Other editions of book Cabbages and Kings

This book was written while by a man on the lam, literally, in Honduras. O. Henry (whose real name was William Sydney Porter) was awaiting trial over bank embezzlement changes, and his father in law posted bail to keep him out of jail -- but the day before Porter was due to stand trial he fled, first to New Orleans and later to Honduras. While holed up in a Trujillo, Honduras, hotel for several months, he wrote Cabbages and Kings. This is the book where Henry coined the term "banana republic" to describe the country; the term went on to be used to describe almost any small, unstable tropical nation in Latin America. And then his wife's long-term illness took a turn for the worse: she was dying of tuberculosis. Porter packed his bags and went back to face trial in Houston. This volume is the only work of O. Henry's which approaches being a novel. The stories are related and should be read in the sequence in which they occur in the book.

A series of stories which each explore some individual aspect of life in a paralytically sleepy Central American town while each advancing some aspect of the larger plot and relating back one to another in a complex structure which slowly explicates its own background even as it painstakingly erects a town which is one of the most detailed literary creations of the period.In this book, O. Henry coined the term "banana republic". Set in a fictitious Central American country called the Republic of Anchuria, this is a classic tale that has been loved by many for generations, a great addition to the collection. William Sydney Porter (September 11, 1862 - June 5, 1910), known by his pen name O. Henry, was an American short story writer. O. Henry's short stories are known for their surprise endings. He was born in Greensboro, North Carolina. He changed the spelling of his middle name to Sydney in 1898. PROEM (excerpt) They will tell you in Anchuria, that President Miraflores, of that volatile republic, died by his own hand in the coast town of Coralio; that he had reached thus far in flight from the inconveniences of an imminent revolution; and that one hundred thousand dollars, government funds, which he carried with him in an American leather valise as a souvenir of his tempestuous administration, was never afterward recovered... It is characteristic of this buoyant people that they pursue no man beyond the grave. "Let God be his judge!"—Even with the hundred thousand unfound, though greatly coveted, the hue and cry went no further than that. To the stranger or the guest the people of Coralio will relate the story of the tragic end of their former president; how he strove to escape from the country with the public funds and also with Doña Isabel Guilbert, the young American opera singer; and how, being apprehended by members of the opposing political party in Coralio, he shot himself through the head rather than give up the funds, and, in consequence, the Señorita Guilbert. They will relate further that Doña Isabel, her adventurous bark of fortune shoaled by the simultaneous loss of her distinguished admirer and the souvenir hundred thousand, dropped anchor on this stagnant coast, awaiting a rising tide. They say, in Coralio, that she found a prompt and prosperous tide in the form of Frank Goodwin, an American resident of the town, an investor who had grown wealthy by dealing in the products of the country—a banana king, a rubber prince, a sarsaparilla, indigo, and mahogany baron...

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

LONGTIME FANS of O. Henry will be delighted with this volume. Critics and reviewers, though, have been split on how to categorize it. For some, it is a collection of short stories that can be read as a novel; for others, it is the opposite. Whatever the category, CABBAGES AND KINGS is O. Henry at his best. Set in the fictional Republic of Anchuria, it follows the adventures of a variety of characters—most American expatriates—manipulating their colorful ways through the intrigues of Central American politics and economics. William Sydney Porter, the man behind the pen name, was quite a colorful expatriate, himself. Indicted for embezzlement, Porter had fled to Honduras, a country with which the United States had no extradition treaty, in 1896. Drawing on that country’s ties with American fruit-growers and unstable regimes, he wrote his novel/short stories (coining the phrase “banana republic” in the process) before returning home to face criminal charges. That one blight to the author’s reputation has had no apparent effect on his popularity. His wit, his quirky and memorable characters, his whimsical style, and especially his plot twists at the end have made O. Henry an enduring favorite.