Damon Runyon Omnibus

Book excerpt: This compilation of the American newspaperman and short story writer Damon Runyon's works is sure to leave you in stitches. Runyon was best known for his short tales celebrating the world of Broadway in New York City, a world that grew out of the Prohibition era of the early twentieth century. To New Yorkers of his generation, a "Damon Runyon character" evoked a distinctive social type from Brooklyn or Midtown Manhattan. He spun humorous and sentimental tales of gamblers, hustlers, actors, and gangsters, few of whom go by "square" names, preferring instead colorful monikers such as "Nathan Detroit", "Benny Southstreet", "Big Jule", "Harry the Horse", "Good Time Charley", "Dave the Dude", or "The Seldom Seen Kid".