Thanksgiving began as a day of giving thanks and sacrifice for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year. Although Thanksgiving has historical roots in religious and cultural traditions, it has long been celebrated as a secular holiday as well. Being the holiday that marks the opening of the Holiday Season, Thanksgiving is an important part of the identity and culture of North America.Have fun with seven short stories selected by the critic August Nemo that bring all the atmosphere of union and gratitude of this date:- An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving by Louisa May Alcott- Thankful by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman- Turkeys Turning The Tables by William Dean Howells- How We Kept Thanksgiving at Oldtown by Harriet Beecher Stowe- Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen by O. Henry- Three Thanksgiving Kisses by Edward Payson Roe- The First Thanksgiving by Albert F. Blaisdell& Francis K. BallFor more books with interesting themes, be sure to check the other books in this collection!

Louisa May Alcott was born on November 29, 1832, in Germantown, Pennsylvania. Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson were family friends. Alcott wrote under various pseudonyms and only started using her own name when she was ready to commit to writing. Her novel Little Women gave Louisa May Alcott financial independence and a lifetime writing career. She died in 1888.Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman (born Oct. 31, 1852, Randolph, Mass., U.S.died March 13, 1930, Metuchen, N.J.) was an American writer known for her stories and novels of lives in New England villages.William Dean Howells, (born March 1, 1837, Martins Ferry, Ohio, U.S.died May 11, 1920, New York City), U.S. novelist and critic, the dean of late 19th-century American letters, the champion of literary realism, and the close friend and adviser of Mark Twain and Henry James.Harriet Beecher Stowe, (born June 14, 1811, Litchfield, Connecticut, U.S.died July 1, 1896, Hartford, Connecticut), American writer and philanthropist, the author of the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, which contributed so much to popular feeling against slavery that it is cited among the causes of the American Civil War.William Sydney Porter (September 11, 1862 June 5, 1910), better known by his pen name O. Henry, was an American short story writer. His stories are known for their surprise endings.Edward Payson Roe (1837-1888), American author, horticulturalist, and clergyman wrote Barriers Burned Away (1872).Albert F. Blaisdell and Francis K. Ball are the American co-authors of several historical short story collections for children, including Short Stories from American History (1905) and Stories of the Civil War (1890).