A collection of short stories written by the 1998 winners of the O. Henry writing award.

Established early in the last century as a memorial to O. Henry, throughout its history this annual collection has consistently offered a remarkable sampling of contemporary short stories. Each year, stories are chosen from large and small literary magazines, and a panel of distinguished writers is enlisted to award top prizes. The result is a superb collection of seventeen inventive, full-bodied stories representing the very best in American and Canadian fiction. FIRST PRIZE MARY SWAN The Deep SECOND PRIZE DAN CHAON Big Me FRED G. LEEBRON That Winter T.CORAGHESSAN BOYLE The Love of My Life JOYCE CAROL OATES The Girl with the Blackened Eye DAVID SCHICKLER The Smoker ANTONYA NELSON Female Trouble ELIZABETH GRAVER The Mourning Door PICKNEY BENEDICT Zog-19: A Scientific Romance RON CARLSON At the Jim Bridger LOUISE EDRICH Revival Road WILLIAM GAY The Paperhanger DALE PECK Bliss MURAD KALAM Bow Down GEORGE SAUNDERS Pastoralia ANDREA BARRETT Servants of the Map

The seventy-ninth anniversary of this annual collection of short stories "widely regarded as the nation's most prestigious awards for short fiction." (The Atlantic Monthly). Edited and with an introduction by Larry Dark 1999 Top-Prize Selection Jury: Sherman Alexie, Stephen King, Lorrie Moore Established in 1918 as a memorial to O.Henry, this esteemed annual collection has presented a remarkable collection of stories over the years. Recently, Series Editor Larry Dark has incorporated some exciting changes: a magazine award, the eligibility of stories from Canadian magazines, a list of fifty Honorable Mention stories, an expanded listing of publications consulted, and a celebrity author top-prize jury. Representing the very best in contemporary American and Canadian fiction, Prize Stories 1999: The O.Henry Awards is a superb collection of twenty inventive, full-bodied short stories brimming with life--proof of the continuing strength and variety of the genre.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning history of the Scopes Trial and the battle over evolution and creation in America's schools In the summer of 1925, the sleepy hamlet of Dayton, Tennessee, became the setting for one of the twentieth century's most contentious courtroom dramas, pitting William Jennings Bryan and the anti-Darwinists against a teacher named John Scopes, represented by Clarence Darrow and the ACLU, in a famous debate over science, religion, and their place in public education. That trial marked the start of a battle that continues to this day-in cities and states throughout the country. Edward Larson's classic Summer for the Gods -- winner of the Pulitzer Prize in History -- is the single most authoritative account of this pivotal event. An afterword assesses the state of the battle between creationism and evolution, and points the way to how it might potentially be resolved.

As Garlock relates in the preface, “The quality of the research, reporting and writing of these unique features is stunning. No two are written exactly the same way. But they all hold to one constant: strong emotions and content—powerful, touching, frightening, harrowing journalism.” The rules for winning a Pulitzer Prize in feature writing are simple, yet demanding: the prize is awarded for “a distinguished example of feature writing giving prime consideration to high literary quality and originality.” For over two decades, the Pulitzer has been given annually to journalists whose work best exemplifies those high ideals. The second edition of Pulitzer Prize Feature Stories: America’s Best Writing is an unabridged collection of this award-winning work, now covering 25 years. Editor David Garlock analyzes each story, and readers are given a glimpse at the circumstances surrounding the narrative. Each feature is followed by an insightful analysis by Garlock that probes the tactics the feature writer used in both writing and reporting the work. Journalism students and experienced professional writers will find Pulitzer Prize Feature Stories an essential compendium of the best feature writing of the last quarter century.

A new edition of a National Book Award finalist follows a black faith healer whose shrewd observations about human nature are told with the rich lyricism of the oral storytelling tradition. From the acclaimed author of Corregidora, The Healing follows Harlan Jane Eagleton as she travels to small towns, converting skeptics, restoring minds, and healing bodies. But before she found her calling, Harlan had been a minor rock star’s manager and, before that, a beautician. Harlan retraces her story to the beginning, when she once had a fling with the rock star’s ex-husband and found herself infatuated with an Afro-German horse dealer. Along the way she’s somehow lost her own husband, a medical anthropologist now traveling with a medicine woman across eastern Africa. Harlan draws us deeper into her world and the mystery at the heart of her tale: the story of her first healing. The Healing is a lyrical and at times humorous exploration of the struggle to let go of pain, anger, and even love. Slipping seamlessly back through Harlan’s memories in a language rich with the textured cadences of unfiltered dialogue, Gayl Jones weaves her story to its dramatic—and unexpected—beginning.