Haunting stories of the Civil War, chilling tales of horror, devilish definitions: here is the essential Bierce
A veteran of some of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, Ambrose Bierce went on to become one of the dominant figures in the emerging literary culture of San Francisco before mysteriously disappearing in Mexico in 1914. As a prolific journalist and editor he developed a style of slashing sarcasm that made him one of the most searing voices of his era; as a writer of short stories, whether drawing on his war experiences or exploring realms of supernatural and psychological horror, he expressed a bitter postwar cynicism that makes him one of our most thrillingly sardonic writers, the blackest of our black humorists.
This volume collects the most celebrated and significant of Bierce's writings: In the Midst of Life (Tales of Soldiers and Civilians), his stories of the Civil War, among them the masterpieces 'An Incident at Owl Creek Bridge' and 'Chickamauga'; Can Such Things Be?, the gathering of horror stories that includes 'The Death of Halpin Frayser,' 'The Damned Thing,' and other famous tales; The Devil's Dictionary, his bri
