Edited by Robert N. Linscott

A collection of twenty-five of the best stories of Bret Harte, outstanding chronicler of the turbulent frontier. Here are the golden days of early California; the life of the mining camp, barroom and gambling hall, depicted with fresh and vivid color; here are Jack Hamlin, John Oakhurst, Colonel Starbottle and Salomy Jane; Poker Flat, Sandy Bar and Red Dog; here, in short, is a cross-section of American life at its most picturesque, described in some of the best short stories that any American has written.