[close] Among the Names clicks along, making fast connections, which in turn create a vast and layered network—in short, an economy. Exploring the complexities of “the gift,” Chernoff’s is an economy of the uncanny—each exchange is strikingly new, yet many also make you remember, while others make you recognize connections that would otherwise have remained just out of reach. It’s a collection that makes things spring to sight. —Cole Swensen What Maxine Chernoff finds Among the Names is a rectitude so pure that it not only rights but literally delights the heart. Here, most tender is most true, and tenderness shines in the cadences, each of which is new, all of which attain to love. This book is entirely beautiful. —Donald Revell [close]