“An essay is the child of uncertainty,” André Aciman contends in his introduction to The Best American Essays 2020. “The struggle to write what one hopes is entirely true, and the long incubation every piece of writing requires of a writer who is thinking difficult thoughts, are what ultimately give the writing its depth, its magnitude, its grace.” The essays Aciman selected center on people facing moments of deep uncertainty, searching for a greater truth. From a Black father’s confrontation of his son’s illness, to a divorcée’s transcendent experience with strangers, to a bartender grieving the tragic loss of a friend, these stories are a master class not just in essay writing but in empathy, artfully imbuing moments of hardship with understanding and that elusive grace.
The Best American 2020 Essays includes RABIH ALAMEDDINE • BARBARA EHRENREICH • LESLIE JAMISON JAMAICA KINCAID • ALEX MARZANO-LESNEVICH • A. O. SCOTT • JERALD WALKER • STEPHANIE POWELL WATTS and others
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Release date
April 16, 2024 -
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- ISBN: 9780358358589
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- ISBN: 9780358358589
- File size: 4884 KB
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- English
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Booklist
October 15, 2020
The deadline for submissions to The Best American Essays in any given year is February first, so all of this year's material was written well before either the COVID-19 pandemic or recent Black Lives Matter protests. Despite this, the topics of many of these 24 essays seem strangely prescient: memories of a different epidemic, AIDS; the story of an elderly parent dying while away from family members; photos emphasizing racial profiling, white imperialism, bigotry, ignorance, and the isolation of solitary strangers. Bits of humor and kindness soften the harsh realities described in some accounts, and there are stories of acceptance, growth, and increased wisdom. Then there are the standalones, essays with topics ranging from Susan Sontag to Paleolithic cave figures to Leopold and Loeb to the Holocaust, which fold in snapshots of poetry, art criticism, philosophy, Shakespeare, and horror movies. As with previous series entries, this book's diverse array of subjects and authors represented, combined with its consistently strong writing and timely references to contemporary issues, makes for a compelling collection that should appeal widely.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)
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Formats
- Kindle Book
- OverDrive Read
- EPUB ebook
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- English
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