The Best American Essays 2012

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The Best American Essays 2012 Page 39

by David Brooks


  BARBARA HURD

  Dissonance, Sun, May.

  SIRI HUSTVEDT

  The Real Story, Salmagundi, Spring/Summer.

  MICHAEL IDOV

  The Movie Set That Ate Itself, GQ, November.

  PICO IYER

  The Terminal Check, Granta, no. 116.

  LAWRENCE JACKSON

  Christmas in Baltimore, 2009, n+1, no. 12.

  HOLLY JACOBSON

  On Other Shores, Memoir (and), no. 8.

  PAT JORDAN

  The Haircut, Southern Review, Spring.

  DONALD KAGEN

  On Patriotism, Yale Review, October.

  KITTY KELLEY

  Unauthorized, but Not Untrue, American Scholar, Winter.

  RALPH KEYES

  Euphemania: Show Me the Liquidity, Antioch Review, Winter.

  JUDITH KITCHEN

  Night Piece, Georgia Review, Fall.

  PAUL A. KRAMER

  The Importance of Being Turbaned, Antioch Review, Spring.

  CAROLYN KREMERS

  John Haines and the Dream Place, Permafrost.

  KIM DANA KUPPERMAN

  Attraction Next Exit, River Teeth, Fall.

  MATT LABASH

  Eyewitness to History!, Weekly Standard, October 17.

  ROBERT LACY

  Four of a Kind, Sewanee Review, Spring.

  LINDA LANCIONE

  The Currency of Love, New Letters, vol. 77, no. 2.

  BERYL LANG

  Replenishing the World, Michigan Quarterly Review, Winter.

  LEWIS LAPHAM

  Democracy 101, Harper’s Magazine, April.

  SYDNEY LEA

  Now, Look, River Teeth, Fall.

  AMY LEACH

  The Safari, Massachusetts Review, vol. 52, no. 1.

  JOHN PATRICK LEARY

  Detroitism, Guernica, January.

  BARBARA F. LEFCOWITZ

  Memory and Photography, Southwest Review, vol. 96, no. 2.

  DAVID LEHMAN

  Why I Love You, American Scholar, Summer.

  NATON LESLIE

  Odd Jobs, Florida Review, vol. 36, no. 1–2.

  LEILA LEVINSON

  Cracking Open the Silence,War, Literature, and the Arts, no. 23.

  AIMEE LEVITT

  Little House in the Present, Riverfront Times (St. Louis), November 24–30.

  E. J. LEVY

  To Cèpe, with Love (or, The Alchemy of Longing), Salmagundi, Spring/Summer.

  CHARLIE LEWIS

  Apartment No. 9, Ten Spurs, no. 5.

  MICHAEL LEWIS

  The King of Human Error, Vanity Fair, December.

  K. N. LIAO

  Bodies in Motion, Fourth River, Autumn.

  MARK LIEBENOW

  Hiking over the Edge, Chautauqua, no. 8.

  MEL LIVATINO

  The Perfect Raincoat, Under the Sun, no. 20.

  SUSAN LOHAFER

  In the Bullring, Iowa Review, Spring.

  PHILLIP LOPATE

  Between Insanity and Fat Dullness: How I Became an Emersonian, Harper’s Magazine, January.

  BRETT LOTT

  Writing with So Great a Cloud of Witnesses, Image, no. 69.

  TRACY LYNCH

  Inappropriate, Brain, Child, Fall.

  PAT MACENULTY

  Fixing the Deck, Apalachee Review, no. 61.

  STEVE MACONE

  Standup Comity, Morning News, November 28.

  JANE MAHER

  Raw Material, Hudson Review, Winter.

  THOMAS MALLON

  Never Happened, The New Yorker, November 21.

  TED MANN

  Magnificent Visions, Vanity Fair, December.

  HARVEY MANSFIELD

  The Wisdom of “The Federalist,” New Criterion, February.

  CLANCY MARTIN

  The Drunk’s Club, Harper’s Magazine, January.

  MICHAEL MARTONE

  Against the Beloved, Upstreet, no. 7.

  DAVID MASELLO

  The Empress’s New Clothes, Memoir (and), no. 8.

  WYATT MASON

  The Danger Artist, GQ, December.

  DESIRAE MATHERLY

  Flashbacks and Proliferations, Hotel Amerika, Fall.

  NANCY MCCABE

  Threads, Prairie Schooner, Fall.

  TYLER MCCABE

  Something Carries Through, Ruminate, Autumn.

  MAC MCCLELLAND

  Goodbye, Columbus, Mother Jones, November/December.

  HEATHER A. MCDONALD

  How to Fix Everything, Creative Nonfiction, Spring.

  BILL MCKIBBEN

  A Little Leeway, Orion, July/August.

  JAMES MCMANUS

  Full Tilt Boogie: The UIGEA and You, Grantland.com, December 8.

  JOHN MCPHEE

  Progression, The New Yorker, November 17.

  REBECCA MEAD

  Middlemarch and Me, The New Yorker, February 14/21.

  KAT MEADS

  Neighbor Trim, Also Awake, Crab Orchard Review, Summer/Fall.

  GILBERT MEILAENDER

  Transitional Humanity, New Atlantis, Spring.

  DAPHNE MERKIN

  Between Love and Madness, Elle, July.

  KENT MEYERS

  The Makings, Georgia Review, Fall.

  MEGAN MICHELSON

  In a House by the River, Outside, February.

  DEBRA MONROE

  The Sex Trade in Northwest Wisconsin, Morning News, July 13.

  BARRY MOSER

  A Bookwright’s Tale, Image, no. 71.

  KERMIT MOYER

  A Stranger to Himself, Washingtonian, August.

  ALAN NASLUND

  What I Saw in the Country, Minnetonka Review, Spring.

  DEBORAH NELSON

  The Cruelest Show on Earth, Mother Jones, November/December.

  JESSICA HENDRY NELSON

  The Whitest Winter Light, Alligator Juniper, 2011.

  JOHN NELSON

  Parting Words, Massachusetts Review, vol. 52, no. 1.

  MARC NIESON

  In the Basement, Green Mountains Review, vol. 24, no. 1.

  NANCY J. NORDENSON

  Metrics, Indiana Review, Winter.

  MARY NORRIS

  It Hurt to Hum, Epiphany, Spring/Summer.

  JOSIP NOVAKOVICH

  Shopping for a Better Country, Witness, vol. 24, no. 1.

  JEREMIAH O’HAGEN

  Essaying, Los Angeles Review, Fall.

  JEN O’MALLEY

  How to Make a Bride, Annalemma, no. 8.

  GEORGE PACKER

  The Broken Contract, Foreign Affairs, November/December.

  ADRIANA PARAMO

  The Limbless Boy of a Mayan Mother, Carolina Review, Winter.

  ANN PATCHETT

  The Mercies, Granta, no. 114.

  RACHEL PECKHAM

  Apple, Daydream, Memory, Under the Sun, no. 20.

  ANDRE PERRY

  Strange Roots for Talking, Water-Stone Review, no. 14.

  HELEN PHILLIPS

  Life Care Center, Iowa Review, Winter.

  SAM PICKERING

  Winter Dreams, River Teeth, Spring.

  DARRYL PINCKNEY

  Deep in the Bowl, Harper’s Magazine, September.

  ELLEN PINSKY

  Dress, Salmagundi, Spring/Summer.

  LISBETH PRIFOGLE

  Pretty, PMS, no. 8.

  ERIC PUCHNER

  Schemes of My Father, GQ, March.

  LIA PURPURA

  Jump, Iowa Review, Fall.

  JONATHAN RABAN

  The Getaway Car, New York Times Magazine, June 12.

  DAVID RABE

  They Steal Your Sweat, Massachusetts Review, vol. 52, no. 3–4.

  THEO RADIC

  La Fille aux Cheveux de Lin, Epiphany, Fall/Winter.

  DAWN RAFFEL

  The Florsheim Dog, Willow Springs, Spring.

  IRAJ ISAAC RAHMIM

  Dancing for the Bomb, Missouri Review, Fall.

  CRAIG REINBOLD

 
The Many Ways to Die, Guernica, October.

  KATHRYN RHETT

  Wayward, Harvard Review, no. 41.

  DAVID RIEFF

  After 9/11, Harper’s Magazine, August.

  MARILYNNE ROBINSON

  On “Beauty,” Tin House, no. 50.

  MOLLY JO ROSE

  How We Pain, Fifth Wednesday, Fall.

  FRANCES MCCALL ROSENBLUTH

  The Two Faces of Feminism, Yale Review, October.

  KENT RUSSELL

  Ryan Went to Afghanistan, n+1, no. 11.

  SCOTT SAALMAN

  A History of the Kiss, Southern Indiana Review, Spring.

  SCOTT RUSSELL SANDERS

  Breaking the Spell of Money, Orion, July/August.

  ALEXIS SCHAITKIN

  The American Art of Authenticity, Southern Review, Spring.

  ARI N. SCHULMAN

  GPS and the End of the Road, New Atlantis, Spring.

  MOLLY SCHULTZ

  Litany of My Mother, Black Warrior Review, Spring/Summer.

  DAVID SEDARIS

  Easy, Tiger, The New Yorker, July 11/18.

  WILL SELF

  False Blood, Granta, no. 117.

  AMARTYA SEN

  The Boundaries of Justice, New Republic, December 29.

  ANTHONY SHADID

  The American Age, Iraq, Summer.

  PEGGY SHINNER

  Berenice’s Hair, Southern Review, Summer.

  EMILY SINCLAIR

  Inclusion/Exclusion: A Story of Sex, Death, and Real Estate, Normal School, Fall.

  PAMELA SKJOLSVIK

  Surrender, Ten Spurs, no. 5.

  FLOYD SKLOOT

  Revertigo, Boulevard, no. 78.

  JANNA MALAMUD SMITH

  The Unmurdered, Ecotone, no. 11.

  GEORGE STEINER

  Is Death Dying?, Salmagundi, Fall/Winter.

  CHRISTINE STEWART-NUNEZ

  An Archeology of Secrets, Briar Cliff Review, no. 23.

  DEANNE STILLMAN

  9/11 and the Damage Done, Truthdig, September 7.

  LAURIE STONE

  Sex at 58 (Marco’s Jew), Anderbo .com, October.

  CHERYL STRAYED

  When the Farmer Clutches the Rake; Writing the Real, Post Road, no. 22.

  NED STUCKEY-FRENCH

  Nightmares, New South, Summer.

  MICHAEL A. STUSSER

  Speak No Evil, Tweet No Evil, Seattle Weekly, June 22–28.

  JOHN JEREMIAH SULLIVAN

  You Blow My Mind. Hey, Mickey! New York Times Magazine, June 12.

  DANIEL SWIFT

  Conjectural Damage, Harper’s Magazine, November.

  KERRY TEMPLE

  A Summer Night, Notre Dame Magazine, Summer.

  JONNY THAKKAR

  Hail Mary Time?, The Point, Spring.

  PAUL THEROUX

  The Trouble with Autobiography, Smithsonian, January.

  CALVIN TRILLIN

  Back on the Bus, The New Yorker, July 25.

  PHILIP TURNER

  William Styron: A Promise Kept, Barnes & Noble Review, August 10.

  JOE VALLESE

  Blood, Brothers, Southeast Review, vol. 29, no. 2.

  RYAN VAN METER

  Look at Me, Ninth Letter, Spring/Summer.

  ROBERT VIVIAN

  The Latecomer to Glorious Places, Upstreet, no. 7.

  WILLIAM T. VOLLMANN

  Homelessness in Sacramento, Harper’s Magazine, March.

  JERALD WALKER

  Inauguration, Normal School, Spring.

  MICHAEL WALZER

  On Humanitarianism, Foreign Affairs, March/April.

  MARINA WARNER

  Freud’s Couch: A Case History, Raritan, Fall.

  DAVID WATTS

  The Healing Art of Writing, Examined Life, Spring.

  HOLLY WELKER

  Keeping Abreast of Beauty, Bayou, no. 54.

  SARAH WELLS

  Those Summers, These Days, Ascent, December 11.

  SEAN WILENTZ

  The Mirage, New Republic, November 17.

  CHRYSTAL WILLIAMS

  Mirror, Mirror: A Guide to Pathos, Tin House, no. 50.

  MELORA WOLFE

  Hearing Voices, Gettysburg Review, Autumn.

  LAURA ESTHER WOLFSON

  Haunting Synagogues, Bellingham Review, Spring.

  JAMES WOOD

  Shelf Life, The New Yorker, November 7.

  SAINT JAMES HARRIS WOOD

  The Wild Courtroom Speech, Inkwell, Fall.

  ROB ZARETSKY

  Plunging to Earth, American Scholar, Summer.

  Notable Special Issues of 2011

  Antioch Review, ed. Robert S. Fogarty, Illuminated Manuscripts and Other Enlightenments, Spring.

  Asian American Literary Review, guest eds. Rajini Srikanth and Parag Khandhar, Commemorating the Tenth Anniversary of September 11, Fall 2011.

  Bellevue Literary Review, ed. Danielle Ofri, Tenth Anniversary Issue, Fall.

  California, ed. Wendy Miller, Articles of Faith, Spring.

  Chautauqua, eds. Jill Gerard and Philip Gerard, Nature and the Natural World, no. 8.

  Cimarron Review, eds. E. P. Walkiewicz and Toni Graham, Work, Spring/Summer.

  Columbia Journalism Review, ed. Mike Hoyt, Fiftieth Anniversary Issue, November/December.

  Conjunctions, ed. Bradford Morrow, Kin, no. 57.

  Daedalus, guest ed. Gerald Early, Race in the Age of Obama, Winter; guest ed. Lawrence D. Bobo, Race, Inequality, and Culture, Spring.

  Fugue, ed. Mary Morgan, The Play Issue, Winter/Spring.

  Hotel Amerika, ed. David Lazar, Aphorisms, Spring.

  Manoa, ed. Frank Stewart, Almost Heaven: On the Human and Divine, Winter.

  Massachusetts Review, eds. Jim Hicks and Kevin Bowen, Casualty, vol. 52, no. 3–4.

  Michigan Quarterly Review, ed. Keith Taylor, The Great Lakes: Love Song and Lament, Spring.

  New Atlantis, ed. Adam Keiper, Place and Placelessness in America, Spring.

  New Letters, ed. Robert Stewart, Connected, vol. 77, no. 3–4.

  New Literary History, eds. Rita Felski and Herbert F. Tucker, Context?, Autumn.

  North Dakota Quarterly, ed. Robert W. Lewis, Hemingway in His and Our Time, Winter/Spring.

  Oxford American, ed. Marc Smirnoff, The Education Issue, no. 74.

  Slake, eds. Laurie Ochoa and Joseph Donnelly, Crossing Over, no. 2.

  Think, ed. Christine Yurick, The Symposium on Form, Spring.

  Tin House, ed. Rob Spillman, Beauty, no. 50.

  Witness, ed. Amber Withycombe, Blurring Borders, vol. 24, no. 1.

  About the Editors

  DAVID BROOKS is a New York Times op-ed columnist and the author most recently of The Social Animal. He is also a commentator on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and a frequent analyst on NPR's All Things Considered.

  ROBERT ATWAN has been the series editor of The Best American Essays since its inception in 1986. He has edited numerous literary anthologies and written essays and reviews for periodicals nationwide.

 

 

 


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