The Granta Book of the American Short Story

Rating:
Summary: A tasty American Buffet
Review: A collection that clearly defines America's lasting contribution to the form. Richard Ford carefully canvasses the past fifty or so years of great, and often overlooked, writers. Missing, but not missed, are the staple short story writers like Hemingway, Faulkner, and Fitzgerald. But, the brilliance of this collection is that it traces the trajectory of what these pillars of the form initiated. From Baldwin's jazzy, layered "Sonny's Blues" to the raw and devestating "What They Carried" by Tim O'Brien this is a must have for writers and lovers of great writing.