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