O. Henry

A husband and wife sacrifice treasured possessions in order to buy each other Christmas presents.

Cabbages and Kings (1904) is a novel by American writer O. Henry. Inspired by his experiences as a fugitive in Honduras, the interconnected stories that make up Cabbages and Kings-the title refers to a line from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass-address themes of revolution, imperialism, exploitation, and greed. The novel is significant not only for launching O. Henry's career as a successful professional writer, but for coining the term "banana...

The Four Million (1906) is a collection of short stories by American writer O. Henry. Inspired by his experiences as a fugitive and in prison, these stories address themes of poverty, persecution, and hope. The Four Million refers to the population of New York City, where O. Henry was living at the time of its composition. Containing twenty-five works of short fiction, the collection includes several of the author's best-known stories. "The Gift of...

From America's favorite storyteller: A rich selection of twenty-five tales by the author of "The Gift of the Magi." Writing under the pseudonym O. Henry, William Sydney Porter was an incredibly prolific and popular master of the short story in the early twentieth century. His stories are known for being witty, playful, full of plot twists, and marked by surprise endings. The author had a special fondness for New York City and a deep interest and appreciation...

The Gentle Grafter (1907) is a collection of fourteen short stories by American writer O. Henry. Inspired by his experiences as a fugitive and prisoner, these tales follow the escapades of two professional con artists whose humor and storytelling ability illuminate the nature of wealth and crime in early twentieth century America. In "Modern Rural Sports," con-man Jeff Peters recalls a job in a rural Western town where, in need of money, he devised...

Selected Stories of O. Henry, by O. Henry, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics: • New introductions commissioned from todays top writers and scholars • Biographies of the authors • Chronologies...

Rolling Stones is a vast selection of O. Henry's later works covering a variety of topics such as fear, heartache, friendship, love and even murder. It's a worthy addition to his legacy of memorable characters and unpredictable plots. Rolling Stones was originally published in 1912, just two years after O. Henry's untimely, death. This collection consists of complete and incomplete stories that were revised prior to their release. For example, "The...

The Trimmed Lamp (1907) is a collection of twenty-five short stories by American writer O. Henry. Inspired by his experiences as a fugitive and prisoner, these stories address themes of poverty and city life with humor and abundant empathy. Its focus on the regular, working class people of New York City makes The Trimmed Lamp a sequel of sorts to Henry's The Four Million (1906), perhaps his most important collection. In "The Trimmed Lamp," two friends...

A collection of short stories that fully describe the place and people. O'Henry was a master at stealthily developing his characters within just a few pages of each short story. The last page, of course, is the complete revelation of the character's motive...O'Henry's signature surprise ending.

O. Henry's empathetic tales give names and faces to everyday people, bearing out his belief that everyone is worth noticing. This collection of twenty-five short stories includes one of his most famous, "The Gift of the Magi."