Book excerpt: Twenty stories by Jewish writers from all over the world, including some of the greatest names in modern literature.These stories, deeply rooted in Jewish life and consciousness, reflect authentic, often funny, often moving images of the Jewish people in the modern world. Many major literary figures are represented here: I. L. Peretz, founder of modern Yiddish writing; S. Y. Agnon, Saul Bellow, and Isaac Bashevis Singer, three Nobel Prize-winners; Isaac Babal, often called the greatest master of the Russian short story since Anton Chekhov; contemporary writers Philip Roth, Cynthia Ozick, and Muriel Spark; and many others.