Round Up was a
Literary Guild selection at the time of its publication. It was one of the few
collections of short stories that disproved the old adage that "short
stories don't sell” and it has sold steadily ever since. The reason is easy to
see: Ring Lardner reproduces American life so well that the flavor of his
stories never becomes dull. His baseball stories are classics. You Know Me Al has become a phrase in
our language. His stories of family life, barbed as they may be, are
nevertheless true to life, perceptive, and first-class reporting.
As Mr. Mumford said, "Out of the boiler-plate of
current slang he has achieved a living speech; out of canned goods and
synthetic breakfast foods he has produced, with consummate art, a seven-course
dinner."
This special edition of ROUND UP has been made available to
the Armed Forces of the United States through an arrangement with the original
publisher, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.
Armed Services Editions, Inc., a non-profit organization
sponsored by the Council on Books in Wartime