Newspaperman, short-story writer, poet, and satirist, Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914) is one of the most unique and remarkable scholarly figures America has produced. Dubbed "Bitter Bierce" for his biting satire, his fame rests broadly on an outstanding compilation of barbed epigrams, The Devil's Dictionary, and a book of short stories (Tales of Soldiers and Civilians, 1891). Most of the 16 selections in this volume have been taken from the latter collection.
The stories in this edition include: ‘What I Saw at Shiloh,’ ‘A Son of the Gods,’ ‘Four Days in Dixie,’ ‘One of the Missing,’ ‘A Horseman in the Sky,’ ‘The Coup de Grace,’ ‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,’ ‘The Story of Conscience,’ ‘One Kind of Officer,’ ‘Chickamauga,’ and five more.
Bierce's stories utilize a buildup of suggestive naturalistic detail to produce gloomy and explicit tales often disturbing in their mood of fatalism and approaching misfortune. Hauntingly representational, they offer excellent examples of the author's dark demoralization and storytelling power.
