Ring Lardner first burst upon the literary scene with his greatest popular success, "You Know Me Al". A sportswriter by trade, Lardner had a superb ear for regional peculiarities in speech and was loved for his sense of humor. Funny, sarcastic, sometimes bitter but always ironic, Lardner understood Americans-- their desires, their dreams, and their disappointments. Contained in "Haircut and Other Stories" are some of Lardner's best-known pieces: "Haircut", "Alibi Ike", "The Love Nest", "Zone of Quiet", and "Champion". Through these pages pass con men; an opinionated small-town barber; a nurse who chatters on and on, much to the chagrin of her charges; baseball players who have excuses for everything; and boxers who try to make it in the fight game. Published in "The Saturday Evening Post", "Collier's" and "Vanity Fair", Lardner enjoyed great success and was heralded as a singular talent by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, H. L. Mencken, and Virginia Woolf. "Haircut and Other Stories" is a celebration of people and of America, and is a must for anyone interested in classic American fiction.
