During his tragically short life, Stephen Crane gained fame as a vividly distinctive writer. His stories of evolving American society are unflinchingly realistic and shrewdly ironic. ´Maggie: A Girl of the Streets´ tells of Maggie´s seduction and downfall into prostitution amid the harsh world of the Bronx, where life is a battlefield. The other tales offer a diversity of insights into social hypocrisy, child psychology, and the wild violence of the frontiersmen. Such violence is ruthlessly depicted in ´The Blue Hotel´. This collection of stories is replete with lively dialogue, ominous atmospheres, dry humour and graphic incidents. Praised by Joseph Conrad and Ernest Hemingway, Stephen Crane´s memorable tales have become enduringly influential.