| Introduction by Joyce Carol Oates | ||
| Author's Note | ||
| The Innocents Abroad | ||
| Maggie Meriwether's Rich Experience | ||
| The Children's Game | ||
| The Echo and the Nemesis | ||
| The Maiden | ||
| A Modest Proposal | ||
| Caveat Emptor | ||
| The Bostonians, and Other Manifestations of the American Scene | ||
| Life Is No Abyss | ||
| The Hope Chest | ||
| Polite Conversation | ||
| A Country Love Story | ||
| The Bleeding Heart | ||
| The Lippia Lawn | ||
| The Interior Castle | ||
| Cowboys and Indians, and Magic Mountains | ||
| The Healthiest Girl in Town | ||
| The Tea Time of Stouthearted Ladies | ||
| The Mountain Day | ||
| The Darkening Moon | ||
| Bad Characters | ||
| In the Zoo | ||
| The Liberation | ||
| A Reading Problem | ||
| A Summer Day | ||
| The Philosophy Lesson | ||
| Manhattan Island | ||
| Children Are Bored on Sunday | ||
| Beatrice Trueblood's Story | ||
| Between the Porch and the Altar | ||
| I Love Someone | ||
| Cops and Robbers | ||
| The Captain's Gift | ||
| The End of a Career | ||
| An Influx of Poets |