A superb collection of 15 stories by an American master, E. L. Doctorow - the author of Ragtime, The March, The Book of Daniel, and Billy Bathgate.

He has been called "a national treasure" by George Saunders. Doctorow's great topic, said Don DeLillo, is "the reach of American possibility, in which plain lives take on the cadences of history". This power is apparent everywhere in these stories: the bravery and self-delusion of people seeking the American dream; the geniuses, mystics, and charlatans who offer people false hope - or an actual glimpse of greatness.

In "A House on the Plains", a mother has a plan for financial independence, which may include murder. In "Walter John Harmon", a man starts a cult using subterfuge and seduction. "Jolene: A Life" follows a teenager who escapes her home for Hollywood on a perilous quest for success. "Heist", the account of an Episcopal priest coping with a crisis of faith, was expanded into the best-seller City of God. "The Water Works", about the underbelly of 1870s New York, grew into a brilliant novel. "Liner Notes: The Songs of Billy Bathgate" is a corollary to the renowned novel and includes Doctorow's revisions.

These 15 stories, written from the 1960s to the early 21st century, and selected, revised, and placed in order by the author himself shortly before he died in 2015, are a testament to the genius of E. L. Doctorow.

Read by John Rubinstein, with Joshua Swanson and Jesse Bernstein

• "Willi" read by John Rubinstein
• "The Hunter" read by John Rubinstein
• "The Writer in the Family" read by Jesse Bernstein
• "Heist" read by John Rubinstein
• "The Water Works" read by John Rubinstein
• "Liner Notes: The Songs of Billy Bathgate" read by John Rubinstein
• "Jolene: A Life" read by John Rubinstein
• "Baby Wilson" read by John Rubinstein
• "A House on the Plains" read by Joshua Swanson
• "Walter John Harmon" read by John Rubinstein
• "Child, Dead, in the Rose Garden" read by John Rubinstein
• "Wakefield" read by John Rubinstein
• "Edgemont Drive" read by John Rubinstein
• "Assimilation" read by John Rubinstein
• "All the Time in the World" read by John Rubinstein