This rather eclectic collection contains 43 stories that were published between 1927 and 1963. Most were originally published in periodicals, then collected in four volumes of stories: The Ways of White Folks (1934), Laughing to Keep from Crying (1952), The Langston Hughes Reader (1958), and Something in Common and Other Stories (1963). There are also three stories that he wrote in high school between 1915 and 1919 and one written in 1927 but was unpublished. This is a rich volume; one that you will find difficult to set down. It is Hughes at his finest.