This is one of those intelligent and scholarly gems that showcases the vast knowledge of its authors and pulls together a lot of material from a collection of sources and from many countries. It contains many examples of the short story and it begins with an 18 page introduction to the short story by Constance Rooke.

Part 1 contains short stories filed by author.

Part 2 is called Symposium on Stories and contains reflections on the short stories via the writers of the stories and other writers and thinkers - some are essays, some are interviews or other formats.

Part 3 is called Casebooks and contains supplementary information that the authors felt deserved another section.

The Appendixes contain information on the history of the short story form, reflections on the impossibility of defining the story, and a section on the elements of fiction.

The authors have put a lot of work into this fascinating and wide reaching work and it deserves a wide readership.