Contents: Rip Van Winkle / Washington Irving --
Ambitious guest / Nathaniel Hawthorne --
Cask of Amontillado / Edgar Allan Poe --
Purloined letter / Edgar Allan Poe --
Celebrated jumping frog of Calaveras County / Mark Twain --
Outcasts of Poker Flat / Bret Harte --
Wonderful tar-baby story / John Chandler Harris --
Lady or the tiger? / Frank R. Stockton --
Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge / Ambrose Bierce --
Open boat / Stephen Crane --
Gift of the magi / O. Henry --
Paul's case / Willa Cather --
Lost Phoebe / Theodore Dreiser --
Fourth man / John Russell --
I'm a fool / Sherwood Anderson --
Haircut / Ring Lardner --
Devil and Daniel Webster / Stephen Vincent Benet --
Leader of the people / John Steinbeck --
Secret life of Walter Mitty / James Thurber --
Bear / William Faulkner --
Appendix A: Other American short-story classics --
Appendix B: Letter to the reader --
Appendix C: Sample analysis of "Rip Van Winkle."