America Now: Short Readings from Recent Periodicals
ROBERT ATWANis director of The Blue Hills Writing Institute at Curry College and the series editor of the annualBest American Essays, which he founded in 1985. His essays, reviews, and critical articles have appeared in theNew York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Atlantic Monthly, Iowa Review, Denver Quarterly, Kenyon Review, River Teeth, and many other publications. For Bedford/St. Martin's, he has also editedTen on Ten: Major Essayists on Recurring Themes(1992),Our Times(1998), andConvergences(2005). He has coedited (with Jon Roberts)Left, Right, and Center: Voices from Across the Political Spectrum(1996), and is coeditor with Donald McQuade ofThe Writer's Presence(2006).