James Thurber, both a whimsical fantasist and deadpan chronicler of everyday absurdities, brought American humor into the 20th century. The comic persona he invented, a modern city dweller whose zaniest flights of free association are tinged with anxiety, remains hilarious, subtly disturbing, and as recognizable as ever. In over 1,000 pages, The Library of America and editor Garrison Keillor present the best and most extensive Thurber collection ever assembled. Here are the acknowledged masterpieces: "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," "The Catbird Seat," the anti-war parable The Last Flower, the brilliantly satirical Fables for Our Time, the children's classic The 13 Clocks, My Life and Hard Times, and the best pieces from The Owl in the Attic, Let Your Mind Alone, and My World and Welcome To It.

Thurber's wonderful drawings are here in profusion with their population of husbands, wives, dogs, seals, and various species of the artist's own invention. Rounding out the volume is a selection from The Years with Ross, and a number of early pieces, several never before reprinted. Also included are notes and a full chronology of Thurber's life.

"James Thurber's writings and drawings were sweet and wacky, vinegary and bleak, and always alive to the comic possibilities of life and the beauty of American prose. The best are now in a single bulging volume [from] The Library of America."—Newsweek

"Keillor's selection of Thurber's oeuvre is both the most generous and most judicious volume available."
—Library Journal