A collection of 80 short stories and two novellas. It offers a wide variety of selections from the mid-19th century to the 21st, and includes a number of works by young and rarely anthologized authors. The stories are arranged chronologically according to the date of birth of the author. The introductory essay closely critiques two short stories, Chekhov's "The Lady with the Pet Dog" from the 19th century and Carver's post-World War II story about Chekhov, "Errand". The introduction enables the editors to demonstrate methods of critical approaches to short fiction and literature in general, thereby helping students to develop their own critical abilities.