The Best American Essays 2016

  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.