The Best Short Stories of O. Henry

by HENRY, O.CERF, BENNETT

• ISBN13: 9780679601227
• ISBN10: 0679601228
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1994-03-22
• Publisher: Modern Library

Summary

The more than 600 stories written by O. Henry provided an embarrassment of riches for the compilers of this volume. The final selection of the thirty-eight stories in this collection offers for the reader's delight those tales honored almost unanimously by anthologists and those that represent, in variety and balance, the best work of America's favorite storyteller. They are tales in his most mellow, humorous, and ironic moods. They give the full range and flavor of the man born William Sydney Porter but known throughout the world as O. Henry, one of the great masters of the short story.

Author Biography

<b>The Modern Library</b> has played a significant role in American cultural life for the better part of a century. The series was founded in 1917 by the publishers Boni and Liveright and eight years later acquired by Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer. It provided the foundation for their next publishing venture, Random House. The Modern Library has been a staple of the American book trade, providing readers with affordable hardbound editions of important works of literature and thought. For the Modern Library's seventy-fifth anniversary, Random House redesigned the series, restoring as its emblem the running torch-bearer created by Lucian Bernhard in 1925 and refurbishing jackets, bindings, and type, as well as inaugurating a new program of selecting titles. The Modern Library continues to provide the world's best books, at the best prices.

Table of Contents

Introduction	ix
The Gift of the Magi	1	(6)
A Cosmopolite in a Cafe	7	(6)
Man About Town	13	(6)
The Cop and the Anthem	19	(7)
The Love-Philtre of IKey Schoenstein	26	(6)
Mammon and the Archer	32	(7)
Springtime A La Carte	39	(7)
From the Cabby's Seat	46	(5)
An Unfinished Story	51	(8)
The Romance of a Busy Broker	59	(4)
The Furnished Room	63	(8)
Roads of Destiny	71	(25)
The Enchanted Profile	96	(8)
The Passing of Black Eagle	104	(13)
A Retrieved Reformation	117	(9)
The Renaissance at Charleroi	126	(16)
Shoes	142	(10)
Ships	152	(8)
The Hiding of Black Bill	160	(13)
The Duplicity of Hargraves	173	(15)
The Ransom of Red Chief	188	(13)
The Marry Month of May	201	(7)
The Whirligig of Life	208	(7)
A Blackjack Bargainer	215	(17)
A Lickpenny Lover	232	(6)
The Defeat of the City	238	(8)
Squaring the Circle	246	(5)
Transients in Arcadia	251	(6)
The Trimmed Lamp	257	(14)
The Pendulum	271	(5)
Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen	276	(6)
The Making of a New Yorker	282	(6)
The Lost Blend	288	(7)
A Harlem Tragedy	295	(7)
A Midsummer Knight's Dream	302	(6)
The Last Leaf	308	(7)
The Count and the Wedding Guest	315	(7)
A Municipal Report	322