. He finished four novels, This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, Tender Is the Night and his most famous, the celebrated classic, The Great Gatsby. A fifth, unfinished novel, *The Lov...

Henry James, was an American writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James. ([Source][1].) [1]:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_James

Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist and poet who is often classified as part of dark romanticism. He is best known for his novel Moby Dick and novella Billy Budd, the latter of which was published posthumously. ([Source][1].) [1]:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Melville

Heywood Broun was a writer whose keen eye for wit and humor shines through in his collections. You might know him from "A Subtreasury of American Humor," a great read for anyone who enjoys a good laugh. He had a knack for finding the funny in everyday life.

John Griffith London (born John Griffith Chaney; January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916) was an American novelist, journalist, and social activist. A pioneer in the world of commercial magazine fiction, he was one of the first writers to become a worldwide celebrity and earn a large fortune from writing. He was also an innovator in the genre that would later become known as science fiction. His most famous works include The Call of the Wild and White Fang, both set in the Klondike Gold Rush...

Jesse Stuart is the author behind the popular Prentice Hall Literature series, including Platinum and Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes. His work focuses on making classic literature accessible for students.

John William Cheever (May 27, 1912 – June 18, 1982) was an American short story writer and novelist. He is sometimes called "the Chekhov of the suburbs". His fiction is mostly set on the Upper East Side of Manhattan; the Westchester suburbs; old New England villages based on various South Shore towns around Quincy, Massachusetts, where he was born; and Italy, especially Rome. His short stories included The Enormous Radio, Goodbye, My Brother, The Five-Forty-Eight, The Country Husband, and...

John O'Hara was a master of the short story, with many of his pieces appearing in The New Yorker. His work often captured the everyday lives and social dynamics of his characters.

John Steinbeck was an American writer. He wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath (1939) and the novella Of Mice and Men (1937). He wrote a total of 27 books, including 16 novels, six non-fiction books, and five collections of short stories. In 1962, Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize for Literature ([Source][1]). [1]:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Steinbeck

Prof. John Updike, American novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic

Kay Boyle's work shines a light on the rich history of Black American poetry. Her notable collection, The poetry of the Negro, 1746-1970, offers a deep dive into this vital literary tradition. Boyle's scholarship makes these important voices accessible to new readers.

American playwright, journalist, teacher, actor, and director, best-known for Green Pastures (a folk version of the Old Testament dramatized through the lives of blacks of the southern United States) and for the comedies that he wrote with George S. Kaufman.-Britannica

Mark Twain, born Samuel Langhorne Clemens, was a prolific American author and humorist. Twain is best known for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), which has been called "the Great American Novel", and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876). He is extensively quoted. Twain was a friend to presidents, artists, industrialists, and European royalty. ([Source][1].) [1]:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Twain

Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman was a prominent 19th-century American author of novels and short stories (Wikipedia).

O. Henry's short stories are well known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization and clever twist endings. ([Source][1].) [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O._Henry

Pearl S. Buck had always lived in China except for the time she spent in the United States when she was being educated. She studied at Randolph-Macon College and at Cornell University. She taught at the University of Nanking and at the Government University in Nanking under two national regimes. She lived in Nanking during the 1930's. The Good Earth was Mrs. Buck's second published novel. East Wind: West Wind appeared under the John Day imprint in 1930. She contributed articles and stories...

Ray Bradbury is one of those rare individuals whose writing has changed the way people think. His more than five hundred published works -- short stories, novels, plays, screenplays, television scripts, and verse -- exemplify the American imagination at its most creative. Once read, his words are never forgotten. His best-known and most beloved books, The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man, Fahrenheit 451 and Something Wicked This Way Comes, are masterworks that readers carry wi...

Trusted Media Brands, Inc., formerly known as the Reader's Digest Association, Inc., is an American multi-platform media and publishing company that is co-headquartered in New York City and White Plains, New York.—Wikipedia

The editors at Reader's Digest have a knack for finding stories that stick with you. Their collection, Great American Short Stories, showcases their talent for curating compelling narratives from across the country.

Richard Connell is the author behind Prentice Hall Literature -- Gold. He's known for his work in educational literature, making complex texts accessible for students.

Richard Wright's work explores the rich history of Black American poetry. His notable collection, The Poetry of the Negro, 1746-1970, offers a deep dive into this vital literary tradition.

Ring Lardner was a sharp-witted American humorist whose work is collected in A Subtreasury of American Humor. He's known for his satirical take on everyday life and the foibles of human nature.

Shirley Ann Grau is the author behind Prentice Hall Literature--Silver. Her work is a great resource for exploring literary selections.

Shirley Hardie Jackson (December 14, 1916 – August 8, 1965) was an American writer, known primarily for her works of horror and mystery. Source: [Shirley Jackson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirley_Jackson) on Wikipedia.

A prolific American author (Wikipedia; Wikisource).

Stephen Vincent Benét (July 22, 1898 – March 13, 1943) was an American poet, short story writer, and novelist. He wrote a book-length narrative poem of the American Civil War, John Brown's Body, published in 1928, for which he received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, and for the short stories "The Devil and Daniel Webster", published in 1936, and "By the Waters of Babylon", published in 1937. In 2009, Library of America selected his story "The King of the Cats", published in 1929, for inclus...

Susan Glaspell is the editor behind Great American Short Stories and Crime Classics. She has a knack for bringing together compelling narratives, especially in the realm of short fiction and crime.

Because his three published novels had their locale in the state of Nevada, Walter van Tilburg Clark had come to be considered a Westerner. Actually he was born in East Orland, Maine on August 3, 1909. When he was eight years old, his father became president of the University of Nevada. Clark attended high school in Reno and received a B. A. and M. A. from the University of Nevada. After two years devoted to philosophy and literature at the University of Vermont, he accepted a post at Cazenovia,...

William Faulkner was a Nobel Prize-winning American author. One of the most influential writers of the 20th century, his reputation is based on his novels, novellas and short stories. He was also a published poet and an occasional screenwriter. ([Source][1].) [1]:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Faulkner