American Short Stories cover

American Short Stories

by Douglas Grant

My kinsman: Major Mollineux / Nathaniel Hawthorne -- [Black cat](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL41068W) / Edgar Allan Poe -- Benito Cereno / Herman Melville -- Baker's bluejay yarn / Mark Twain -- The coup de grâce / Ambrose Bierce -- The beast in the jungle / Henry James -- The return of a private / Hamlin Garland -- Roman fever / Edith Wharton -- The open boat / Stephen Crane -- The heathen / Jack London -- I want to know why / Sherwood Anderson -- A day's work / Katharine Anne Porter -- Dry September / William Faulkner -- The short happy life of Francis Macomber / Ernest Hemingway.

Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?