“Book Descriptions: A true essay is “something hazarded, not definitive, not authoritative; something ventured on the basis of the author’s personal experience and subjectivity,” writes guest editor Jonathan Franzen in his introduction. However, his main criterion for selecting The Best American Essays 2016 was, in a word, risk. Whether the risks involved championing an unpopular opinion, the possibility of ruining a professional career, or irrevocably offending family, for Franzen, “the writer has to be like the firefighter, whose job, while everyone else is fleeing the flames, is to run straight into them.”
Bajadas / Francisco Cantú Girl / Alexander Chee Against honeymoons / Charles Comey Names / Paul Crenshaw Ordinary girls / Jaquira Díaz My father and the wine / Irina Dumitrescu My heart lies between "the fleet" and "all the ships" / Ela Harrison The bonds of battle / Sebastian Junger Sexual paranoia / Laura Kipnis Thin places / Jordan Kisner Pyre / Amitava Kumar Of human carnage / Richard M. Lange Bastards / Lee Martin Family tradition / Lisa Nikolidakis The lost sister : an elegy / Joyce Carol Oates Right/left : a triptych / Marsha Pomerantz Big night / Jill Sisson Quinn Killing like they do in the movies / Justin Phillip Reed A general feeling of disorder / Oliver Sacks In praise of contempt / Katherine E. Standefer The eleventh commandment / George Steiner Namesake / Mason Stokes Black and blue and blond / Thomas Chatterton Williams” DRIVE
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