Isaac Babel's work has left an indelible mark on modern literature. The scope of this Norton Critical Edition surpasses that of any other Babel paperback edition and includes his fiction, nonfiction, autobiography, plays, and political writings together with the contextual and critical materials necessary for in-depth study.

Background materials include "Selected Letters of Isaac Babel to His Sister and Mother, 1926-1939," a rich collection of letters-sixty-eight in all, as well as "Isaac Babel Through the Eyes of His Contemporaries," reminiscences by the contemporaries who knew Babel best, including Maxim Gorky, Tamara Ivanova (Kashirina), M. N. Berkov, and Dmitry Furmanov, among others.

"Criticism" reprints four major assessments of Babel's legacy by Viktor Shklovsky, Lionel Trilling, Efraim Sicher, and Gregory Freidin.

A Chronology and a Selected Bibliography are also included.