In the 1870s Bret Harte was the most widely read and well-paid author in the United States. Stories such as The Luck of Roaring Camp--the tale of a Gold Rush community that thrilled readers upon its publication in 1868--virtually invented California as a subject for literature and exerted a profound influence on the development of the short story form in America. This collection contains his best work and demonstrates Harte's remarkable control of...