Today, we are cracking open a specific piece of literary history. We’re looking at two tales that were hand-picked over a century ago for the classroom in the 1921 collection, Modern Short Stories: A Book for High Schools.

This influential volume was edited by Frederick Houk Law, Ph.D., a scholar who believed that short fiction should not just entertain, but challenge the reader to think deeply about human nature. The two stories selected from his collection today do exactly that, placing characters in situations where there are no easy answers.

We’re exploring the high-stakes world of impossible choices, featuring two stories where a single decision can mean the difference between life and death.

First, we head to the front lines of the American Civil War in Jack London’s "War".

Next, we turn to a very different kind of tension in S. Weir Mitchell’s “A Dilemma”.

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