For this edition, Lopate has paired his twenty-eight selections by topic, which offers surprising parallels and divergences in points of view. Andre Dubus and Tom Beller on apprentice work as a form of true experience; Richard Rorty and George Packer on the quixotic and often self-defeating character of the American left; Siri Hustvedt and Wayne Koestenbaum on the verities of the erotic experience; Bliss Broyard and M. G. Stephens on their fathers; Marcus Laffey and Charles Bowden on violence, crime, and police work; Susan Sontag and Martha Nussbaum on the necessity and consolations of art -- these are just some of the peerless practitioners of the essay featured in this superb collection.

All of this exciting new work is placed in context by an equally superb introductory essay by Lopate. A special feature of this 1999 edition is an appendix in which literary and intellectual notables nominate their selection of the best and most influential essays and essayists of the century. This prestigious Anchor annual is more then ever an unequaled showcase for an indispensable and ever-changing literary form.