The Best American Magazine Writing

Compared to other "Best American..." collections of essays and other members of the family, this one is so-so. Some outstanding contributions and others that did absolutely nothing for me, especially the overly preachy, whiny types. I rather expect non-fiction in collections (rather unfair, I know), so Joyce Carol Oates' fine short story of fiction held its own, but felt a little out of place. Don't be afraid to give up on or skim any articles that aren't to your liking. My favorites: - Marjorie Williams' story of her battle with cancer. Maybe I gave it extra points because I remember her work for the Washington Post. Even if so, truly outstanding, and now I need to read the book of collected works of hers. - James Bamford's eye-opening and appalling story on the "selling" of the war. - Wendy Brenner's profile of snake-meister and broadly talented Dean Ripa, someone I had never heard of. - "The Last Outlaw" on Merle Haggard. I put this one off, thinking the subject wouldn't be very interesting. I was certainly wrong. - "The Recruit" - try to come up with an interesting wrinkle on military recruiting, without being a polemicist or blatantly one-sided. Jesse Katz did, with his focus on a particular, unusual candidate on his way into the system. Some comments on others: - David Foster Wallace's piece from the Atlantic, with its clever, nested footnotes, was amusing. I'm an Atlantic subscriber, which made the piece familiar, plus it's not what I would have chosen as a representative from Atlantic. - "Girl Meets Bluegill" - very sweet and short, sure to bring a smile to parents. - "Upon This Rock" - maybe I should have figured this wouldn't be another piece making fun of Christians, since presumably it wouldn't have been fresh enough to be an award winner. Better than expected. - "Death of a Mountain" - environmental topics appear multiple times in the collection. The destruction of land for coal mining in Kentucky skips the ranting about global issues and hits the other end: how devastating our energy demands can be to the local environment.

I order this collection every year as the editor does indeed choose what I consider the best magazine writing of the year. It is a good way to catch up on the articles you missed during the year. Good for airline reading.

This compilation is like most of its genre: some of the pieces will intrigue you and compel you to read them; others won't and you can simply skip them. Of course, that list will vary from reader to reader. My personal cherry-pick of the book looked like this: > 'Host' by David Foster Wallace - Always a delight to read Wallace's footnote-laden, obsessively-researched and minutely-detailed pieces. <br /> <br />> 'The Recruit' by Jesse Katz - A devastating portrait of an Army recruit and the recruiting process. <br /> <br />> 'The Man Who Sold the War' by James Bamford - A portrait of John Rendon; the title of the article says it all. Easy to see why this was awarded the title of 'Best reporting.' Jaw-dropping stuff. <br /> <br />> 'A Matter of Life and Death' by the Marjorie Williams - The author bravely chronicles her own battle with liver cancer. <br /> <br />> 'The Last Outlaw' by Chris Heath - I've never been a Merle Haggard fan...nor am I an anti-fan, but this is simply a spectacularly well-written profile. You get a real sense of Haggard's character. He comes across as personable and honest.