This anthology features the best stories from the first twenty years of Open City magazine, including works by an array of debut and established writers. Featured pieces are: "Uncertain Times," the beginning of an unfinished work by Richard Yates, a fictional account of his time as a speech writer for Robert Kennedy; "The Egg Man" by Scott Smith (author of A Simple Plan); "High Wire" by Robert Stone"; "Eurotrash" by Irvine Welsh, which was his debut publication in the US and has since not appeared in any other publication; "17 Quai Voltaire," an essay by Paul Bowles that has also not appeared elsewhere. Other featured writers whose stories marked their debut publications are: Sam Lipsyte, Vestal McIntyre, Lara Vapnyar, and Martha McPhee. Other highlights: stories by Mary Gaitskill, A. M. Homes, Bruce Jay Friedman, Jonathan Ames, and Christopher Sorrentino.