A selection of short stories from a twentieth-century “American master” (Dan Cryer, Newsday). A contemporary of Ann Beattie and Tobias Wolff, Frederick Busch was a master craftsman of the form; his subjects were single-event moments in so-called ordinary life. The stories in this volume, selected by Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout, are tales of families trying to heal their wounds, save their marriages, and rescue their children. In "Ralph the Duck," a security guard struggles to hang on to his marriage. In "Name the Name," a traveling teacher attends to students outside the school, including his own son, locked in a country jail. In Busch's work, we are reminded that we have no idea what goes on behind closed doors or in the mind of another. In the words of Raymond Carver, "With astonishing felicity of detail, Busch presents us with a world where real things are at stake—and sometimes, as in the real world, everything is risked." From his first volume, Hardwater Country (1974), to his most recent, Rescue Missions (2006), this volume selects thirty stories from an "American master" (Dan Cryer, Newsday), showcasing a body of work that is sure to shape American fiction for generations to come.

Frederick Busch has an enduring love affair with great books, and here he brilliantly communicates his passion to us all. Whether expounding on Melville or Dickens, or celebrating Hemingway or O'Hara, he explains what literature can ineffably reveal about our own lives. For Busch, there was no other recourse save the "dangerous profession;" it was to be his calling, and in these piercing essays, he demonstrates that we as a culture ignore the fundamental truths about fiction only at our own peril. With keen ruminations that recall the critcs of yore- Edmund Wilson, Lionel Trilling, and Irving Howe-Busch, in this era of moral indirection, has revealed how the literature of our past is the key to our survival in the future.

Praise for the previous edition:Booklist/RBB "Twenty Best Bets for Student Researchers"RUSA/ALA "Outstanding Reference Source"" ... useful ... Recommended for public libraries and undergraduates."

Returning from his Carolina coast security job to upstate New York, Jack, haunted by memories of his dead wife and child, is hired to search for a lawyer's missing nephew, a search that brings Jack into the dark underworld of his hometown. By the author of Girls and A Memory of War. Reader's Guide included. Reprint. 40,000 first printing.

Focusing on the personal lives of doctors, this annotated indexed anthology explores personality, behavior and doctor-patient relationships as portrayed in novels, short stories and plays. The Doctor in Literature, Volume 2 and its companion volume are unique among medical anthologies in that readers can look up medical topics as they appear in fiction. The choice of passages is based on clinical relevance, and the range of fully indexed subjects and quotations are generally not found in other texts. This work brings together an extraordinary array of passages from literature to provide a major reference source. It identifies and analyses recurring themes in the portrayal of medical doctors, and is sure to provide pleasure for readers who use it for browsing. Key reviews from The Doctor in Literature: satisfaction or resentment?

Two-volume set that presents an introduction to American short fiction from the 19th century to the present.

As the novel unfolds into a romance set in England's Lake District in wartime, Frederick Busch reveals how the past presses in upon the present."--BOOK JACKET.

Busch's novel "War Babies" is a short, powerful moral tale that sheds light upon the insidious nature of evil and the grip history holds on the lives of the seemingly protected innocent.