Ambrose Bierce's short stories and factual accounts of the Civil War won him lasting fame both for his unflinching portrayals of the realities of war and for his mordant view of the grotesqueries of men in battle. This collection of Bierce's best pieces reflects his life-long obsession with death and calamity and his undoubted talent for producing eloquently cynical short stories, including his famous "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge."

Born in Ohio in 1842, Bierce served with bravery and distinction in the Union Army. After the war, he worked as a journalist both in the United States and in Britain, where he gained the acquaintance of W.S. Gilbert while they both contributed pieces to the magazine Fun. Eventually settling in San Francisco, he established himself as a critic and a satirist, becoming the literary arbiter of the West Coast. Bierce also served as Washington core respondent for Hearst's New York American and was a regular contributor to Cosmopolitan. In 1913, he disappeared while in Mexico.