F. Scott Fitzgerald & Edith Wharton 
Big Book of Best Short Stories – Volume 5 [EPUB ebook] 

F. Scott Fitzgerald was a 20th-century American short-story writer and novelist. Although he completed four novels and more than 150 short stories in his lifetime, he is perhaps best remembered for his third novel, The Great Gatsby – it is today widely considered ‘the great American novel.’
***
Edith Wharton was born to a distinguished New York family and married wealthy banker Edward Wharton in 1885. After her marriage, she began to write stories set among turn-of-the-century New York society, and won the Pulitzer Prize for her novel The Age of Innocence.
***
Stephen Crane was born November 1st, 1871; six years after the American Civil War had ended. Though he never fought in battle himself, he created stories about the battlefield that were so realistic that veterans reading his work thirty years after the war had ended praised it for its realism.
***
Susan Glaspell is best known in literary circles for her stage play ‘Trifles’ and her short story, ‘A Jury of Her Peers.’ Both works were inspired by her experiences as a courtroom reporter during a murder trial in 1900. She died in 1948.
***
Kate Chopin was born on February 8, 1850, in St. Louis, Missouri. She began to write after her husband’s death. Among her more than 100 short stories are ‘Désirée’s Baby’ and ‘Madame Celestin’s Divorce.’ The Awakening (1899), a realistic novel about the sexual and artistic awakening of a young mother who abandons her family, was initially condemned for its sexual frankness but was later acclaimed.
***
Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards (February 27, 1850 – January 14, 1943) was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to a high-profile family. During her life, she wrote over 90 books, including children’s, biographies, poetry, and others. A well-known children’s poem for which she is noted is the literary nonsense verse ‘Eletelephony.’
***
Alice Ruth Moore Dunbar Nelson (July 19, 1875 September 18, 1935) was an American poet, journalist, and political activist. Among the first generation born free in the South after the Civil War, she was one of the prominent African Americans involved in the artistic flourishing of the Harlem Renaissance.
***
Louisa May Alcott was born on November 29, 1832, in Germantown, Pennsylvania. Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson were family friends. Alcott wrote under various pseudonyms and only started using her own name when she was ready to commit to writing.
***
Hans Christian Andersen was born in Odense, Denmark, on April 2, 1805. Andersen achieved worldwide fame for writing innovative and influential fairy tales. Many of his stories, including ‘The Ugly Duckling’ and ‘The Princess and the Pea, ‘ remain classics of the genre.
***
Charles Dickens was a prolific and highly influential 19th century British author, who penned such acclaimed works as ‘Oliver Twist, ‘ ‘A Christmas Carol, ‘ ‘David Copperfield’ and ‘Great Expectations.’