He was the greatest American writer of his time: mentor to Poe, Dickens, and Hawthorne, his country's first professional author, and a writer of uniqely American ghost stories about growth, change, and identity. This selection specially chosen by the literary critic August Nemo, contains the following stories: - The Legend of Sleepy Hollow - Rip Van Winkle - The Devil and Tom Walker - Christmas - Guest from Gibbet Island - The Legend of the Engulphed Convent - The Adventure of my Uncle