The short stories of Stephen Crane are among the most prized in American literature, admired for their terse, vivid prose style and hard-edged realism in depicting character and milieu.This volume presents four of Crane's most famous short works. 'The Open Boat' is based on a harrowing incident in the author's life - the 1897 sinking of the Cuban-bound steamer Commodore, on which he was a passenger. The backgrounds of the suspenseful 'The Blue Hotel' and 'The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky' reflect Crane's early travels in Mexico and the American Southwest. The novella 'Maggie - A Girl of the Streets', a galvanizing portrait of life in the slums of New York City, is the work that launched Crane's literary career and prrovided the model for the American novel of social realism .