Inscribed and signed by the author to a well-known Southern bibliographer, on the half-title: "This copy of [American Earth] signed for Stuart Wright by Erskine Caldwell April 1983". This is Caldwell's first published collection of short stories and his third book, the one immediately preceding his classic Tobacco Road. Caldwell was one of the most important and controversial authors of his time, with his stark depictions of the underclass of the rural South, and his focus on issues of race, gender and class.