About the book: year / One of the most famous humorists in world literature, O. Henry created a unique panorama of American life at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries, in grotesque situations, he conveyed the contrasts and paradoxes of his era, which opened up space for people with business acumen, whom the game of chance either lifts to the pinnacle of success, or casts down to the very bottom of life. ““Many of our great people,” I said (about a whole series phenomena), they acknowledged that they owed their success to the participation and help of some brilliant woman. “Yes,” said Jeff Peters. – I happened to read both in history and in mythology about Joan of Arc, about Madame Ial, about Mrs. Caudle, about Eve and other wonderful women of the past. But women of our time, in my opinion, are almost useless both in business and in political life. Where is the modern woman fit? After all, men nowadays are better at cooking, and at washing and ironing better. The best nurses, servants, hairdressers, stenographers, clerks are all men. The only thing in which a woman is superior to a man is playing female roles in vaudeville…»