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Synopsis
Offering significantly more comprehensive and inclusive coverage than similar anthologies, this excellent and varied collection features seventy-nine of the best American short stories written between 1945 and the present. Taken together, these stories document the ever-changing reality of American life since World War II—who we are, where we have been, and where we might be going. Striving to make this anthology representative of all the literary voices of the period, editor John G. Parks includes work from such acclaimed authors as Raymond Carver, John Cheever, and Flannery O'Connor alongside stories from writers who are no longer frequently anthologized, including John Gardner, James Alan McPherson, Leonard Michaels, Wright Morris, J. F. Powers, and James Purdy. Key African-American and new immigrant writers including James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison, Ernest J. Gaines, Jamaica Kincaid, Bharati Mukherjee, and Alice Walker are also represented, along with such important Asian-American and Latino writers as Frank Chin, Sandra Cisneros, Maxine Hong Kingston, Amy Tan, Helena Maria Viramontes, and Hisaye Yamamoto. The volume includes a brief biography for each featured author and an introduction that traces developments in the short story form in the United States. Providing a truly multifaceted look into the social, intellectual, and spiritual life of the period, American Short Stories Since 1945 is an exceptional text for courses in the short story, American literature, and creative writing.