Synopsis
Since its inception in 1915, the Best American series has become the premier annual showcase for the country's finest short fiction and nonfiction. For each volume, a series editor reads pieces from hundreds of periodicals, then selects between fifty and a hundred outstanding works. That selection is pared down to the twenty or so very best pieces by a guest editor who is widely recognized as a leading writer in his or her field. This unique system has helped make the Best American series the most respected -- and most popular -- of its kind.
Here you will find another "splendid array of unpredictable and delectable essays" (Booklist), chosen by the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Louis Menand, another collection with "delights on every page" (Dallas Morning News). The Best American Essays once again earns its place as the liveliest and leading annual of its kind.
Library Journal
Like its predecessors, this year's collection of best American essays covers a wide range of nontechnical subjects: Laura Hillenbrand (Seabiscuit) tells about her amazing and ongoing battle with chronic fatigue syndrome, Jonathan Franzen reminisces about high school pranks, Anne Fadiman tells the remarkable story of arctic explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson, and Gerald Stern describes the strangeness of his feelings after being shot in the neck by a thug. Like these four, the rest of the 22 essays are of the you-can't-stop-reading-'em variety, including previously unpublished essays by James Agee and Tennessee Williams, and are supplemented by a list of more than 100 other "notable essays." Although this series is not included in Essay Index or even mentioned in the Guide to Reference Books, libraries are right to subscribe to it in such large numbers because of its high readability and because it includes so many worthy models for the art of the contemporary essay. Highly recommended.-Peter Dollard, Mt. Pleasant, MI Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.