"A Deal in Wheat and Other Stories of the New and Old West" by Frank Norris is a collection of short stories published posthumously in 1903. These tales span the American West, from wheat speculation at the Chicago Board of Trade to isolated mining camps in California. The title story follows a Kansas wheat farmer destroyed by economic forces beyond his control, tracing his journey from rural ruin to urban poverty. Through naturalistic storytelling, Norris exposes the brutal truths underlying everyday life and the stark divisions between social classes. (This is an automatically generated summary.)