Men Without Women was a milestone in Hemingway's career. Fiesta had already established him as a novelist of exceptional power, but with these short stories, his second collection, he showed that it is possible, within the space of a few pages, to recreate a scene with absolute truth, bringing to life details observed only by the eye of a uniquely gifted artist.
Hemingway's men are bullfighters and boxers, hired hands and hard drinkers, gangsters and gumen. Each of their stories deals with masculine toughness unsoftened by woman's hand. Incisive, …