This collection of short stories begins early in the history of the US and moves forward from there, with one entry per writer featured. Brief biographies of each writer were also included before the stories. For me, this had the effect of placing the stories in their proper historical context and creating a sense of forward motion as I moved through the collection. I felt as if I was getting a sampling of many different writers (some I'd heard of, some I hadn't, some I'd read works of before and others I hadn't) and gaining a stronger sense of how US culture and the short story as a form have evolved over time.

I think this did a lot to help with the fact that many of the stories obviously include the types of attitudes a modern reader would no longer approve of, especially as someone living in the US who has a sense of how things have progressed since the final story featured and has a hope that we will continue to do so. Maybe I'll even have some small part in shaping that. A writer can dream!

That being said, there were some stories that were surprisingly refreshing, particularly from the earlier female authors. I found myself wondering why I never had heard about them before and in some cases wanting to read more of their works. Perhaps I will at some point.

No rating given here because some of the stories I loved (The Yellow Wallpaper will always be one of my favorites) while others I certainly didn't (skip the Hemingway story if it's going to be triggering for you). I think that's always going to be the case with a collection like this. Different people have different tastes, but I think the collection as a whole achieved its goal in providing the reader a wide and varied selection.