Cover of 21 Essential American Short Stories

21 Essential American Short Stories

A vibrant journey through the annals of classic American short stories

21 Essential American Short Storiesis a collection of beloved stories that have comprised an important part of the fabric of our culture, from the earliest days of our nation to the twentieth century. Some of the stories, such as Washington Irving's "Rip Van Winkle," O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi," William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily," Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper," and James Thurber's "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," have been long regarded as literary classics, while others, such as Frank Stockton's "The Lady or the Tiger?" and Ellis Parker Butler's "Pigs Is Pigs," are lesser known but well worth discovering.

Read more

The carefully selected stories, each preceded by an illuminating headnote, powerfully illustrate the varied richness of our national literature and history. This beautifully packaged volume, containing the unforgettable classic short stories that evoke our shared American tradition and national identity, makes the perfect gift for the short story aficionado and novice alike.

Setting
2010s
Audience
adult

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

Liked 21 Essential American Short Stories? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked 21 Essential American Short Stories. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. Short Stories from the Nineteenth Century Shares classics, short stories, anthology
  2. Short Story Masterpieces Shares short stories, classics, anthology
  3. The Best of O. Henry Shares classics, short stories, fiction
  4. Free onlineFree
    The Four Million Shares classics, short stories, fiction

“If you want more of the same, start with these.”

  1. The Levers of Power
  2. Snow and Shadow
  3. McSweeney's #37
  4. Always Chloe and Other Stories

“If it was the classics that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. Great Short Stories by American Women
  2. Hudson Book of Fiction: 30 Stories Worth Reading
  3. Short Stories
  4. Pripovetke

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. The Captain of the Pole-Star and Other Stories
  2. Classic American Short Stories
  3. In the Shadow of Edgar Allan Poe: Classic Tales of Horror, 1816-1914
  4. The Dedalus Book of Finnish Fantasy