Longman Anthology of Short Fiction, Compact Edition, The: Stories and Authors in Context

Rating:
Summary: Thorough
Review: This thick volume contains stories from the last century. Each entry begins with a profile of the author, including his or her major works and a short biography, then has between 1 and 3 short stories. Afterwards, many entries have an essay by the author about the work, or have extensive information about the historical context of the story.
This book strives to be complete, with selections of different styles of writing, various themes, and non-western as well as Western authors. It suceeds in this to a certain extant, but the majority of the stories are written by white American men. However, many other stories are included.
Because of the size of this tome, it may be difficult for the reader to discover the very good stories buried admist the mediocre. Even a dedicated reader might get bogged down in the dozens mediocre stories about rape and lust, never finding the great stories that are also present.