“In twenty-nine separate but ingenious ways, these stories seek permanent residence within a reader. They strive to become an emotional or intellectual cargo that might accompany us wherever, or however, we go. . . . If we are made by what we read, if language truly builds people into what they are, how they think, the depth with which they feel, then these stories are, to me, premium material for that construction project. You could build a civilization with them.” —Ben Marcus, from the Introduction

Award-winning author of Notable American Women Ben Marcus brings us this engaging and comprehensive collection of short stories that explore the stylistic variety of the medium in America today.

Sea Oak by George Saunders

Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned by Wells Tower

Do Not Disturb by A.M. Homes

The Girl in the Flammable Skirt by Aimee Bender

The Caretaker by Anthony Doerr

The Old Dictionary by Lydia Davis

The Father’s Blessing by Mary Caponegro

The Life and Work of Alphonse Kauders by Aleksandar Hemon

People Shouldn’t Have to be the Ones to Tell You by Gary Lutz

Histories of the Undead by Kate Braverman

When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine by Jhumpa Lahiri

Down the Road by Stephen Dixon

X Number of Possibilities by Joanna Scott

Tiny, Smiling Daddy by Mary Gaitskill

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace

The Sound Gun by Matthew Derby

Short Talks by Anne Carson

Field Events by Rick Bass

Scarliotti and the Sinkhole by Padgett Powell