American Short Story: Volume 1

"Parker Adderson, Philosopher" by Ambrose Bierce. A wry, wisecracking Civil War spy is awaiting execution, but his last interrogation by a Confederate general leads to events neither could foresee. Ambrose Bierce uses his favorite device of "reversal of character" to create this natural vehicle for a haunting film about physical - and spiritual violence. "Berenice Bobs her hair" by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Advice on how to become popular with young men backfires for two young women in a story written in the Jazz Age, but is immediately familiar as a right-on-target study of modern flirting, dating, and relationships. "Almos's a man" by Richard Wright When David, a black farm laborer of seventeen, is ridiculed because he wants to be treated like a man, he decides that owning a gun will gain him the respect he seeks in this deeply moving story by one of America's greatest american writers.