Contains thirty-six stories by world famous authors.

Features 19 gems in the American short-story tradition, including "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe, "Bartleby" by Herman Melville, "To Build a Fire" by Jack London, plus stories by Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Hawthorne, Twain, others.

The best of American short fiction Spanning over 100 years of literary history, here are 33 of the finest short stories by Washington Irving * Nathaniel Hawthorne * Edgar Allan Poe * Herman Melville * Harriet Beecher Stowe * Bret Harte * Bayard Taylor * Rose Terry Cooke * Ambrose Bierce * Hamlin Garland * Mary E. Wilkens Freeman * Henry James * Charlotte Perkins Gilman * Sarah Orne Jewett * Grace Elizabeth King * Harold Frederic * Kate Chopin * Stephen Crane * Edith Wharton * Mark Twain * Jack London * F. Hopkinson Smith * Zona Gale * O. Henry * Sherwood Anderson * Ernest Hemingway * John Dos Passos * Stephen Vincent Benet * Willa Cather * William Faulkner * James Thurber * F. Scott Fitzgerald * William Saroyan

This book contains Edith Wharton's first novella and the second book she ever wrote, 'The Touchstone'. This narrative follows Stephen Glennard, a young man whose destitution leads him into a dubious money-making scheme which he embarks on so that he can afford to marry the woman he loves. After seeing an advertisement seeking any papers or correspondences related to a recently deceased author that he had been in communication with, he snaps up the opportunity. A tale of how social strata, money, and self-deprecation can impact love, 'The Touchstone' is well worth a read and is not to be missed by fans and collectors of Wharton's prolific work. This classic text has been chosen for its immense literary value, and we are proud to republish it here, complete with a new introductory biography of the author. Edith Wharton was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, short story writer, and designer.

An affordable compilation of more than a dozen of the best American short stories features tales by Hawthorne, Twain, James, Cheever, Wharton, and Cather. Contents include "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe, F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz," Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat," and "A Worn Path" by Eudora Welty.

This Prestwick House Literary Touchstone Edition includes a glossary and reader's notes to help the modern reader contend with Twain's language, allusions, and deliberate misstatements and malapropisms.The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain's sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, became an instant success in the year of its publication, 1884, but was seen by some as unfit for children to read because of its language, grammar, and "uncivilized hero." The book has sparked controversy ever since, but most scholars continue to praise it as a modern masterpiece, an essential read, and one of the greatest novels in all of American literature.Twain's satiric treatment of racism, religious excess, and rural simplicity and his accuracy in presenting dialects mark Huck Finn as a classic. His unswerving confidence in Huck's wisdom and maturity, along with the well-rounded and sympathetic portrayal of Jim draw readers into the book, holding them until Huck's last words rejecting all attempts to "sivilize" him.