This volume features twenty-five of the nearly two hundred short stories produced by Charlotte Perkins Gilman during her lifetime. Denise D. Knight has collected stories that demonstrate Gilman's remarkable versatility as a writer of fiction. Although primarily didactic, the stories represent a surprising range of form and style, from fictionalized autobiography to satire, to parables and fables. Gilman's voice reveals both a staunch feminist fiercely committed to promoting social change and a woman whose caustic wit was unmatched by her contemporaries. The original manuscript version of "The Yellow Wall-Paper" and many of the other stories included are here anthologized for the first time. The edition is complete with a critical introduction, explanatory notes, and primary and secondary bibliographies . The fiction included in this volume is divided into five parts: part 1 includes three works based on incidents from Gilman's life, each written in California in the early 1890s; part 2 reprints six stories that explore human rights and social conflicts; the third part features five stories examining issues of autonomy and independence; part 4 comprises four works focusing on a favorite theme of Gilman's - female bonding; and the last section reprints seven short narratives that include stylistic imitations of two of Gilman's contemporaries.