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Thousands of great short stories can be found in American Literature's Short Story Library, including many of the greatest short stories ever written. Our collection continues to expand and we also feature a Short Story of the Day.
- The Night Came Slowly
I am losing my interest in human beings; in the significance...
- 100 Great Short Stories
Click a button to find the best short stories from the...
- 75 Short Short Stories
Short Stories to enjoy when you have 5 minutes to spare,...
- The Night Came Slowly
Click a button to find the best short stories from the authors below. We also have a great collection of Short Stories for Students and a library full of Children's Stories .
Searches related to best american short stories text
Looking for great American short stories you can read for free? Whether they’re written by American authors, set in the USA, or just have that ever-elusive quality of Americana, this is the page you’re looking for.
- Washington Irving, “Rip Van Winkle” (1819) and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” (1820) I agonized over whether I should pick “Rip Van Winkle” or “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” from Irving’s oeuvre.
- Edgar Allan Poe, “The Tell-Tale Heart” (1843) Poe’s early stream-of-consciousness horror story, unreliable narrator and heart beating under the floorboards and all, is certainly one of the most adapted—and even more often referenced—short stories in popular culture, and which may or may not be the source for all of the hundreds of stories in which a character is tormented by a sound only they can hear.
- Herman Melville, “Bartleby, the Scrivener” (1853) Once, while I was walking in Brooklyn, carrying my Bartleby tote bag, a woman in an SUV pulled over (on Atlantic Avenue, folks) to excitedly wave at me and yell “Melville!
- Ambrose Bierce, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” (1890) I will leave it to Kurt Vonnegut, who famously wrote, “I consider anybody a twerp who hasn’t read the greatest American short story, which is “Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” by Ambrose Bierce.
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- An Idle Fellow
This article provides a list of stories grouped by category to suit the reader's mood, including Witty Stories, Introspective Stories, Morality Tales, Other-Worldly Stories, Feel-Good/Love Stories, Dramatic Stories and Political Farce Stories. The article lists 50 great feel-good stories along with comforting foodie stories.
A collection of stories grouped by category, including Witty, Introspective, Morality Tales and more.
A metaphysical story about the search for truth.
Read History’s Best, Anytime, Anywhere. A free, online library for reading and downloading public domain short stories.
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Aug 16, 2023 · Here are my picks for the best short stories of all time and why they're so great and still worth reading today. I've chosen the best short stories from across a range of genres, but I've omitted shorts that are predominantly science fiction.
