The Best American Humorous Short Stories

Alexander Jessup has collected some of the best in American humorous short stories into one volume. The truly great American storytellers are represented in this volume. Edgar Allan Poe who is known primarily for his horror stories is represented here with his story The Angel of the Odd. Edward Everett Hale has written a delightful story entitled My Double: And How He Undid Me. A Visit to the Asylum For the Aged and Decayed Punsters was written by Oliver Wendell Homes. And no collection of humorous short stories would be complete without The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County by Mark Twain. There are twenty other stories to delight the reader.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 — April 21, 1910), better known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American humorist, satirist, writer, and lecturer. Twain is most noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which has since been called the Great American Novel, and The Ad-ventures of Tom Sawyer. He is also known for his quotations. During his lifetime, Clemens became a friend to presidents, artists, leading industrialists, and European royalty. Clemens enjoyed immense public popularity, and his keen wit and incis-ive satire earned him praise from both critics and peers. Amer-ican author, William Faulkner called Twain "the father of American literature."