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 Jerry Tempest Williams--along with Michael Perry, Mark Spragg, Jane Brox and others whose literary stars are clearly rising. Each short--whether a few paragraph 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.

Seventy-five writers including Verlyn Klinkenborg, Jo Ann Beard, David Sedaris, Dorothy Allison, Salman Rushdie, Jerry Tempest Williams, Michael Perry, Mark Spragg, and Jane Brox reflect on the power of short works to move, persuade, and change readers.