"It was an age of miracles," declared F. Scott Fitzgerald of the 1920s, "it was an age of art, it was an age of excess, and it was an age of satire." No author is more closely associated with the decade than Fitzgerald, who christened it the "Jazz Age" and chronicled its manners and morals. His lyrical, witty fables of society life reveal the disillusionment and cynicism behind the Roaring Twenties' glamorous facade. Six of Fitzgerald's best-loved stories appear here, starting with the title tale, in which a hostess regrets her success at transforming a visiting cousin from wallflower to coquette. Other selections include "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz," a glittering fantasy about the corrupting power of wealth; "The Ice Palace," a quasibiographical story of a restless Southern belle; "The Offshore Pirate"; "The Jelly Bean"; and "May Day." Each considers timeless themes - love, money, power, the search for happiness - that keep them enduringly relevant. AUTHOR: Best known today for novels such as The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald was among the top writers of magazine fiction in the 1920s. In his life as well as his works, he represented the dreams and aspirations of the post-WWI generation. Between his glamorous wife, Zelda, and his cosmopolitan social circle, Fitzgerald projected the ideal image for narrating tales of restless youth in a hectic world.