7 Best Short Stories by Bret Harte

Book excerpt: Bret Harte was the first American writer from the West Coast to gain an international reputation. He was instrumental in introducing frontier literature to eastern audiences. His stories established many of the basic characteristics of the western genre: rough, sarcastic humor, rustic dialect, and character types such as good-natured gamblers, greedy bankers, and prostitutes with hearts of gold. We selected seven short stories from this author so that you can know and appreciate his work: The Luck of Roaring Camp The Outcasts of Poker Flat Colonel Starbottle for the Plaintiff A Convert of the Mission A Widow of the Santa Ana Valley A Yellow Dog Melons