num_pages: 352
description: A true essay is something hazarded not definitive not authoritative; something ventured on the basis of the authors personal experience and subjectivity writes guest editor Jonathan Franzen in his introduction. However his main criterion for selecting The Best American Essays 2016 was in a word risk. Whether the risks involved championing an unpopular opinion the possibility of ruining a professional career or irrevocably offending family for Franzen the writer has to be like the firefighter whose job while everyone else is fleeing the flames is to run straight into them.Bajadas / Francisco CantGirl / Alexander CheeAgainst honeymoons / Charles ComeyNames / Paul CrenshawOrdinary girls / Jaquira DazMy father and the wine / Irina DumitrescuMy heart lies between the fleet and all the ships / Ela HarrisonThe bonds of battle / Sebastian JungerSexual paranoia / Laura KipnisThin places / Jordan KisnerPyre / Amitava KumarOf human carnage / Richard M. LangeBastards / Lee MartinFamily tradition / Lisa NikolidakisThe lost sister : an elegy / Joyce Carol OatesRight/left : a triptych / Marsha PomerantzBig night / Jill Sisson QuinnKilling like they do in the movies / Justin Phillip ReedA general feeling of disorder / Oliver SacksIn praise of contempt / Katherine E. StandeferThe eleventh commandment / George SteinerNamesake / Mason StokesBlack and blue and blond / Thomas Chatterton Williams
language: English
title: The Best American Essays 2016
publisher: Mariner Books