The Best American Essays 2016
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A Gathering of Then & Now, Mid-American Review, vol. 36, no. 1
D. L. Mayfield
Blessed Are the Pure in Heart, Ruminate, Summer
Emry McAlear
A Hat in the Wind, CutBank, no. 83
Cynthia McCabe
Ending It All, The Washington Post Magazine, January 18
Susan McCallum-Smith
Smithereens, Agni, no. 82
Kenneth A. McClane
Thomas: A Hymn to Life, The Antioch Review, Spring
Clint McCown
Somewhere West of Truth or Consequences, Crazyhorse, Fall
Maureen McCoy
Smile: Your War Is Over, The Gettysburg Review, Spring
Gary L. McDowell
How to Cope with Risk, The Massachusetts Review, Summer
Karen Salyer McElmurray
Elixir, South Dakota Review, vol. 51, nos. 3 and 4
Jean McGarry
On Writer’s Block, The Yale Review, July
Caitlin McGill
Silent Interrogation, The Southeast Review, vol. 33, no. 2
Kim McLarin
The Low Road, The Morning News, July 22
James McWilliams
The Examined Lie, The American Scholar, Summer
Dinaw Mengestu
Returning to Ethiopia, Guernica, December 15
Suzanne Maria Menghraj
Usciolu, Flyway, February 15
Daphne Merkin
Desperately Seeking No One, Elle, June
Maggie Mertens
Death with Dignity, Pacific Standard, January 31
Jeffrey Meyers
The Lost Girl, Denver Quarterly, vol. 50, no. 1
Kathryn Miles
Mapping the Bottom of the World, Ecotone, Fall
Nicole E. Miller
Last Night at the Breakers, New Letters, vol. 81, no. 2
Sam Miller
Gandhi the Londoner, Granta, no. 130
Debra Monroe
The Wild Life, Texas Monthly, November
Ander Monson
Considering a Stain, Sierra Nevada Review, no. 26
Rick Moody
Shabby Gentility, Salmagundi, Winter/Spring
Dinty W. Moore
The Aquatic Ape Hypothesis, or How I Learned to Love My Paranasal Sinuses, The Normal School, vol. 8, no. 2
Dionisia Morales
Catch Me, I’m Falling, Hunger Mountain, no. 19
Kyoko Mori
Pet Grief, Harvard Review, no. 47
Marilyn Moriarty
Territorial Imperative in Planaria, Creative Nonfiction, Spring
Robert Morris
A Few Thoughts on Bombs, Tennis, Free Will, Agency Reduction, the Museum, Dust Storms, and Labyrinths, Critical Inquiry, Winter
Scott Russell Morris
Speak English, Please, The Chattahoochee Review, Spring
Wesley Morris
Who Do You Think You Are? The New York Times Magazine, October 11
John Murillo III
Black (in) Time, Indiana Review, Winter
Nick Neely
Discovering Anna, The Southern Review, Winter
Cristina Nehring
The Death of Eros, Elle, April
John Nelson
Birds of the New World, The Antioch Review, Winter
Beth Newberry
The Curve of the Smoke, Appalachian Heritage, Fall
Catherine Newman
This Is Fourteen, Brain, Child, Spring
D. T. Nguyen
Dining Out, The Briar Cliff Review, no. 27
Randon Billings Noble
The Heart as a Torn Muscle, Brevity, January 8
Nancy J. Nordenson
Physiology Lessons, Comment, Spring
Lynne Nugent
The Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Card, Full Grown People, March 12
Chris Offutt
At Last, Sex, Slice, no. 17
Melissa Oliveira
Analog, Agni, no. 82
Randy Osborne
Seaside Bohemia, Thread, Fall
Alexis Paige
The Right to Remain, The Rumpus, March 29
Wilfredo Pascual
You Have Me, December, Fall/Winter
Michael Paterniti
The Accident, GQ, March
Jenny Patton
A Different Direction, Kaleidoscope, Winter/Spring
Hilary Peach
The Wolf, Event, vol. 44, no. 3
Bradford Pearson
My Kidnappers, Philadelphia Magazine, September
Dale Peck
Voyeur, The Threepenny Review, Spring
Adrienne Perry
A Dark and Simple Place, Indiana Review, Winter
Kiki Petrosino
Literacy Narrative, The Iowa Review, vol. 45, no. 3
M. Nourbese Philip
Drowning Not Waving, Room, vol. 38, no. 4
Adam Phillips
Edward Lear’s Nonsense and British Psychoanalysis, Raritan, Fall
Deesha Philyaw
How Can You Be Mad at Someone Who’s Dying of Cancer? Full Grown People, February 17
Eric M. Poeschla
Hemingway’s Last Letter, The Southwest Review, 100, no. 1
David James Poissant
On the Disney Cruise, Burrow Press Review, July 21
Bella Pollen
Possession, Granta, no. 132
Liza Porter
How to Survive the Dinner Table, Chautauqua, no. 12
Susan Power
Breaking Stereotypes, Yellow Medicine Review, Fall
Thomas H. Pruiksma
First Loves, Ploughshares, Summer
Shelly Puhak
Five Bathrooms and an Outhouse, Creative Nonfiction, Winter
Lia Purpura
My Eagles, Orion, March/April
Claudia Rankine
Her Excellence, The New York Times Magazine, August 30
Wendy Rawlings
A Singular Apparatus, The Florida Review, vol. 39, nos. 1 and 2
Robert Rebein
Bullet in the Brain, Yemassee, Spring
Paul Reiferson
He Wears the Mask, The Southwest Review, vol. 100, no. 3
Sue Repko
Detours, Literal Latte, Spring
Robin Rinaldi
Love in a Time of Plethora, San Francisco, February
Jim Ringley
What You Don’t Know for Certain, The Sun, March
Kristina Kay Robinson
Ten Years Since: A Meditation on New Orleans, The Nation, August 31 and September 7
Marilyn Robinson
Humanism, The Nation, November 9
Walter M. Robinson
White Cloth Ribbons, Harvard Review, no. 48
John G. Rodwan Jr.
Pedal Power to the People, The American Interest, May/June
Antonia Romani
She’ll Make Herself Alive, A Public Space, no. 23
Lisa Romeo
Not Quite Meet-Cute, Blue Lyra Review, Spring
Lee Ann Roripaugh
Swarm, South Dakota Review, vol. 52, no. 1
Maxine Rosaler
The Lost Boy, Fifth Wednesday, Spring
Phyllis Rose
My Mother’s Yiddish, The American Scholar, Summer
Jeremy Rosen
An Insatiable Market for Minor Characters: Genre in the Contemporary Literary Marketplace, New Literary History, Winter
Jim Ross
Slow to Learn, Ray’s Road Review, Winter
Theodore Ross
How to Beat a Polygraph Test, Vice, April
Allie Rowbottom
Ghosts and Houses, The Florida Review, vol. 39, nos. 1 and 2
Lisa Ruddick
When Nothing Is Cool, The Point, December 7
Heather Ryan
En Passant, The Los Angeles Review, Spring
Kendell Newman Sadiik
The Man Behind Him, Jabberwock Review, Winter
Matt Sail
or
Great Moments in Cinematic Drinking: Jaws, Hobart, October 2
Mark Sanders
Homecoming Parade, Permafrost, Winter
Scott Russell Sanders
Writing While the World Burns, The Georgia Review, Spring
Eva Saulitis
Man of Letters: An Elegy, Alaska Quarterly Review, Fall/Winter
Richard Schmitt
States of Mind, The Chattahoochee Review, Fall/Winter
David Schneider
Scalpel, This Land, Summer
Candy Schulman
Je Suis a Mother in an Age of Terror, Washington Post, January 21
Kathryn Schulz
Pond Scum, The New Yorker, October 19
Eben S. Schwartz
The Art of Medicine: Metaphors and Medically Unexplained Symptoms, The Lancet, August 22
Mimi Schwartz
The Coronation of Bobby, Creative Nonfiction, Spring
Wayne Scott
Summer Without End, The Millions, January 22
Danielle Petersen Searls
Crusader Chic, Lapham’s Quarterly, Fall
Heather Sellers
I’ll Never Bother You Again, The Sun, February
Lynda Sexson
Rock, Paper, Scissors, Image, no. 85
Steven Shapin
The Desire to Know, Boston Review, January/February
Susan Shapiro
What My Father Gave Me, Yahoo, June 19
Aurvi Sharma
Eleven Stories of Water and Stone, Prairie Schooner, Spring
Kenneth Sherman
Living Susan Sontag’s Illness as Metaphor, Brick, no. 95
Serena Shipp
Fishing, Room, vol. 38, no. 4
Tom Shroder
Seoul Mates, The Washington Post Magazine, September 13
Ranbir Singh Sidhu
The Indian Wedding That Exploded in Violence, Salon, January 1
Gemma Sieff
Gone in 60 Seconds, Vice, January
Robert Anthony Siegel
Criminals, Paris Review, Fall
Sherry Simon
The Translational Life of Cities, The Massachusetts Review, Fall
Steven Simoncic
I Like You, Under the Gum Tree, January
Peter Singer
The Logic of Effective Altruism, Boston Review, July/August
David Skinner
Edmund Wilson’s Big Idea, Humanities, September/October
John Skoyles
Johnny London, Five Points, vol. 17, no. 1
Lauren Slater
Bloodlines, The Sun, March
Aisha Sabatini Sloan
D Is for the Dance of the Hours, Ecotone, Fall
Sarah Smarsh
The First Person on Mars, Vela, October 20
Justin E. H. Smith
The Joke, Harper’s Magazine, April
Mike Smith
My Magpie Mind, December, Fall/Winter
Phillip A. Snyder
Rental Horses, Sport Literate, vol. 9, no. 2
Rebecca Solnit
Abolish High School, Harper’s Magazine, April
Tamie Parker Song
Manhandled, New Ohio Review, Fall
Ana Maria Spagna
Hope Without Hope, Ecotone, Spring
Debra Spark
The Dangerous Act of Writing, Agni, no. 81
Matthew Spender
Worldly Failure, The Yale Review, October
Mairead Small Staid
Mad Pieces, The Georgia Review, Fall
Erin Stalcup
The Art of Teaching, stirjournal.com, June 15
M. D. Stein
Acting Like a Doctor, The Southwest Review, vol. 100, no. 3
Michael Steinberg
Living in Michigan, Dreaming Manhattan, Great Lakes Review, Summer/Fall
Susan Straight
The River in Me, Orion, January/February
Ginger Strand
Vonnegut on the Road, Tin House, no. 65
Emily Strasser
Homeplace, Ploughshares, Winter
Abe Streep
In Search of a Stolen Fiddle, Harper’s Magazine, May
Sarah A. Strickley
The Beverly Hills Supper Club: An Assemblage of Failures, The Normal School, vol. 8, no. 1
Ira Sukrungruang
The First Transgression, Midwestern Gothic, Fall
Kelly Sundberg
Whirling Disease, Denver Quarterly, vol. 49, no. 3
Caroline Sutton
A Paper Trail, North American Review, Spring
Leopold Szor
Obligation, Bellevue Literary Review, Fall
Jill Talbot
The Fiction of History, The Normal School, vol. 8, no. 1
Adina Talve-Goodman
I Must Have Been That Man, Bellevue Literary Review, Spring
Simon Tam
Trademark Offense, Oregon Humanities, Summer
Ron Tanner
The Last Draft, The Louisville Review, Spring
Ashley P. Taylor
Crying: An Exploration, BrainDecoder, December 2
Karen D. Taylor
Still Occupied, Transition, no. 118
Matthew Teague
The Friend, Esquire, May
Gaurav Raj Telhan
Begin Cutting, The Virginia Quarterly Review, Fall
Kerry Temple
The Sun in Our Midst, Notre Dame Magazine, Spring
Brandon M. Terry
After Ferguson, The Point, Summer
Clifford Thomson
On the Bus, The Threepenny Review, Spring
Richard Tillinghast
Four Directions, The Sewanee Review, Summer
Lad Tobin
The Permission Slip, The Sun, November
Joyce Tomlinson
Invasion of the Oldies, The Gold Man Review, no. 4
Alison Townsend
California Girl, Catamaran, Fall
The Scent of Always: A Personal History, with Perfume, The Southern Review, Winter
Patrick Tripp
Refills, The Threepenny Review, Fall
Lori Tucker-Sullivan
Detroit, 2015, Midwestern Gothic, Fall
Matt Tullis
The Ghosts I Run With, SB Nation, April 15
Brian Turner
Smoking with the Dead and Wounded, The Georgia Review, Fall
David L. Ulin
Fifteen Takes on California, The Virginia Quarterly Review, Summer
Spring Ulmer
Bubbles, Crab Orchard Review, Summer/Fall
Geri Urley
13th & B, The Carolina Quarterly, Fall
David J. Unger
Fail Again, The Point, Summer
Lee Upton
A Reverse Alphabet for Finishing, The Kenyon Review, January/February
Algis Valiunas
The Man Who Thought of Everything, The New Atlantis, Spring
Jeannie Vanasco
What’s in a Necronym? The Believer, Summer
Andrea Vassallo
Breathe, Solstice, Fall/Winter
Patricia Vigderman
Out of the Shadows, Harvard Review, no. 48
Jody Noel Vinson
The Way to Swann’s House, The Gettysburg Review, Summer
Sarah Viren
A Ballad for You, storySouth, Fall
Robert Vivian
Gobsmack Essay, Profane, Winter
Jerald Walker
The Heritage Room, Apogee, no. 6
Nicole Walker
Tongue, Witness, Spring
Frank Walters
The Wave That Tears at Us, Bellevue Literary Review, Fall
Esme Weijun Wang
Toward a Pathology of the Possessed, The Believer, Fall
Gina Warren
The Chicken Project, Orion, July/August
Claire Vaye Watkins
On Pandering, Tin House, no. 66
Leon Weinmann
Bodies of Water, The Literary Review, Summer
Jillian Weise
Why I Own a Gun, Tin House, no. 65
Wil Weitzel
Green Eyes of Harar, Conjunctions, no. 64
Jim White
Glossolalia, Epiphany, Fall
Chris Wiewiora
Submerged, Story Magazine, March
Kathryn Wilder
Sundance, Southern Indiana Review, Spring
Christian Wiman
Kill the Creature, The American Scholar, Spring
Ariel Winter
Tales of Grandma Whittier, Slice, no. 17
Melora Wolff
Mystery Girls, Southern Indiana Review, Fall
Laura Esther Wolfson
After the Autobiography, Superstition Review, July
Baron Wormser
Harrisong, Five Points, vol. 16, no. 3
Greg Wrenn
Innocence, KROnline, Summer
Xu Xi
The English of My Story, Lake Effect, no. 19
Amy Yee
Exporting Clothes, Importing Safety, Roads and Kingdoms, August 27
Lee Zacharias
A Circle, a Line, an Island, Our State, May
Jess Zimmerman
A Midlife Crisis, by Any Other Name, Hazlitt, July 20
Dave Zoby
Hobart Dreams, The Missouri Review, Summer
Notable Special Issues of 2015
The Antioch Review, “The Educated Heart,” ed. Robert S. Fogarty, Fall.
The Baffler, “Venus in Furs,” ed. John Summers, no. 27.
The Chattahoochee Review, “Migration,” ed. Anna Schachner, Fall/Winter.
Conjunctions, “Natural Causes,” ed. Bradford Morrow, no. 64.
Creative Nonfiction, “The Memoir,” ed. Lee Gutkind, Spring.
Daedalus, “What Is the Brain Good For?” guest editor, Fred H. Gage, Winter.
Ecotone, “The Sound Issue,” ed. David Gessner, Fall.
Freeman’s, “Arrival,” ed. John Freeman, 2015.
Granta, “India: Another Way of Seeing,” guest editor, Ian Jack, no. 130.
Harper’s Magazine, “How to Be a Parent,” August.
Hayden’s Ferry Review, “Borderlands,” ed. Chelsea Hickok, Fall/Winter.
Hunger Mountain, “The Body Issue,” ed. Miciah Bay Gault, no. 19.
Image, “Reading from Two Books: Nature, Scripture, and Evolution,” ed. Gregory Wolfe, no. 85.
Iron Horse Literary Review, Kirk Wisland, “Melancholy of Falling Men” (single-author issue), ed. Leslie Jill Patterson, vol. 17, no.5.
The Literary Review, “Flight,” ed. Minna Proctor, Fall.
MAKE, “The Value of What’s Forgotten,” ed. Jose-Luis Moctezuma, no. 16.
Midwestern Gothic, nonfiction issue, ed. Jeff Pfaller and Robert James Russell, Fall.
The Missouri Review, “Loners,” ed. Speer Morgan, Spring.
n+1, “Conviction,” ed. Nikil Saval and Dayna Tortorici, Spring.
The Nation, 150th anniversary issue, ed. Katrina Vanden Heuvel and D. D. Guttenplan, April.