Considered "The Dean of American Letters," Willian Dean Howells has broad range of works appealing to young and old. His writing style favored naturalism, in which he related his characters' observations in a seemingly casual and endearing manner by embracing their imperfections. In these seven short stories selected by the critic August Nemo you will know a little more of this important American author.Christmas Every Day The Pumpkin-GloryButterflyflutterby and FlutterbybutterflyCity and Country in the Fall, A Long-distance EclogueA Case Of Metaphantasmia An ExperienceA Pair Of Patient Lovers

War has been part of human history since its inception. Of course, it has also left a strong imprint on the imagination of the writers of all times. Check out the stories that have war as their theme, especially selected by the critic August Nemo: - An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce - Two Friends by Guy de Maupassant - The Upturned Face by Stephen Crane - Editha by William Dean Howells - War by Luigi Pirandello - The Soul of a Regiment by Talbot Mundy - Roger Malvin's Burial by Nathaniel Hawthorne For more books with interesting themes, be sure to check the other books in this collection!

Leonard Merrick was an English novelist. Although largely forgotten today, he was widely admired by his peers; J. M. Barrie called Merrick the "novelist's novelist." This book contains: - Aribaud's Two Wives. - The Attack in the Rue de la Presse. - The Doll in the Pink Silk Dress. - The Elegant de Fronsac. - Fluffums. - A Millionaire's Romance. - The Propriety of Pauline.

Thanksgiving began as a day of giving thanks and sacrifice for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year. Although Thanksgiving has historical roots in religious and cultural traditions, it has long been celebrated as a secular holiday as well. Being the holiday that marks the opening of the Holiday Season, Thanksgiving is an important part of the identity and culture of North America. Have fun with seven short stories selected by the critic August Nemo that bring all the atmosphere of union and gratitude of this date: - An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving by Louisa May Alcott - Thankful by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman - Turkeys Turning The Tables by William Dean Howells - How We Kept Thanksgiving at Oldtown by Harriet Beecher Stowe - Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen by O. Henry - Three Thanksgiving Kisses by Edward Payson Roe - The First Thanksgiving by Albert F. Blaisdell & Francis K. BallFor more books with interesting themes, be sure to check the other books in this collection!

This book contains 350 short stories from 50 classic, prize-winning and noteworthy authors. Wisely chosen by the literary critic August Nemo for the book series 7 Best Short Stories, this omnibus contains the stories of the following writers: - Mary Shelley - D. H. Lawrence - Ellis Parker Butler - Anthony Trollope - Zona Gale - Emma Orczy - Don Marquis - Charles W. Chesnutt - Kathleen Norris - Stanley G. Weinbaum - Honoré de Balzac - M. R. James - Banjo Paterson - Bret Harte - Henry Lawson - W. W. Jacobs - Charlotte M. Yonge - Mary E. Wilkins Freeman - L. Frank Baum - O. Henry - William Dean Howells - T. S. Arthur - Sherwood Anderson - Robert Barr - Lafcadio Hearn - Giovanni Verga - Hamlin Garland - Émile Zola - Stewart Edward White - Sarah Orne Jewett - Willa Cather - George Ade - Robert W. Chambers - Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson - Ruth McEnery Stuart - Lord Dunsany - George Gissing - Théophile Gautier - Paul Heyse - Selma Lagerlöf - Thomas Burke - Edith Nesbit - Arthur Morrison - Stacy Aumonier - John Galsworthy - E. W. Hornung - Ernest Bramah

This wide-ranging introduction to the short story tradition in the United States of America traces the genre from its beginnings in the early nineteenth century with Irving, Hawthorne and Poe via Fitzgerald, Hemingway and Faulkner to O'Connor and Carver. The major writers in the genre are covered in depth with a general view of their work and detailed discussion of a number of examples of individual stories. The Cambridge Introduction to the American Short Story offers a comprehensive and accessible guide to this rich literary tradition. It will be invaluable to students and readers looking for critical approaches to the short story and wishing to deepen their understanding of how authors have approached and developed this fascinating and challenging genre. Further reading suggestions are included to explore the subject in more depth. This is an invaluable overview for all students and readers of American fiction.

William Dean Howells' richly humorous characterization of a self-made millionaire in Boston society provides a paradigm of American culture in the Gilded Age. After establishing a fortune in the paint business, Silas Lapham moves his family from their Vermont farm to the city of Boston, where they awkwardly attempt to break into Brahmin society. Silas, greedy for wealth as well as prestige, brings his company to the brink of bankruptcy, and the family is forced to return to Vermont, financially ruined but morally renewed. As Kermit Vanderbilt points out in his introduction, the novel focuses on important themes in the American literary tradition: the efficacy of self-help and determination, the ambiguous benefits of social and economic progress, and the continual contradiction between urban and pastoral values. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.