Charles Bukowski is one of America's best-known contemporary writers of poetry and prose, and, many would claim, its most influential and imitated poet. He was born in Andernach, Germany, and raised in Los Angeles, where he lived for fifty years. He published his first story in 1944, when he was twenty-four, and began writing poetry at the age of thirty-five. He died in San Pedro, California, at the age of seventy-three, shortly after completing his last novel, Pulp (1994).

A perfect accompaniment to Bukowski's letters, this collection of BOTH stories and poems gives you more bang for the buck -- a whopping 402 pages of Bukowski's unique voice. He can spin you a yarn with his story or poem just like he's sitting there having a beer with you. A classic American writer who'll bet his bottom dollar on the working stiff and the tough times -- his Muses -- using the language of a true visionary. If you haven't read Bukowski, isn't it time you started?