The Best American Essays

THE BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS, Sixth College Edition, presents highly regarded contemporary authors at their best. The essays are thematically arranged and selected from the popular trade series of the same name. They also cover common rhetorical modes, including narration and argumentation, providing instructors optimal flexibility with respect to course approach. In the introduction, Robert Atwan offers an overview of various types of essays to prepare students for the readings that follow. To further prepare students, "Essayists on the Essay" offers insightful commentaries about the genre from many of today's top writers.

The college version of The Best American Essays, Fourth Edition, is a collection of essays for first-year composition courses, loosely arranged by broad aims of discourse, including narrative, informative, and argumentative essays. In addition to its rhetorical organization, the reader also offers flexibility for instructors who prefer a thematic or alphabetical organization. The editor introduces students to various types of essays, followed by commentary from well-known writers on such subjects as "Essayi

Since the inception of THE BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS in 1986 as a trade book title, Robert Atwan has been series editor. He has published reviews and essays in a range of periodicals and edited many other literature anthologies. Atwan most recently edited two collections of poetry with a biblical theme: CHAPTERS INTO VERSE by Oxford University Press and DIVINE INSPIRATION by Oxford University Press.