Selected from a survey of more than 200 English professors, award-winning short-story writers, novelists, and fiction workshop directors, a remarkable collection of North American literature written since 1970.

Sherman Alexie • Margaret Atwood • Toni Cade Bambara • Russell Banks • John Barth • Donald Barthelme • Rick Bass • Richard Bausch • Charles Baxter • Madison Smartt Bell • Amy Bloom • Kate Braverman • Robert Olen Butler • Ethan Canin • Raymond Carver • Sandra Cisneros • Michael Cunningham • Junot Diaz • Stuart Dybek • Tony Earley • Louise Erdrich • Richard Ford • David Gates • Tim Gautreaux • Ron Hansen • Amy Hempel • Denis Johnson • Edward P. Jones • Thom Jones • David Michael Kaplan • Janet Kaufman • Jamaica Kincaid • David Leavitt • Reginald McKnight • Lorrie Moore • Bharati Mukherjee • Alice Munro • Joyce Carol Oates • Tim O'Brien • Cynthia Ozick • Annie Proulx • Mark Richard • Lee Smith • Susan Sontag • Amy Tan • Melanie Rae Thon • Stephanie Vaughn • Alice Walker • John Edgar Wideman • Joy Williams

Sure to become the "contemporary canon," this remarkable collection of 50 stories presents a diversity of voices, themes, and writing styles that is unique among contemporary short-fiction anthologies.

Selected from a survey of more than 200 English professors, award-winning short-story writers, novelists, and fiction workshop directors, a remarkable collection of North American literature written since 1970.

Sherman Alexie • Margaret Atwood • Toni Cade Bambara • Russell Banks • John Barth • Donald Barthelme • Rick Bass • Richard Bausch • Charles Baxter • Madison Smartt Bell • Amy Bloom • Kate Braverman • Robert Olen Butler • Ethan Canin • Raymond Carver • Sandra Cisneros • Michael Cunningham • Junot Diaz • Stuart Dybek • Tony Earley • Louise Erdrich • Richard Ford • David Gates • Tim Gautreaux • Ron Hansen • Amy Hempel • Denis Johnson • Edward P. Jones • Thom Jones • David Michael Kaplan • Janet Kaufman • Jamaica Kincaid • David Leavitt • Reginald McKnight • Lorrie Moore • Bharati Mukherjee • Alice Munro • Joyce Carol Oates • Tim O'Brien • Cynthia Ozick • Annie Proulx • Mark Richard • Lee Smith • Susan Sontag • Amy Tan • Melanie Rae Thon • Stephanie Vaughn • Alice Walker • John Edgar Wideman • Joy Williams

Lex Williford has taught in the writing programs at Southern Illinois University and the University of Alabama. His collection of stories, Macauley's Thumb, was co-winner of the 1993 Iowa Short Fiction Award.

This is what it means to say Phoenix, Arizona / Sherman Alexie — Death by landscape / Margaret Atwood — Raymond's run / Toni Cade Bambara — Sarah Cole : a type of love story / Russell Banks — Click / John Barth — The school / Donald Barthelme — Wild horses / Rick Bass — The man who knew Belle Starr / Richard Bausch — Gryphon / Charles Baxter — Customs of the country / Madison Smartt Bell — Silver water / Amy Bloom — Tall tales from the Mekong Delta / Kate Braverman — A good scent from a strange mountain / Robert Olen Butler — The year of getting to know us / Ethan Canin — Errand / Raymond Carver — Woman Hollering Creek / Sandra Cisneros — White angel / Michael Cunningham — Fiesta 1980 / Junot Diaz — Pet milk / Stuart Dybek — The prophet from Jupiter / Tony Earley — Saint Marie / Louise Erdrich — Rock Springs / Richard Ford — The mail lady / David Gates — Same place, same things / Tim Gautreaux — Nebraska / Ron Hansen — In the cemetery where Al Jolson is buried / Amy Hempel — Emergency / Denis Johnson — Marie / Edward P. Jones — Cold snap / Thom Jones — Doe season / David Michael Kaplan — Patriotic / Janet Kauffman — Girl / Jamaica Kincaid — Territory / David Leavitt — The kind of light that shines on Texas / Reginald McKnight — You're ugly, too / Lorrie Moore — The management of grief / Bharati Mukherjee — Meneseteung / Alice Munro — Ghost girls / Joyce Carol Oates — The things they carried / Tim O'Brien — The shawl / Cynthia Ozick — Brokeback Mountain / Annie Proulx — Strays / Mark Richard — Intensive care / Lee Smith — The way we live now / Susan Sontag — Two kinds / Amy Tan — First, body / Melanie Rae Thon — Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog / Stephanie Vaughn — Nineteen fifty-five / Alice Walker — Fever / John Edgar Wideman — Taking care / Joy Williams.