The pared-down style of Hemingway didn't happen overnight. Beginning with Sir Thomas Malory and ending with Kazuo Ishiguro, this anthology chronologically traces the evolution of prose, which gain confidence and extended its range in the late seventeenth century. It wasn't until the eighteenth century, however, that the ornate style of literary giants like Milton and Donne gave way to prose that was recognizably modern. The material included in this anthology is literary, but literary, as the editor states in the introduction, is not the narrow term that it is often made to be -- it embraces an enormous range of experience and response. The New Oxford Book of English Prose pays tribute literature's vibrant diversity by offering glimpses of master craftsmanship from around the globe. Included here are excerpts from writers such varied backgrounds as Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood, Vladimir Nabokov, and Mulk Raj Anand.