The W. Somerset Maugham Reader presents the full range of Maugham's literary capa bilities, from his early works of social realism to his dramatic tales of love and revenge and his pieces on travel to exotic lands. Featured are stories, and book excerpts for which Maugham is famous, as well as pieces that focus on his recurring themes - flight from sexual repression, the decay of Europeans transplanted to the tropics, and marriages turned unhappy or violent. The novel The Hero (1901) is presented in its entirety, as are ample selections from works including Liza of Lambeth (1897), Mrs. Craddock (1902), The Land of the Blessed Virgin: Sketches and Impressions in Andalusia (1905), The Magician (1908), The Trembling of a Leaf: Stories of the South Sea Islands (1921), and On a Chinese Screen (1922).