Cabbages and Kings

Cabbages and Kings is a collection of intertwined short stories by O. Henry, written during the years he spent travelling around the Caribbean and Central America.

Buoyed and inspired by frequent changes of scenery, O. Henry ably writes scenes from tropical lands which were exotic and mysterious to his mainly American audience. One tale recounts Honduras as it was with a fledgling community of American expatriates, while others peers inside the societies of the Caribbean. Cabbages and Kings narrates a number of stories from multiple perspectives, creating a vibrant and evocative world. 

Each chapter's tale is its own story, but every one feeds into an overall narrative: poignant topics such as governmental corruption, the treatment of the native population, and the fomenting of revolution offer fertile themes for the author. It was in this book that O. Henry famously coined the term 'Banana Republic', which he used to describe any enterprise of a dubious, fly-by-night nature. 

As in most of his stories, those in Cabbages in Kings end in a generally moral fashion, leaving the reader with something to ponder thoughtfully afterward. Distinctively styled and frequently attested by fans for their addictiveness, this collection of O. Henry tales is certain to satisfy.