Amazon.com (ISBN 0316492035, Hardcover)

The first published stories by 41 famous authors including James Baldwin, William Faulkner, Alice Munro, Kurt Vonnegut, Raymond Carver, Eudora Welty, Isaac Bashevis Singer, and Ursula K. Le Guin. In the introduction, Jane Smiley writes, "What is clear from this volume ... and worth cherishing, is the astonishing uniqueness of even the most tentative of these voices." You may also enjoy, as I did, seeing how greatly the quality and confidence of these first published stories varied, and how much the character of the later writing is evident in these early pieces. This is a great anthology. --MTB