Foreword -- Introduction / E.L. Doctorow -- Black Elvis / Geoffrey Becker -- The story / Amy Bloom -- The beautiful days / Michael Byers -- The ordinary son / Ron Carlson -- Call if you need me / Raymond Carver -- Bones of the inner ear / Kiana Davenport -- Nilda / Junot D�iaz -- The gilgul of Park Avenue / Nathan Englander -- The fix / Percival Everett -- Good for the soul / Tim Gautreaux -- He's at the office / Allan Gurganus -- Blind Jozef Pronek / Aleksandar Hemon -- The anointed / Kathleen Hill -- The bridegroom / Ha Jin -- The thing around them / Marilyn Krysl -- The third and final continent / Jhumpa Lahiri -- Pet fly / Walter Mosley -- Brownies / ZZ Packer -- Allog / Edith Pearlman -- People in hell just want a drink of water / Annie Proulx -- Basil the dog / Frances Sherwood -- Contributors' notes -- 100 other distinguished stories of 1952 -- Editorial addresses of American and Canadian magazines publishing short stories.

A compilation of twenty-one American short stories originally published in magazines and periodicals issued between January 1952 and January 2000, selected for inclusion by guest editor E.L. Doctorow, with contributors' notes, and a list of one hundred additional distinguished stories of 1952.