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 .