American Literature Anthology

For this special edition, Susie Bright has gathered human sexuality in all its diversity: pleasure and desire in all its forms. Featuring erotic stories by: Bret Easton Ellis, Poppy Z. Brite, William Harrison, Michelle Tea, Aimee Bender, and Molly Weatherfield.

The American literary tradition has, in a far shorter span of time than others throughout history, achieved a glowing and glittering reputation. From its transatlantic roots it has absorbed the sons and daughters of other cultures, other lands and made them part of her own. Within this melting pot of styles, genres and wordplay one fact stands out: In the American short story, literary tradition has a strong, vibrant and almost inclusive history, if you know where to look.

Five great American short story writers, dating from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, are represented here. Different in atmosphere and writing style, they nevertheless caught the mood and concerns of the day in a way that was distinctly American.

The editors who brought us Unsettling America and Identity Lessons have compiled a short-story anthology that focuses on themes of racial and ethnic assimilation. With humor, passion, and grace, the contributors lay bare poignant attempts at conformity and the alienation sometimes experienced by ethnic Americans. But they also tell of the strength gained through the preservation of their communities, and the realization that it was often their difference from the norm that helped them to succeed.

Pulitzer Prize-winner Jane Smiley details a beautiful erotic interlude in an otherwise sordid real estate deal; Mary Gaitskill celebrates the unexpected ardor of one middle-aged couple; Steve Almond reminisces about the best one-man/three-girl Ecstasy party ever; Nelson George recounts the erotic escapades that befall a young man who accompanies a celebrity athlete when he picks up a gaggle of girls; and Carol Queen explores the joys of making love with summer fruit.

From Susie Bright, America's most outrageous and outspoken chronicler of the nation's sexual practices, comes this volume of the crème de la crème of erotic literature of 1999. Edited by Bright, whom the San Francisco Chronicle describes as "the X-rated intellectual" and The New York Times hails as "the voice of sweet reason and literacy", this sixth annual edition of a best-selling series is sure to satisfy old fans and leave newcomers begging for more.

This collection features seven tales inspired by America's colorful history, from colonial times to the early 20th century, including the Newbery Medal winner "The Matchlock Gun". In "The Matchlock Gun", young Edward must protect his family from marauding Indians when his father is called away. In "Two Logs Crossing", John Haskell spends two harsh winters fur trapping with a wise Indian to pay off his father's tremendous debt.

This is the ideal collection for all lovers of first-rate erotic literature. Edited by Susie Bright, whom the Utne Reader calls "one of the leading thinkers and visionaries of our time", this fourth annual edition of a best-selling series brings together the most outstanding erotic writing of the year, including peculiarly dark and dangerous takes, as well as cutting-edge forays into the world of cybersex.

Trapped in a London flat, Beth remembers a transgressive love affair in 1960s Paris. The most famous writer in Russia takes his last breath in a stationmaster’s cottage, miles from Moscow. A father, finally free of his daughter’s demands, embarks on a long swim from his Canadian lakeside retreat. And in the grandest house of all, Danni the Polish housekeeper catches the eye of an enigmatic visitor.Rose Tremain awakens the senses in this diverse collection of short stories.

Alexander Shalom Joseph’s American Wasteland is a collection of stories about the contemporary day-to-day in America. It is said in the Talmud that one job of certain Jews is to justify the existence of humanity to God; in this collection, Joseph attempts to do just this with his stories, which speak to the everyday mundane and the vast richness in both meaning and meaninglessness that abound all around us. These stories, vivid in detail, portray a stagnant land full of longing and millions of lost people trying to make sense of a world which can seem both crushing and light.

With My Face to the Enemy is one of the most provocative and wide-ranging anthologies on the Civil War to come along in years. Its illuminating essays examine the war from perspectives that were critical to its outcome - the larger-than-life personalities of its important players and the national strategies and key battle tactics that shaped the four-year-long crisis.

Some temptations are just too tantalizing to ignore. Can't Help the Way That I Feel, edited by Emmy award-winning and Essence best-selling author Lori Bryant-Woolridge, is a collection of titillating stories, each exploring a delicious enticement. In "The Sangria Seduction," lemon sangria becomes the elixir of lust for a player trying to seduce the naughty out of one very nice girl.

In The Best American Erotica 2002, Maggie Estep relates the surprising sexual happenings in a detox clinic, Francesca Lia Block explores the aquatic fantasies haunting a surfer, and Ernie Conrick introduces a tennis star and sex symbol who surrenders to an unusual coach. In these 23 stories you will also find cutting-edge work from other luminaries and from the Internet, where the next wave of erotica has matured into some of the most enticing writing around.

Did Mark mean what Alison Lind hoped? Was her boss declaring his passion for her? Did he really feel the same way she secretly felt for him? Apparently not. Instead of asking her to be his lover, he was asking her to be temporary nanny to his baby niece. Not an ounce of desire in sight. Or was there? Living together, spending time in intimate surroundings, created a sensual tension too powerful to ignore. How long before this strictly business relationship turned into a strictly passionate predicament?

This is the ideal collection for all lovers of first-rate erotic literature. Edited by Susie Bright, whom the Utne Reader calls "one of the leading thinkers and visionaries of our time", this third annual edition of a best-selling series brings together the most outstanding erotic writing of the year.

James Baldwin writes about the beginnings of four formidable figures, which were central to the founding of America. He tells the stories of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Daniel Webster and Abraham Lincoln.

In ancient mythology, the Titan Prometheus was punished by the gods for bringing man the gift of fire - an event that set humankind on its course of knowledge. As punishment, Prometheus was bound to a rock. But in The Gift of Fire, those chains cease to be, and the great champion of man walks from that immortal prison into present-day South Central Los Angeles. Disheveled and lost, he is thrown in jail, where he meets lifelong criminal Nosome Blane....

In the third installment of his acclaimed anthology series, master of crime fiction Lawrence Block has gathered together the best talent from popular fiction to produce an anthology of short stories based on masterpieces of American art. Among the star-studded lineup of writers you'll find Jerome Charyn, Jane Hamilton, Christa Faust, John Sandford, Sara Paretsky, Walter Mosley, Charles Ardai, Barry Malzberg, and Janice Eidus.

America's richest legends come from the frontier - from the land where the events of a single moment might erase the lines between law and lawlessness, between safety and mortal danger, between heroes and villains. The carefully selected stories in this collection are vibrant proof that the great American West is a fertile ground to storytellers. Here's the most varied collection of short stories, by 17 highly acclaimed Western writers.

Nine stories narrated by Pertie and one by Jeeves. In an American voice for easy listening by Americans with occasional American words used for more obscure English ones with a bit of the halting style of comic dialogue. Number two in the Jeeves series.