In the years since the perennially popular "In Short" and "In Brief" were published, readers have come to delight in the deft focus of the succinct piece we now call The Short. Extending this trend, "Short Takes" presents over seventy-five writers whose range and style demonstrate the myriad ways we humans have of telling our truths. Themes develop and speak to or collide with one another: musings about parents, childhood, sports, weather, war, solitude, nature, loss and, of course, love. The stellar roster of contributors includes well-known writers Verlyn Klinkenborg, Jo Ann Beard, David Sedaris, Dorothy Allison, Salman Rushdie, and Terry Tempest Williams along with Michael Perry, Mark Spragg, Jane Brox, and others whose literary stars are clearly rising. Each short whether a few paragraphs or reaching 2,000 words, and reflecting almost every way nonfiction can be written invites us to experience the power of the small to move, persuade, and change us.