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Best-selling author Alan Lightman selects the year’s finest nonfiction as this acclaimed series celebrates its fifteenth year. He has chosen a diverse, very personal collection that celebrates the essay as an independent genre unlike any other. This year’s pieces embrace stylistic freedom and strong opinions and afford the reader a fascinating view of the writer’s mind as it struggles with truth, memory, and experience. Featured writers include Jamaica Kincaid, Edward Hoagland, Cynthia Ozick, Mary Gordon, Edwidge Danticat, and others.
List of contents
Contents Foreword by Robert Atwan ix Introduction by Alan Lightman xiii andré aciman. The Last Time I Saw Paris 1 from Commentary wendell berry. In Distrust of Movements 13 from Orion ian buruma. The Joys and Perils of Victimhood 20 from The New York Review of Books fred d’aguiar. A Son in Shadow 32 from Harper’s Magazine edwidge danticat. Westbury Court 47 from New Letters william h. gass. In Defense of the Book 52 from Harper’s Magazine mary gordon. Rome: The Visible City 64 from Salmagundi edward hoagland. Earth’s Eye 80 from Sierra jamaica kincaid. Those Words That Echo . . . Echo . . . Echo Through Life 86 from The New York Times geeta kothari. If You Are What You Eat, Then What Am I? 91 from The Kenyon Review richard mccann. The Resurrectionist 101 from Tin House cynthia ozick. The Synthetic Sublime 110 from The New Yorker scott russell sanders. The Force of Spirit 122 from Orion lynne sharon schwartz. At a Certain Age 134 from The Threepenny Review peter singer. The Singer Solution to World Poverty 140 from The New York Times Magazine floyd skloot. Gray Area: Thinking with a Damaged Brain 147 from Creative Nonfiction mark slouka. Listening for Silence 160 from Harper’s Magazine cheryl strayed. Heroin/e 169 from DoubleTake andrew sullivan. What’s So Bad About Hate? 182 from The New York Times Magazine steven weinberg. A Designer Universe? 201 from The New York Review of Books terry tempest williams. A Shark in the Mind of One Contemplating Wilderness 211 from The Nation Biographical Notes 221 Notable Essays of 1999 226
About the author
ROBERT ATWAN has been the series editor of
The Best American Essays since its inception in 1986. He has edited numerous literary anthologies and written essays and reviews for periodicals nationwide.
Summary
Best-selling author Alan Lightman selects the year’s finest nonfiction as this acclaimed series celebrates its fifteenth year. He has chosen a diverse, very personal collection that celebrates the essay as an independent genre unlike any other. This year’s pieces embrace stylistic freedom and strong opinions and afford the reader a fascinating view of the writer’s mind as it struggles with truth, memory, and experience. Featured writers include Jamaica Kincaid, Edward Hoagland, Cynthia Ozick, Mary Gordon, Edwidge Danticat, and others.
Additional text
Alan Lightman makes his mark on the “always outstanding collection [that] seems to outdo itself each year."
Boston Globe
