Newly updated and expanded with the author's preferred text. A modern masterpiece from the multiple-award-winning master of innovative fiction, Neil Gaiman. First published in 2001, American Gods became an instant classic, lauded for its brilliant synthesis of "mystery, satire, sex, horror, and poetic prose" ( Washington Post ) and as a modern phantasmagoria that "distills the essence of America" ( Seattle Post-Intelligencer ). It is the story of Shadow-released from prison just days after his wife and best friend are killed in an accident-who gets recruited to be bodyguard, driver, and errand boy for the enigmatic trickster, Mr. Wednesday. So begins Shadow's dark and strange road trip, one that introduces him to a host of eccentric characters whose fates are mysteriously intertwined with his own. For, beneath the placid surface of everyday life, a storm is brewing-an epic war for the very soul of America-and Shadow is standing squarely in its path. "Pointed, occasionally comic, often scary, consistently moving and provocative....