Short Stories, Five Decades

A poor man's Cheever, Irwin Shaw was a man of his times, and his writing reflects the issues faced by the "common man" from the 1930s through the 1970s. He reminds us that not everybody in America was rich and ennui-infected. "The Eighty-Yard Run" is his classic study of the effects of the Depression on one man's marriage and his sense of self. "Sailor Off the Bremen" depicts a brutal act of vengence committed under the guise of political activism, "The Passion of Lance Corporal Hawkins" shows us an equally violent incident in the birth of Israel, "Main Currents of American Thought" looks at a hack writer in the age of radio, and "Act of Faith" is an optimistic if cautious affirmation of American values. "The Girls in Their Summer Dresses," with its breezy prediction of a new husband's sad and faithless future, was said to have been John F. Kennedy's favorite short story. Shaw's words have a masculine beauty to them, while his plots are precise and honed.

I whole-heartedly agree with the first reviewer of this book - Irwin Shaw was one of the best (if not THE best) American storyteller(s) of the 20th century. Beautiful prose, great characters, lots of emotion - his books just seem to sparkle with life. This wonderful collection of short stories - written between the 1930's and the 1980's - will leave you with even deeper admiration of his writing skills if all you've ever read of Mr. Shaw is "Rich Man, Poor Man" (which is an equally great novel).

Why have we forgotten this guy? "The Eighty Yard Run" is the greatest short story ever written! And that's just one of the many wonderful stories in this big volume. To think that it's out of print is almost criminal. John F. Kennedy was a fan of Irwin Shaw and you should be, too! Irwin Shaw wrote "Rich Man, Poor Man," which became one of the first TV mini-series back around 1976 or 1977. It was the series that gave Nick Nolte his first break. Along with John O'Hara and John Cheever, Irwin Shaw is one of America's greatest story tellers. The stories in this volume deserve to be put back into circulation!

Irwin Shaw's best work is found in this collection of short stories. From the "Girls in their pretty dresses" to "God was here but he left early," the reader is allowed to meander through the best short fiction of this century save John O'hara.