Ambrose Bierce Books & Short Stories on Audio

Witty, opinionated alphabetical examples of what Bierce considered poor (American) English and advice on alternatives – entertaining, thought-provoking, occasionally outdated but so interesting to see how style and taste have changed. Summary by Philippa

This collection includes The Oval Portrait by Edgar Allan Poe; Ethan Brand by Nathaniel Hawthorne; The Yellow Sign by Robert W. Chambers; The Upper Berth by F. Marion Crawford; and An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce.

Ambrose Bierce (1842 – 1914?), satirist, critic, poet, short story writer and journalist. In the Devil's Dictionary, he let his sense of humour and his cynical outlook on life colour a collection of dictionary-like definitions.

At the outset of the American Civil War, [the writer Ambrose] Bierce enlisted in the Union Army's 9th Indiana Infantry Regiment....In February 1862 he was commissioned First Lieutenant, and served on the staff of General William Babcock Hazen as a topographical engineer, making maps of likely battlefields.

Includes four stories: My Favorite Murder, Oil of Dog, An Imperfect Conflagration, The Hypnotist.

Civilization, Immortality, the Death Penalty, these are just a few of the essays enclosed in this collection, A Cynic Looks At Life.

Five great American short story writers, dating from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, are represented here. Different in atmosphere and writing style, they...

CYNIC, n. A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be.

A tragic but very captivating tale of a monk in the 17th century.

Here are eight stories from master American writers of the nineteenth century.