More and more readers turn to "The Best American Magazine Writing" for their annual fix of the year's most captivating essays, columns, reportin... read full description
reviews
Nov 26, 2011
Jennifer
rated it: 
James Brown is still a hard act to follow, as proven by this collection which starts off with a cracker of a essay about the Godfather of Soul by GQ writer Sean Flynn and falters somewhat thereafter. David Lipsky rocks his essay from Rolling Stone on the last days of David Foster Wallace, and Tom Chiarella of Esquire kills with his bit on butchering, but some of the other entries are less stellar (the dull but factually intriguing "Making It" about Obama's early political career comes
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Apr 30, 2011
Teresa
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The articles in this collection come a variety of magazines, from The New Yorker and Esquire to Sports Illustrated and Automobile. The topics are extremely wide-ranging. There’s James Woods’s review of Marilynne Robinson’s Home. There’s David Lipsky’s Rolling Stone profile of David Foster Wallace. For Esquire, Tom Chiarella writes about his short gig working in a butcher shop; and for GQ, Sean Flynn writes about the competing claims for a piece of James Brown’s estate. All of the articles we
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Sep 07, 2010
Jessica
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Every year this book is a testament to incredible reporting, writing, and originality. Since I started reading these volumes in 2003, I've discovered great writers I hadn't read before, in publications I'd never read (Elizabeth Gilbert's "Lucky Jim" from 2003 made me read more of her magazine work - though I loathed Eat Pray Love; this volume had a wonderful essay from Backpacker magazine). This volume is no different, and one of the better anthologies over the past seven years. Only o
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Feb 05, 2010
Marjanne
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A good collection of articles from various magazines. There was also a good spread of different types of articles (i.e. current events, essay, commentary, etc.). I think I read last year's edition of this book and remember it being fairly good too. I'll probably read the next one if I see it at the library. The biggest problem is that the articles were all printed in 2008 so things are a little out of date.
Aug 10, 2011
Deborah
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Good mix of award-winning writing from wide range of topics (butchers, architecture, biking, incest, foreclosure...). Best story by far is "The Things That Carried Him" by Chris Jones, following a soldiers body through each ceremonious step on way home from Iraq. Proof that mag writing is far from dead.
Dec 05, 2010
Jennifer
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Really, really, really enjoyed this compilation. Obviously many stories were stronger for me than others, but the ones that really shook and intrigued me were the articles by Tracy Ross and Sean Flynn.
Feb 26, 2010
Caryl
rated it:
Having loved many of the "Best of..." books in the past, I picked up magazine writing this year. The articles are the best of the best, and since I didn't read many magazines last year it's allowing me to get caught up. I'm still only about 1/4 of the way thru it but the Chris Jones article about the final journey home of a soldier had me in tears more than once.
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