The binding thread throughout this collection of Ambrose Bierce's letters is the argument that Bierce has been too often vilified as a cynical misanthrope. The authors believe that Bierce's human side has been ignored by scholars, and they work here to rectify this oversight. The importance of this collection is underscored by the fact that no collection of Bierce's letters has been published since 1922. This selection represents a sampling of nearly one-half million words of Bierce's correspondence, which the authors are the first to gather and transcribe.