The 100 best short story collections from the United States

No. 11 on this list. In Our Time · Ernest Hemingway · 1925

In Our Time is widely taught in American literature survey courses as the foundational text of Hemingway's iceberg style. It appears on thousands of university syllabi and is the required starting point for understanding modernist short fiction in America. The Modern Library and most major American literature curricula treat it as essential.

No. 12 on this list. Hills Like White Elephants · Ernest Hemingway · 1927

One of the most anthologized short stories in English, taught in high school and college courses as the model of the iceberg technique. It sits just below the novels at the centre of the American curriculum.

No. 13 on this list. Go Down, Moses · William Faulkner · 1942

Go Down, Moses is recognized as central to American modernism and Southern gothic literature. It appears consistently in university curricula and major literary anthologies. While not achieving the absolute canonical singularity of Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury or Absalom, Absalom!, it commands secure canonical standing within American letters.

No. 14 on this list. In the Heart of the Heart of the Country · William Gass · 1968

In the Heart of the Heart of the Country was first published in 1968 and immediately positioned Gass — alongside Barth, Pynchon, and Coover — as a founding figure of American postmodern fiction. The NYRB Classics reprint with an introduction by Joanna Scott confirms its place in the American literary canon. It is taught in graduate programs in literary fiction and cited in essays on American experimental prose. Its canonical position is more secure in academic contexts than in general readership, placing it below Invisible Man or Blood Meridian but above most of its experimental contemporaries.

No. 15 on this list. Benito Cereno · Herman Melville · 1855

One of the most taught American novellas, central to literary discussions of race, slavery, and narrative perspective.

No. 16 on this list. Cathedral · Raymond Carver · 1983

Cathedral is a fixture in American university literature and creative writing courses, anchoring syllabi alongside Hemingway and Chekhov as a defining example of minimalist short fiction. The title story is one of the most anthologized American short stories of the twentieth century, and the collection appears on virtually every 'essential American short fiction' reading list. No syllabus data is available from the database, but Carver's pedagogical presence is well-documented across MFA programs.

No. 17 on this list. Sixty Stories · Donald Barthelme · 1981

The essential Barthelme collection and one of the most important story collections in American literature. A standard text in creative writing and contemporary literature courses.

No. 18 on this list. What We Talk About When We Talk About Love · Raymond Carver · 1981

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love is a fixture of creative writing programs and American literature syllabi worldwide. It is the single most-cited example of literary minimalism and appears on virtually every 'essential short story collections' list. The title story alone is anthologized so frequently it functions as a standalone canonical text.

No. 19 on this list. The Beast In The Jungle · Henry James · 1903

Included in: Great Books of the Western World

Ranked by literary regard among eligible works in the current catalogue. This position reflects the available catalogue evidence.

No. 20 on this list. The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas · Ursula K Le Guin · 1973

Widely taught in philosophy, ethics, and literature courses globally. Anthologized in hundreds of collections and featured on virtually every 'essential short fiction' list. Its presence in academic syllabi rivals Borges and Kafka in ethics curricula, where it functions as a standard thought-experiment text.

No. 21 on this list. Exhalation: Stories · Ted Chiang · 2019

Exhalation appears on 129 syllabi across university courses in science fiction, ethics, and philosophy of mind. With a Wikipedia presence across 24 languages and inclusion on Barack Obama's 2019 summer reading list, the collection has achieved broad recognition outside genre boundaries. It sits at the high end of contemporary short fiction without yet reaching the settled canonical status of Chiang's own Story of Your Life.

No. 22 on this list. Billy Budd, Sailor · Herman Melville

Taught in schools: Common Core text exemplars (Appendix B) (US)

Billy Budd is a fixture in American literature courses, canonized alongside Moby-Dick as one of Melville's essential works and one of the foundational American novellas. Although the data signals show no tracked syllabus entries in this database, the text has been continuously taught at university level since its rediscovery in the 1920s and appears on virtually every American literature syllabus covering the 19th century. It is frequently included on lists of great American fiction.

No. 23 on this list. Winesburg, Ohio · Sherwood Anderson · 1919

Appears on 548 university syllabi (68th percentile in the Open Syllabus Project) and is included in the Modern Library 100 Best Novels list. Wikipedia coverage in 15 languages is modest relative to works like The Great Gatsby, but the book has a stable presence in American literature survey courses and has never gone out of print since 1919.

No. 24 on this list. Daisy Miller · Henry James · 1878

A fixture of American literature syllabi and 19th-century fiction courses, Daisy Miller appears in virtually every survey of American letters. Though database signals are absent, its status as one of James's most accessible and widely taught works is firmly established. It is consistently anthologized alongside canonical American fiction of the period.

No. 25 on this list. The Yellow Wall-Paper · Charlotte Perkins Gilman · 1892

It is a fixture of American literature and women's studies courses and widely anthologized. Its place sits just below the great canon, and the Open Library record lists it among open syllabus project works.

No. 26 on this list. The Lottery and Other Stories · Shirley Jackson · 1949

The title story 'The Lottery' is one of the most anthologized and taught short stories in the American canon, appearing in virtually every introduction-to-fiction textbook. The collection itself appears regularly on American short-story syllabi. Jackson's work has experienced a major critical reassessment since the 2010s, elevating her from genre curiosity to recognized American master.

No. 27 on this list. Ethan Frome · Edith Wharton · 1911

One of the most widely assigned American novels, a staple of high school and college curricula. A central text of American literary realism.

No. 28 on this list. The House on Mango Street · Sandra Cisneros · 1984

Taught in schools: CSEC English B – Caribbean Examinations Council, Pacific Senior Secondary Certificate – English

One of the most widely taught works in American secondary and university curricula, particularly in Chicano/Latino literature, women's studies, and multicultural American literature courses. It has appeared on thousands of syllabi since the 1980s and is included on numerous lists of essential American literary texts, placing it firmly in the secondary canon alongside works like Beloved.

No. 29 on this list. Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? · Raymond Carver · 1976

Widely taught in American literature and creative writing programs across universities, this debut collection established Carver's reputation and was nominated for the National Book Award in 1977. It appears on numerous syllabi in courses covering contemporary American fiction, postmodernism, and short story craft. Not at the level of Beloved or The Great Gatsby in curricular ubiquity, but firmly within the literary canon of 20th-century American writing.

No. 30 on this list. The Things They Carried · Tim O'Brien · 1990

The Things They Carried is one of the most widely taught works in American high school and university curricula, appearing on thousands of syllabi in American literature, war literature, and creative writing courses. It consistently appears on canonical reading lists and "great American novels" compendiums, cementing its place as the defining literary account of the Vietnam War experience.