Curated by the #1
New York Times bestselling author of
Wild, this volume shares intimate perspectives from some of today's most acclaimed writers.
As Cheryl Strayed explains in her introduction, "the invisible, unwritten last line of every essay should be
and nothing was ever the same again." The reader, in other words, should feel the ground shift, if even only a bit. In this edition of the acclaimed anthology series, Strayed has gathered twenty-six essays that each capture an inexorable, tectonic shift in life.
Personal and deeply perceptive, this collection examines a broad range of life experiencesāfrom a man's relationship with Mormonism to a woman's search for a serial killer; from listening to the music of Joni Mitchell to surviving five months at sea; from triaging injured soldiers to giving birth to a daughter; and much more.
The Best American Essays 2013 includes entries by Alice Munro, Zadie Smith, John Jeremiah Sullivan, Dagoberto Gilb, Vicki Weiqi Yang, J.D. Daniels, Michelle Mirsky, and others.

- 339 pages
- English
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The Best American Essays 2013
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Information
Notable Essays of 2012
SELECTED BY ROBERT ATWAN
ANWAR F. ACCAWI
The Camel, The Sun, October.
JOAN ACOCELLA
Once upon a Time, The New Yorker, July 23.
JUDITH ADKINS
The Tree, the Forest, Colorado Review, Fall/Winter.
JERRY ADLER
Raging Bulls, Wired, September.
JASON ALBERT
Down and Out in a Repurposed Troop Carrier, Morning News, August 27.
PAMELA ALEXANDER
Brush of Wildness, Cimarron Review, Fall.
SUE ALLISON
What I Did Without You, Crazyhorse, Spring.
HILTON ALS
I Am Your Conscious, I Am Love, Harperās Magazine, December.
AIMEE ANDERSON
Indian Springs, Gargoyle, no. 58.
DONALD ANDERSON
Gathering Noise, Epoch, vol. 61, no. 2.
ISAAC ANDERSON
Lord God Bird, Image, no. 72.
ANONYMOUS
The Facts of the Matter, TriQuarterly, October 22.
DAVID ANTIN
White Ravens Black Helicopters, Southern Review, Spring.
JACOB M. APPEL
Livery, Southeast Review, vol. 30, no. 1.
ELIZABETH ARNOLD
Crossing the Divide, Gettysburg Review, Autumn.
ALAN ARRIVEE
The Appropriate Use of Hands, Florida Review, Summer.
CHRIS ARTHUR
Looking Behind āNothingāsā Door, Hotel Amerika, Spring.
OLUMAYOWA ATTE
Road to Ibadan, New Letters, vol. 79, no. 1.
TIMOTHY AUBRY
Sizing Up Oprah, The Point, Spring.
LAURA JEAN BAKER
Year of the Tiger, War, Literature, and the Arts, no. 24.
ROSECRANS BALDWIN
Our French Connection, Morning News, May 29.
RICK BAROT
Morandi Sonnet, ZYZZYVA, Winter.
JOHN BARTH
The End?, Granta, Winter.
RICK BASS
The Larch: A Love Story, Orion, September/October.
ELISSA BASSIST
The Never-to-Be Bride, New York Times, Sunday, April 29.
CHARLES BAXTER
Undoings: An Essay in Three Parts, Colorado Review, Spring.
CRIS BEAM
Mother, Stranger, Atavist, January.
MARK BEAVER
Taxidermy, Third Coast, Fall.
LOUIS BEGLEY
My Europe, New York Review of Books, April 5.
THOMAS BELLER
The Fun of Bad Business, Oxford American, no. 77.
GEOFFREY BENT
The Virtuoso, Boulevard, Fall.
MISCHA BERLINSKI
A Farewell to Haiti, New York Review of Books, March 22.
FLYNN BERRY
Surfing, Los Angeles Review, Fall.
SASKIA...
Table of contents
- Title Page
- Contents
- Copyright
- Foreword
- Introduction
- POE BALLANTINE: Free Rent at the Totalitarian Hotel
- ALICE MUNRO: Night
- RICHARD SCHMITT: Sometimes a Romantic Notion
- VANESSA VESELKA: Highway of Lost Girls
- MATTHEW VOLLMER: Keeper of the Flame
- WILLIAM MELVIN KELLEY: Breeds of America
- MAKO YOSHIKAWA: My Fatherās Women
- WALTER KIRN: Confessions of an Ex-Mormon
- KEVIN SAMPSELL: āIām Jumping Off the Bridgeā
- EILEEN POLLACK: Pigeons
- JON KERSTETTER: Triage
- MARCIA ALDRICH: The Art of Being Born
- CHARLES BAXTER: What Happens in Hell
- ANDER MONSON: The Exhibit Will Be So Marked
- ANGELA MORALES: The Girls in My Town
- ZADIE SMITH: Some Notes on Attunement
- BRIAN DOYLE: His Last Game
- TOD GOLDBERG: When They Let Them Bleed
- VICKI WEIQI YANG: Field Notes on Hair
- J.Ā D. DANIELS: Letter from Majorca
- JOHN JEREMIAH SULLIVAN: Ghost Estates
- MEGAN STIELSTRA: Channel B
- DAGOBERTO GILB: A Little Bit of Fun Before He Died
- MICHELLE MIRSKY: Epilogue: Deadkidistan
- DAVID SEARCY: El Camino Doloroso
- STEVEN HARVEY: The Book of Knowledge
- Contributorsā Notes
- Notable Essays of 2012
- Read More from The Best American SeriesĀ®
- About the Editor
- Footnotes
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Yes, you can access The Best American Essays 2013 by Cheryl Strayed, Robert Atwan, Cheryl Strayed,Robert Atwan in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Literature & Social Science Biographies. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.