What a fantastic volume. I had never heard of O.Henry until I received the Folio Society's edition of this book. Although written over 100 years ago, many of the stories have such a modern ring to them. I particularly enjoyed the stories set in the City, along with his tales of the "Grafters". Those stories set in the "west" or in South America fit in less with my own cultural background, as a Briton, but are nevertheless gripping at times. Yes, after reading a few of his stories, some of his endings can be predictable, but even then he throws in regular surprises. He really was a master story teller. ( )

New York at the dawn of the 20th century. Already a vast metropolis of 4,000,000 souls, teeming with immigrants, shop-girls, 5th-Avenue millionaires, gangsters, actresses, cab-drivers, would-be artists, dogs, speculators, bums. Its biographer was born William Porter, a Southerner, himself a colourful character who had escaped arrest for embezzlement by moving to South America but returned to be with his dying wife and thus spent three years in prison. To pass the time in his incarceration he began to write and soon his 'O. Henry' stories became famous for their breezy style, lively humour, ingenious twists and turns, and heartfelt compassion for the downtrodden. To Europeans, like the Russian satirist Zamyatin, his fast pace and slangy wit became 'the essence of American vitality'.

Half of O. Henry's stories are about his adopted city, but for the other half he roamed all over America. His panorama of cowboys and modern Indians, freed blacks and eccentric Southerners, emancipated ranch-women and conmen, hoboes and cold-blooded killers (like the Cisco Kid), has the same vigour and dash as his New Yorkers. Together they represent an incalculably rich depiction of American life in the ragtime era. Tales like 'Brickdust Row' and 'The Furnished Room' made the shop-girl a tragic presence for the first time in literature. When asked what had provoked him to introduce his pioneering legislation for working women, President Roosevelt replied: 'Reading O. Henry.’