The Best American Essays 2011

Edwidge Danticat, Robert Atwan, Edwidge Danticat, Robert Atwan

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Year: 2011
• Topic: Literature
• eBook ISBN:
  9780547678436
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies
• Index: Literature

The acclaimed author of Breath, Eyes, Memory presents an anthology of personal essays by Hilton Als, Christopher Hitchens, Zadie Smith and others.

In her selection process for this sterling volume, Edwidge Danticat considers the inherent vulnerability of the essay form—a vulnerability that seems all the more present in today's spotlighted public square. As she says in her introduction, "when we insert our 'I' (our eye) to search deeper into someone, something, or ourselves, we are always risking a yawn or a slap, indifference or disdain."

Here are intimate personal essays that examine a range of vital topics, from cancer diagnosis to police brutality, and from devastating natural disasters to the dilemmas of modern medicine. All in all, "the brave voices behind these experiences keep the pages turning" ( Kirkus Reviews).

The Best American Essays 2011 includes entries by Hilton Als, Katy Butler, Toi Derricotte, Christopher Hitchens, Pico Iyer, Charlie LeDuff, Chang-Rae Lee, Lia Purpura, Zadie Smith, Reshma Memon Yaqub, and others.

Notable Essays of 2010

SELECTED BY ROBERT ATWAN

MARILYN ABILDSKOV
The Summer of Barbeques, Hotel Amerika, Spring.

ANDRÉ ACIMAN
My Monet Moment, Condé Nast Traveler, September.

DANIEL AKST
America: Land of Loners?, Wilson Quarterly, Summer.

MARCIA ALDRICH
My Dog Anubis, Northwest Review, vol. 48, no. 2.

SUE ALLISON
Dream Work, Harvard Review, no. 38.

SUSANNE ANTONETTA
Hosts, Image, Spring.

JACOB M. APPEL
Judy & Malcolm: Maybe a Love Story, Lake Effect, Spring.

CHRIS ARTHUR
Level Crossing, New Hibernia Review, Summer.

ALLISON BACKOUS
Lament, Image, Fall.

PHYLLIS BARBER
The Knife Handler, Agni, no. 71.

WENDY BARKER
Let’s Party, Cerise Press, Summer.

KIM BARNES
On Language: A Short Meditation, Fugue, Winter/Spring.

RICK BASS
The Burning Present, Tricycle, Winter.

GREG BATHON
An Incident on the Mysore Road, Fifth Wednesday, Spring.

ELIF BATUMAN
Kafka’s Last Trial, New York Times Magazine, September 26.

WILLIAM BAUDE
Last Chance on Death Row, Wilson Quarterly, Autumn.

RICHARD BAUSCH
How to Write in 700 Easy Lessons, Atlantic, October.

JESSICA BENKO
Mother of God, Child of Zeus, Virginia Quarterly Review, Fall (online).

ABBIE J. BERGDALE
Stuck Town, Gargoyle, no. 56.

AKEEL BILGRAMI
On Miscellany, Raritan, Spring.

LUCIENNE S. BLOCH
365 New Words a Year: October, North American Review, Summer.

DEIRDRE BONIFAZ
Letters from Salinger, Massachusetts Review, vol. 51, no. 4.

JOE BONOMO
Occasional Prayer, Fourth Genre, Spring.

BARRIE JEAN BORICH
Navigating Jazz, Indiana Review, Winter.

VICTOR BROMBERT
Virginia Woolf—“Death is the Enemy,” Hudson Review, Autumn.

JAMES S. BROWN
Riverboat Pilot, Sewanee Review, Fall.

JACK BUSHNELL
The Swallows of Selborne, Gettysburg Review, Spring.

MARY CAPPELLO
Squalor, Hotel Amerika, Fall.

JOY CASTRO
Hip Joints, Indiana Review, Winter.

VERONICA CHAMBERS
Small Wonder, Vogue, May.

KATHERINE LIEN CHARIOTT Daughters Made of Dust (Collateral Damage), TLR, Spring.

ALEXANDER CHEE
I, Reader, Morning News, November 29 (online).

CAROL CLAASSEN
Terminal Punctuation, Pinch, Spring.

MARISA P. CLARK
Here Come the Brides, Apalachee Review, no. 60.

TOM COAKLEY
How to Speak about the Secret Desert Wars, Fourth Genre, Spring.

TA-NEHISI COATES
The Littlest Schoolhouse, Atlantic, July/August.

GARNETT KILBERG COHEN
Alzheimer’s Daughter, PMS, no. 10.

MICHAEL COHEN
On Not Being E. B. White, Kenyon Review, Fall.

THOMAS J. COTTLE
Our Thoughts and Our Prayers, Antioch Review, Spring.

LISA COUTURIER
Dark Horse, Orion, July/August.
M. EILEEN CRONIN
In Annie’s Hands. Third Coast, Spring.

HAL CROWTHER
In Defense of Straight-Chuters, Blackbird, Spring.
J. R. CRUTCHFIELD
Sirens, Epoch, vol. 59, no. 1.

JOHN D’AGATA
What Happens There, Believer, January.

MICHAEL DANKO
Red, Tusculum Review, no. 6.

ED DANTE
The Shadow Scholar, Chronicle Review, November 19.

ALAIN DE BOTTON
Improvable Feasts, Harper’s, August.

NICHOLAS DELBANCO
Conclusion, Salmagundi, Spring/ Su...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Contents
• Copyright
• Foreword: Confessions of an Anthologist
• Introduction
• Buddy Ebsen
• Port-au-Prince: The Moment
• What Broke My Father’s Heart
• Auscultation
• After the Ice
• Beds
• Grieving
• A-LOC
• Topic of Cancer
• Chapels
• Long Distance
• What Killed Aiyana Stanley-Jones?
• Magical Dinners
• What Really Happened
• Rude Am I in My Speech
• Lucky Girl
• There Are Things Awry Here
• Patient
• Pearl, Upward
• Generation Why?
• Travels with My Ex
• A Personal Essay by a Personal Essay
• Unprepared
• The Washing
• Contributors’ Notes
• Notable Essays of 2010