THE BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS, Seventh College Edition, presents highly regarded contemporary authors at their best. The essays are thematically arranged and selected from the popular trade series of the same name. They also cover common rhetorical modes, including narration and argumentation, providing instructors optimal flexibility with respect to course approach. In the introduction, Robert Atwan offers an overview of various types of essays to prepare students for the readings that follow. To further prepare students, "Essayists on the Essay" offers insightful commentaries about the genre from many of today's top writers. Available with InfoTrac (R) Student Collections http://gocengage.com/infotrac.
Preface. Introduction and Prologue.
1. THE PERSONAL VOICE: IDENTITY, DIVERSITY, SELF-DISCOVERY. Anwar F. Accawi, The Telephone"; Judith Ortiz Cofer, "Silent Dancing"; Edwidge Danticat, "Westbury Court"; Yusef Komunyakaa, "The Blue Machinery of Summer"; Chang-Rae Lee, "Magical Dinners"; Scott Russell Sanders, "The Inheritance of Tools"; Lauren Slater, "Tripp Lake"; Amy Tan, "Mother Tongue"; Ryan Van Meter, "First"; Christy Vannoy, "A Personal Essay by a Personal Essay"; Jerald Walker, "The Mechanics of Being"; Reshma Memon YaQub, "The Washing"
2. THE ATTENTIVE MIND: OBSERVATION, REFLECTION, INSIGHT. Sue Allison, "Taking a Reading"; Annie Dillard, "The Stunt Pilot"; Brian Doyle, "Joyas Voladoras"; Kitty Burns Florey, "Sister Bernadette?s Barking Dog"; Patricia Hampl, "The Dark Art of Description"; Amy Leach, "You Be the Moon"; Ariel Levy, "The Lesbian Bride?s Handbook"; Alan Lightman, "The Accidental Universe"; Joyce Carol Oates, "They All Just Went Away"; David Sedaris, "This Old House"; Patricia Smith, "Pearl, Upward"; Gay Talese, "Ali in Havana"
3. THE PUBLIC SPHERE: ADVOCACY, ARGUMENT, CONTROVERSY. Alan M. Dershowitz, "Shouting `Fire!?"; George Gessert, "An Orgy of Power"; Garret Keizer, "Loaded"; Jamaica Kincaid, "On Seeing England for the First Time"; Michael Lewis, "The Mansion: A Subprime Parable"; Danielle Ofri, "Living Will"; Bridget Potter, "Lucky Girl"; Peter Singer, "The Singer Solution to World Poverty"; Jill McCorkle, "Cuss Time"; John H. Summers, "Gettysburg Regress"; John Edgar Wideman, "Fatheralong"; Edward O. Wilson, "Apocalypse Now"."
Since the inception of THE BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS in 1986 as a trade book title, Robert Atwan has been series editor. He has published reviews and essays in a range of periodicals and edited many other literature anthologies. Atwan most recently edited two collections of poetry with a biblical theme: CHAPTERS INTO VERSE by Oxford University Press and DIVINE INSPIRATION by Oxford University Press.
