"A singular and stunning debut novel about the forbidden union between two enslaved young men on a Deep South plantation, the refuge they find in each other, and a betrayal that threatens their existence"--

Stories chosen by teachers of college writing-programs, such courses now taught in 800 universities. The stories range from Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, a slice of life from the Vietnam War, to Amy Tan's Two Kinds, the efforts of a Chinese-American mother to turn her daughter into a prodigy.