Langston Hughes was a prolific writer: the author of plays, poetry, novels, autobiography, and children's tales. But it is in his short stories that readers see most clearly his greatest talents--his gift for humor and irony, his love for the vernacular, his brilliance in depicting character, and his profound perceptions about America. This new collection of 47 stories, written between 1919 and 1963, follows Hughes's literary blossoming and the development of his political and personal concerns.