In 1992, Richard Ford edited and introduced the first Granta Book of the American Short Story . It became the definitive anthology of American short fiction written in the last half of the twentieth century—an “exemplary choice” in the words of The Washington Post —with stories by Eudora Welty, John Cheever, Raymond Carver, and forty others demonstrating how much memorable power can lie in the briefest narration. In the years since, Ford has been reading new stories and rereading old ones and selecting new favorites. This new collection features more than forty stories, including some he regretted overlooking the first time around, as well as many by a new generation of writers—among them Sherman Alexie, Junot Díaz, Deborah Eisenberg, Nell Freudenberger, Matthew Klam, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Z. Z. Packer. None of the stories (though a few of the writers) were in the first volume. Once again, Ford’s introduction is an illuminating exposition of how a good story is written by a master of the craft.