The Best American Magazine Writing 2009

by Chris Anderson (Compiler), The American Society of Magazine Editors (Editor)

More and more readers turn to "The Best American Magazine Writing" for their annual fix of the year's most captivating essays, columns, reporting, and criticism. Chosen from the winners and finalists of the 2009 National Magazine Awards, this year's selections include the haunting story by Chris Jones ( "Esquire") of an American soldier's final journey home; James Wood's brilliant critique of the award-winning novelist Marianne Robinson ( "The New Yorker"); a compelling column by Naomi Klein ( "The Nation") on the return of class consciousness in America; two biting reviews of recent books on feminism by Sandra Tsing Loh ( "The Atlantic"); and a moving and insightful account by David Lipsky ( "Rolling Stone") of David Foster Wallace in his final days.

Also featured are a fascinating report by Ryan Lizza ( "The New Yorker") on the political making of Barack Obama; an unforgettable profile by Hanna Rosin ( "The Atlantic") of a transgendered child struggling to be normal in rural America; absorbing reflections by Tom Chiarella ( "Esquire") on apprenticing as a butcher in an Indianapolis meat market; and an unusual look by Sean Flynn ( "GQ") at the legacy of the late singer and unstoppable personality, James Brown. Chris Anderson, popular commentator and author of the best-selling book "The Long Tail" adds his own, not-to-be-missed introduction. "Take a break from the screen and dive in," he writes. "I think you'll emerge, many pages later, no longer worrying about the future of print."

Genres: Nonfiction, Journalism, Essays

472 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2009

About the author

Chris Anderson was named in April 2007 to the "Time 100," the newsmagazine's list of the 100 men and women whose power, talent or moral example is transforming the world. He is Editor-in-Chief of Wired magazine, a position he took in 2001, and he has led the magazine to six National Magazine Award nominations, winning the prestigious top prize for General Excellence in 2005 and 2007. He is the author of the New York Times best-seller The Long Tail, which is based on an influential 2004 article published in Wired, and runs a blog on the subject at www.thelongtail.com. Previously, he was at The Economist, where he served as US Business Editor, Asia Business Editor; and Technology Editor. He started The Economist's Internet coverage in 1994 and directed its initial web strategy. Anderson's media career began at the two premier science journals, Nature and Science, where he served in several editorial capacities. Prior to that he was a physics researcher at the Los Alamos National Lab."

Reviews

[Jessica]

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 one article had me bored and stopped reading ("Bleak Houses") but the rest were all remarkable in some way. From the harrowing details of a soldier coming home in a casket, an interesting article about working in a butcher shop in Indianapolis, a biting critique by Sandra Tsing Loh, even a column about cars and the industry (which usually bore me so much) were all fascinating! Some were even emotional to the point that they made me cry. Highly recommended. Great for picking up to read an article and put down for another time until you want to read the next one.

[Jennifer]

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 to mind) and at least one truly distasteful (I'm looking at you, Tracy Ross). Still better than almost anything blogged on the internets, though, and a compelling argument for the continuation of a media format many people write off as doomed.

[Marjanne]

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.

[Caryl Shaw]

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.

[Deborah]

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.

[Andrew]

I highly recommend the following articles inside:
1) Papa by Sean Flynn
2) I Choose My Choice! by Sandra Tsing Loh
3) The Things That Carried Him by Chris Jones
4) The Lost Years and Last Days of David Foster Wallace by David Lipsky
5) A Boy's Life by Hanna Rosin
and 6) The Source of All Things by Tracy Ross

[Jennifer]

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.

[Harriet]

One of the best such collections ever. I teach it all the time.

[Karen]

Highly informative, interesting, varied subject matter.....made me want to look into other years of this series.