The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction: Fifty North American American Stories Since 1970

Selected from a survey of more than 200 English professors, award-winning short-story writers, novelists, and fiction workshop directors, a remarkable collection of North American literature written since 1970.

Sherman Alexie • Margaret Atwood • Toni Cade Bambara • Russell Banks • John Barth • Donald Barthelme • Rick Bass • Richard Bausch • Charles Baxter • Madison Smartt Bell • Amy Bloom • Kate Braverman • Robert Olen Butler • Ethan Canin • Raymond Carver • Sandra Cisneros • Michael Cunningham • Junot Diaz • Stuart Dybek • Tony Earley • Louise Erdrich • Richard Ford • David Gates • Tim Gautreaux • Ron Hansen • Amy Hempel • Denis Johnson • Edward P. Jones • Thom Jones • David Michael Kaplan • Janet Kaufman • Jamaica Kincaid • David Leavitt • Reginald McKnight • Lorrie Moore • Bharati Mukherjee • Alice Munro • Joyce Carol Oates • Tim O'Brien • Cynthia Ozick • Annie Proulx • Mark Richard • Lee Smith • Susan Sontag • Amy Tan • Melanie Rae Thon • Stephanie Vaughn • Alice Walker • John Edgar Wideman • Joy Williams

I have much enjoyed reading this 50 stories. Most of them are just superbly written.

Some deal with interesting issues and others just employ a novel writing style. Some do both at the same time in a couple of pages.

Even if you do not like one or two stories, you are more than rewarded by others.

And then, this collection is a good introduction to several great contemporary American writers that otherwise one would not be aware of their existence.

A pleasure to read and a recommended one.

I had to read a bunch of stories out of this book for a college course. Most of the stories are super depressing. I guess that reflects on American society, but I can only take so much. It's like watching the news, but more literary.

For years I have been buying _Best American Short Stories_ and have oftened wondered how some of the stories have earned their spots in the book. Finally, I bought this _Scribner's_ collection and have a collection that is worth reading. Althought I don't like every story in the book, I'm finding that about two-thirds of them are truly excellent. Someday when I teach creative writing again, I will use this collection as a textbook. The real benefit that this book provides is the opportunity to read some of the best stories of recent years by some of the best-known writers of our time. It's a cream-of-the-crop experience. P.S. I bought it for five bucks from the bargain shelf at Borders.

I was asked to read this book for a course on teaching creative writing. This is the book for teachers who believe students can learn to write quality literature by reading quality literature. Moreover, for teachers who read closely, each story can teach a lesson. Once these techniques have been discussed and discovered, students/writers can try them for themselves. The students are "learning to dissect without murdering."

Even if you're not teaching, though, this is an amazing collection of stories. And it's a bargain!

It's difficult to review a book with fifthy authors and their short stories. But I can tell you this: I read a lot of anthologies and usualy only a few stories are really good. In this Scribner Anthology however every single story is outstanding and to me that's extraordinary. Let me give you the list of the authors and their stories:

Alexie, Sherman:

This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona.

Atwood, Margaret: Death by Landscape

Bambara, Toni Cade: Raymond's Run.

Banks, Russell: Sarah Cole:A Type of Love Story.

Barth, John: Click.

Barthelme, Donald: The School

Bass, Rick: Wild Horses

Bausch, Richard: The Man Who Knew Belle Starr.

Baxter, Charles: Gryphon.

Bell, Madison Smartt: Customs of the Country.

Bloom, Amy: Silver Water.

Braverman, Kate: Tall Tales from the Mekong Delta

Butler, Robert Olen: A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain

Canin, Ethan: The Year of Getting to Know Us.

Carver, Raymond: Errand.

Cisneros, Sandra: Woman Hollering Creek

Cunningham, Michael: White Angel.

Diaz, Junot: Fiesta 1980.

Dybek, Stuart: Pet Milk.

Earley,Tony: The Prophet from Jupiter

Erdrich, Louise: Saint Marie.

Ford, Richard: Rock Springs.

Gates, David: The Mail Lady.

Gautreaux, Tim: Same Place, Same Things.

Hansen, Ron: Nebraska.

Hempel, Amy: In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson Is Buried.

Johnson, Denis: Emergency.

Jones, Edward P.: Marie.

Jones, Thom: Cold Snap

Kaplan, David Michael: Doe Season.

Kauffman, Janet: Patriotic.

Kincaid, Jamaica: Girl.

Leavitt, David: Territory.

McKnight, Reginald: The Kind of Light That Shines on Texas.

Moore, Lorrie: You're Ugly, Too.

Mukherjee, Bharati: The Management of Grief

Munro, Alice: Meneseteung.

Oates, Joyce Carol: Ghost Girls

O'Brien, Tim: The Things They Carried.

Ozick, Cynthia: The Shawl.

Proulx, Annie: Brokeback Mountain

Richard, Mark: Strays.

Smith, Lee: Intensive Care.

Sontag, Susan: The Way We Live Now

Tan Amy: Two Kinds.

Thon, Melanie Rae: First, Body.

Vaughn, Stephanie: Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog.

Walker, Alice: Nineteen Fifty-Five.

Wideman, John Edgar: Fever.

Williams, Joy: Taking Care.