Best American Essays 2002 (The Best American Series) [Paperback]

Stephen Jay Gould (Editor), Robert Atwan (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 2002

Since its inception in 1915, the Best American series has become the premier annual showcase for the country's finest short fiction and nonfiction. For each volume, a series editor reads hundreds of pieces from dozens of periodicals, then selects between fifty and a hundred outstanding works. That selection is pared down to the twenty or so very best pieces by a guest editor who is widely recognized as a leading writer in his or her field. This unique system has helped make the Best American series the most respected -- and most popular -- of its kind.
From The New Yorker to the Missouri Review, from Esquire to the American Scholar, the editors of The Best American Essays have scoured hundreds of the country's best periodicals in search of the most artful and powerful writing around. This thoughtful, provocative collection is the result of their search.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Gould, who completed this volume shortly before his recent death, was tempted to build a collection solely of September 11 pieces, but he pulled back from the idea, saying, "We simply cannot allow evil madmen to define history in this way." Certainly, he found a place for several fine essays on the terrible events of that day, and all of the essays in this collection share a certain gravitas. Adam Mayblum narrates his long, treacherous descent from the 87th floor of 1 World Trade Center. "Word on the Street," by Richard Price and Anne Hudson-Price, provides slices of post-September 11 conversation in taxicabs, Madison Square Garden and other New York locales. Gould has included several confessional pieces as well, with an emphasis on medical writing. Barbara Ehrenreich questions the effect of "relentless brightsiding" among breast cancer survivors; and Danielle Ofri, a young physician at Bellevue Hospital, comes to terms with her devastating misdiagnosis of a patient. Among the more academic pieces, Mario Vargas Llosa eloquently argues that literature is "one of the most primary and necessary undertakings of the mind," and Louis Menand looks at the history of American higher education since WWII. In the aftermath of September 11, the essay has reemerged as a vital and necessary part of our national conversation. This collection represents a beautiful range of voices, from the scholarly to the gut-wrenchingly personal, ultimately forming a perfectly satisfying whole. (Oct. 15) Forecast; With its September 11 pieces, this year's volume may be more relevant and in demand than usual. Houghton plans a $100,000 "Best American" marketing campaign, including floor display for this and other series titles.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Two factors make this year's volume of The Best American Essays different from its predecessors: the death in May of its editor, Harvard paleontologist Gould (The Structure of Evolutionary Theory), and 9/11, the subject of five of the 24 essays. In his foreword, series editor Robert Atwan, editor of numerous literary anthologies (e.g., The Writer's Presence: A Pool of Readings), suggests that while fiction and poetry strive in times of peace, the essay thrives in times of conflict. Gould notes in his introduction that he was tempted to select only articles about 9/11, but to do so would have "allow[ed] evil madmen to define history." Essays for each year's anthology are chosen from hundreds appearing in American publications; then, about 100 are given to the guest editor for the final selection. (Previous editors have included Kathleen Norris, Alan Lightman, and Cynthia Ozick.) This year's candidates, Gould observes, leaned heavily toward confessional writing and personal storytelling. Authors include Jacques Barzun, David Halberstam, Sebastian Junger, Gore Vidal, and Garry Wills. Noteworthy entries include Amy Kolen on the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, John Sack on Holocaust deniers, and Mario Vargas Llosa on the importance of literature to the human condition. Recommended for all libraries. Denise J. Stankovics, Rockville P.L., Vernon, CT
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books; 1ST edition (October 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618049320
• ISBN-13: 978-0618049325
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #586,229 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Average But Still Worthy, December 31, 2002

By 

David Kleist - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Best American Essays 2002 (The Best American Series) (Paperback)

Is it not odd that one of the most competent and serious of the seemingly endless number of Houghton Mifflin's "Best American Series" so far, in 2002, has but one other Amazon review three months after publication and after a holiday-advertising blitz? (I know Eggers' AMERICAN NONREQUIRED READING 2002 is supposed to seem whimsical and therefore attractive--but along with "Best American Recipes," I question Houghton Mifflin's sagacity. What's new for 2003--"Best American Greeting Cards"?)

I agree with the sole other Amazonian that this is far from the strongest volume in the series. Gould, in his last act of editing, admits in the introduction that he spent most of his time writing, not reading. Here, it seems his editorial judgment was more swayed by authorial track records and the Topic of the Moment (9-11) than by the enduring nature of the essays' prose itself. Or perhaps Gould simply had a tin ear with respect to style, so intrinsic to the success and timelessness of creative nonfiction.

Taste is personal, too. I concur with the other reviewer that Franzen's "My Father's Brain" and Vidal's "The Meaning of Timothy McVeigh" are lackluster essays--but unlike him, I wasn't bowled over by Delbanco's "The Countess of Stanlein Restored," about a cello's restoration.

My favorite essay by far was Mario Vargas Llosa's "Why Literature?" Filled with bon mots and wisdom, this essay is the one I found most enduring and worth rereading. "Good literature, while temporarily relieving human dissatisfaction, actually increases it, by developing a critical and nonconformist attotude toward life." This, and dozens of other quotable lines, made me sigh with recognition and underline/bracket the text.

My next favorite was Andrew Levy's portrait of Robert Carter III, "The Anti-Jefferson." I never had heard of Carter and was convinced by Levy that he should be better known and revered in American history.

My remaining favorites are as follow: Jacques Barzun's "The Tenth Muse," a critique of popular culture; Rudolph Chelminski's "Turning Point," my favorite of the many 9-11 essays, which focuses on the artist Philippe Petit, who tightrope-walked between the Twin Towers in 1974; Bernard Cooper's "Winner Take Nothing," about the writing life and father/son relationships; Atul Gawande's "Final Cut," about the dwindling popularity of autopsies; Sebastian Junger's "The Lion in Winter," about war reporting, the Taliban, and Afghanistan; Amy Kolen's "Fire," a disturbingly memorable exploration of the 1911 Triangle factory fire; Adam Mayblum's "The Price We Pay," a first-hand account of 9-11 which, despite its rawness, maintains vitality and relevance; Louis Menand's "College: The End of the Golden Age," an insightful critique of higher education in America; Danielle Ofri's "Merced," a poignant reflection by a physician; Darryl Pinckney's sociologically-astute "Busted in New York," about being jailed for pot smoking; Joe Queenen's brief and wry "Matriculation Fixation," about parental obsessions with childrens' educational paths; John Sack's illuminating "Inside the Bunker," which examines the psychology of Holocaust-deniers; and, finally, Penny Wolfson's haunting, impressionistic, poetic meditation on life, disability, and art entitled "Moonrise."

Six remaining essays go unmentioned. I found them ordinary. However, if you take this reviewer's word for it, there remains prose worth perusing in this less-than-stellar but still-worthwhile addition to a series worth perpetuating.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Gem, August 7, 2007

By 

Thomas Wolf "A Reader" (Chapel Hill, North Carolina) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Best American Essays 2002 (The Best American Series) (Paperback)

This is another fine collection of essays in the Best American series, and perhaps it stands out also for two other reasons. First, it was edited by Stephen J. Gould shortly before his death, and, secondly, because it is a thematically-driven collection. Five years have passed since its publication, and I think the essays--as a collection--have an especially poignant connection to each other. They are personal, heartfelt, and decidedly reflective; most are beautifully written (as one would expect from a Best American collection); some are stunning in their quietly stated emotion.

The best essays? I'm a big fan of David Halberstam and Atul Gawande; they can do no wrong, and both of their essays are top notch. I liked the Richard Price and Anne Hudson-Price collaboration. Mario Vargas Llosa's essay is wonderful. My personal favorite in this book, however, is "Fire" by Amy Kolen, a powerful essay that captures the sweep of history and the dignity of lost lives. If we learned anything from 9/11, the event that this collection memorializes, it is that innocent citizens--women and men who care little about politics, who just want to go to work and earn a living and support a family--are often the tragic victims of greedy and politics.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very timestamped, some powerful pieces, July 26, 2004

By 

Kimberly M Wilson "precisioner" (Newport News, VA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Best American Essays 2002 (The Best American Series) (Paperback)

I stumbled upon this gem a few weeks ago at a used book store. What made me buy it (I didn't have time to finish reading it in-house) was the essay "Winner Take Nothing." It's a poignant tale of a middle age man coming to terms with the nature of his relationship with his father, particularly in light of his fahter's aging. It alone is worth the price of admission: it really lingers with you, and does what good literature should, it may alter the way you view your world, and even your parents.

Unlike the editor, I love confessional, stream of conscious, intensely personal narratives, and post 9/11 2002 (the year in which the essays were taken from) are loaded with them. Being that we are away from September 11, you may find the 9/11 essays enlightening in a long-term context, or you may just be a little saturated (like I was). It depends on the person.

The essays that really stand out in my mind of a non WTC variety are "My Father's Brain" and another one on a woman's journey with her son with a debilitating illness. These both haunt you and give a satisfying commentary on the nature of love, family, memory, human self-preservation and the darker aspects of duty: guilt, selfishness, fatigue and even resentment. I found "My Father's Brain" to be particulary well written and structured.

I think what's so great about these essays is: they're alive. Essays can have all the stimulating quality of warm milk. But these essays are *essays,* but they do more than just prognosticate and drone on in correct format. They educate, they emote, they live and they entertain. And I think that is why this volume was so enjoyable.