<DIV><p>Richard Ford, one of the finest American novelists and short-story writers, introduced the first Granta Book of the American Short Story, which Granta Books published in 1992. It became the definitive anthology of American short fiction written in the last half of the twentieth century. In the fourteen years since, Ford has been reading new stories and rereading old ones and selecting new favourites. This new collection, again of more than forty writers, expands Ford's original choice to include stories that he regretted overlooking first time around as well as many by a new generation of writers, among them Sherman Alexie, Junot Diaz, Deborah Eisenberg, Nell Freudenberg, Matt Klam, Jhumpa Lahiri and Z. Z. Packer. None of the stories (though a few of the writers) was in the first volume. Published to critical acclaim in hardback in 2007, this book is an essential companion volume to the first collection.</p></DIV>