In 1992, Richard Ford edited and introduced the first Granta Book of the American Short Story . It became the definitive anthology of American short fiction written in the last half of the twentieth century--an "exemplary choice" in the words of The Washington Post --with stories by Eudora Welty, John Cheever, Raymond Carver, and forty others demonstrating how much memorable power can lie in the briefest narration. In the years since, Ford has been...