Ambrose Bierce's satirical flair is most prevalent in his tall tales and similar sketches, where all manner of human foibles are lampooned: the excesses of the press; the corruption endemic in business; the absurdities of class distinctions; and so on. Several tales depict buffooneries on the open sea ("The Jeannette and the Corwin, " "The History of Windbag the Sailor"), while others expose the crudities of life in the American West ("A Mirage in Arizona").

A distinctive facet of Bierce's work is a series of political fantasies, several of them taking place in the future, where his skewering of social and political institutions-the dominance of "trusts" or monopolies; the evils of insurance; and the very principle of democracy-are pungently satirized.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) was the leading American writer of weird fiction between Edgar Allan Poe and H. P. Lovecraft. Having served in some of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, Bierce settled in San Francisco, where he became a fearless journalist and satirist, attacking corrupt politicians, long-winded clerics, wretched poetasters, and others who incurred his wrath. The stories in this volume are presented in definitive texts based on a consultation of manuscripts and early publications. They are edited by S. T. Joshi, a leading authority on Bierce and weird fiction.