100 Years of the Best American Short Stories - by Lorrie Moore & Heidi Pitlor (Hardcover)

About the Book

For the 100th anniversary of The Best American Short Stories series, a retrospective of stories selected by master of the form Lorrie Moore. The stories, along with one hundred years of behind-the-scenes anecdotes and decade-by-decade analysis, tell the history of American short fiction, showcasing representative moments in the series as well as literary moments in time.

Book Synopsis

Witness the ever-changing history and identity of America in this collection of 40 stories collected from the first 100 years of this bestselling series.

For the centennial celebration of this beloved annual series, master of the form Lorrie Moore selects forty stories from the more than two thousand that were published in previous editions. Series editor Heidi Pitlor recounts behind-the-scenes anecdotes and examines, decade by decade, the trends captured over a hundred years. Together, the stories and commentary offer an extraordinary guided tour through a century of literature with what Moore calls "all its wildnesses of character and voice."

These forty stories represent their eras but also stand the test of time. Here is Ernest Hemingway's first published story and a classic by William Faulkner, who admitted in his biographical note that he began to write "as an aid to love-making." Nancy Hale's story describes far-reaching echoes of the Holocaust; Tillie Olsen's story expresses the desperation of a single mother; James Baldwin depicts the bonds of brotherhood and music. Here is Raymond Carver's "minimalism," a term he disliked, and Grace Paley's "secular Yiddishkeit." Here are the varied styles of Donald Barthelme, Charles Baxter, and Jamaica Kincaid. From Junot Díaz to Mary Gaitskill, from ZZ Packer to Sherman Alexie, these writers and stories explore the different things it means to be American.

From the Back Cover

EDNA FERBER
SHERWOOD ANDERSON
ERNEST HEMINGWAY
RING LARDNER
F. SCOTT FITZGERALD
KATHERINE ANNE PORTER
WILLIAM FAULKNER
NANCY HALE
EUDORA WELTY
JOHN CHEEVER
TILLIE OLSEN
JAMES BALDWIN
PHILIP ROTH
FLANNERY O CONNOR
JOHN UPDIKE
RAYMOND CARVER
JOYCE CAROL OATES
DONALD BARTHELME
STANLEY ELKIN
GRACE PALEY
CHARLES BAXTER
MONA SIMPSON
RICHARD FORD
ROBERT STONE
DAVID WONG LOUIE
ALICE MUNRO
MARY GAITSKILL
JAMAICA KINCAID
AKHIL SHARMA
JUNOT DIAZ
JHUMPA LAHIRI
ZZ PACKER
SHERMAN ALEXIE
EDWARD P. JONES
BENJAMIN PERCY
TOBIAS WOLFF
NATHAN ENGLANDER
JULIE OTSUKA
GEORGE SAUNDERS
LAUREN GROFF
"

About the Author

LORRIE MOORE is the author of the story collections Bark, Birds of America, Like Life, and Self-Help and the novels Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? and Anagrams.

HEIDI PITLOR has been the series editor for The Best American Short Stories since 2007. She is the author of the forthcoming novel The Daylight Marriage.