Jean Stafford's writing drew praise from other authors. In the revised version of "The Elements of Style", E.B. White wrote:

"Jean Stafford, to cite a modern author, demonstrates in her story 'In the Zoo' how prose is made vivid by the use of words and images that evoke sensations."

In 1969, Farrar, Straus & Giroux published "In the Zoo" and dozens of other short stories by Ms. Stafford as "The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford". In gratitude for White's kind words, Stafford dedicated the collection to White's wife, editor Katherine S. White.

The book won the 1970 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

This volume groups the stories into four categories, based on their location:

• "The Innocents Abroad" includes stories of Americans traveling to other countries (mostly in Europe) and being disillusioned by the people they encounter
• "The Bostonians, and Other Manifestations of the American Scene" tells of the social elite in New England
• "Cowboys and Indians, and Magic Mountains" is a set of tales set in the American West, where Stafford grew up
• "Manhattan Island" contains her stories of life in New York throughout the twentieth century

With few exceptions (e.g., "The Echo and the Nemesis"), her stories lack a climax or twist at the end. Instead, the author gives us character studies, exploring how people behave when confronted with uncomfortable situations.

"Bad Characters" tells the story of a delinquent girl who requires her schoolmate to become her criminal accomplice in exchange for her friendship.

In "Maggie Meriwether's Rich Experience", an American visits Europe with high expectations, but is disappointed by the pretentiousness of the bohemians she encounters.

The suicide of a friend triggers a woman to reflect on the choices in her own life in "I Love Someone".

"The End of a Career" takes us inside the thoughts of an aging beauty who falls into depression as she sees the irreversible effects of time on her hands.

In addition to her excellent character development, Stafford entertains the reader with excellent prose.

Here is how she describes love: "Falling in love is not an abrupt plunge; it is a gradual descent, seldom in a straight line, rather like the floating downward of a parachute. And the expression is imperfect because while one may fall, one also levitates."

In describing a boring cocktail party: "There were two objects of conversation; one was the food they were eating, and the other was the food they had eaten at other times."

On emotion: "Tears for her homeless self went down her cheeks with the snowflakes, and she let a little sound escape her, the murmur of an unhappy child."

She describes a boring cocktail party: "There were two objects of conversation; one was the food they were eating, and the other was the food they had eaten at other times."

And "The Mountain Day" provides a vivid description of the surrounding beauty of a scene: "Trout were so beautiful they looked like idealized paintings of trout"

"The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford" seems an odd choice for the 1970 Pulitzer Prize. These stories had been published over the course of the previous 25 years and were already included in two other collections. But this does not diminish the quality of those stories.