O. Henry for the Holidays

Complete with helpful notes about each short story''s biographical and cultural contexts. ''There are just as many real Christmas stories as ever, if we would only dig ''em up,'' wrote William Sydney Porter. The first short story he published under the pen name O. Henry was a holiday tale (''Whistling Dick''s Christmas Stocking''), while his best-known work, ''The Gift of the Magi,'' has inspired countless Yuletide movies and television episodes. Library of America presents all seven of his seasonal offerings-including two about Thanksgiving, the ''one day that is purely American'': The Purple Dress; Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen; Whistling Dick''s Christmas Stocking; A Chaparral Christmas Gift; Christmas by Injunction; The Gift of the Magi; Compliments of the Season. You''ll meet characters only O. Henry could have imagined: Maida, a shop clerk who scrimps and saves for a new dress to wear to the employee holiday party. Stuffy Pete, a homeless man who suffers through the generosity of back-to-back Thanksgiving dinners. The Frio Kid, a murderous outlaw who unexpectedly commits a single act of generosity. Whistling Dick, a tramp who stumbles upon a potentially lethal act of arson and robbery. Cherokee, a gold prospector who strikes it rich and decides to play Santa Claus. And Fuzzy, an alcoholic ''soldier of misfortune,'' who stumbles upon the lost rag doll belonging to a millionaire''s five-year-old daughter. Always witty, often outrageously funny, and filled with O. Henry''s famous plot twists, these stories take readers from New Mexico and Texas, through New Orleans, and to New York City to find the holiday spirit all across America.