Sarah Vowell - The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2017

Copyright 2017 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

Introduction copyright 2017 by Sarah Vowell

Editors Note copyright 2017 by Daniel Gumbiner

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

The Best American Series is a registered trademark of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. The Best American Nonrequired Reading is a trademark of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission of the copyright owner unless such copying is expressly permitted by federal copyright law. With the exception of nonprofit transcription in Braille, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is not authorized to grant permission for further uses of copyrighted selections reprinted in this book without the permission of their owners. Permission must be obtained from the individual copyright owners as identified herein. Address requests for permission to make copies of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt material to or to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 3 Park Avenue, 19th Floor, New York, New York 10016.

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ISSN 1539-316X (print) ISSN 2573-3923 (e-book)

ISBN 978-1-328-66380-1 (print) ISBN 978-1-328-66407-5 (e-book)

Cover illustration and design Kenard Pak

v1.0817

I am reminded via email to resubmit my preferences for the schedule by Chen Chen. First published by Poets.org. Copyright 2016 by Chen Chen. Reprinted by permission of the author.

The Diary of a Gulag Prison Guard by Ivan Chistyakov. First published by Granta. Copyright 2016 by Granta and Pegasus Books. Reprinted by permission of the publishers.

My President Was Black by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Copyright the Atlantic Media Co., as first published in The Atlantic Monthly Magazine. All rights reserved. Distributed by the Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Fable by Teju Cole. First published in The New Inquiry. Copyright 2016 by Teju Cole. Reprinted by permission of the Wylie Agency, LLC.

Maximum Sunlight by Meagan Day. First published by Wolfman Books. Copyright 2016 by Meagan Day. Reprinted by permission of the author.

Lucky Dragon by Viet Dinh. First published in Ploughshares. Copyright 2016 by Viet Dinh. Reprinted by permission of the author.

How to Stop a Black Snake by Louise Erdrich. First published in the New York Times. Copyright 2016 by Louise Erdrich. Reprinted by permission of the Wylie Agency, LLC.

Autocracy: Rules for Survival by Masha Gessen. First published in the New York Review of Books Daily. Copyright 2016 by Masha Gessen. Reprinted by permission of the New York Review of Books.

The Trouble by Smith Henderson. First published in American Short Fiction. Copyright 2016 by Smith Henderson. Reprinted by permission of the author.

A Correspondence with Elena Ferrante by Sheila Heti. First published in Brick. Copyright 2016 by Sheila Heti Inc. Reprinted by permission of the author.

An Oral History of Gabriel DePiero by Casey Jarman. First published in Death: An Oral History. Copyright 2016 by Zest Books. Reprinted by permission of Zest Books.

Homegoing, AD by Kima Jones. First published in The Fire This Time. Copyright 2016 by Kima Jones. Reprinted by permission of the author.

The Rockefeller Family Fund Takes on ExxonMobil by David Kaiser and Lee Wasserman. First published in the New York Review of Books Daily. Copyright 2016 by David Kaiser and Lee Wasserman. Reprinted by permission of the New York Review of Books.

The Most Terrible Time of My Life by Sonny Liew. First published in The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye by Pantheon. Copyright 2016 by Sonny Liew. Reprinted by permission of the author.

Youll Be Back from Hamilton. Words and music by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Copyright 2015 by 5000 Broadway Music. All rights administered by WB Music Corp. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Reprinted by permission of Hal Leonard LLC.

Hell by Benjamin Nugent. First published in Vice. Copyright 2016 by Benjamin Nugent. Reprinted by permission of the author.

Selected tweets from @WernerTwertzog by William Pannapacker. First published on Twitter.com. Copyright 2016 by William Pannapacker. Reprinted by permission of the author.

So Subtle a Catch by Simon Parkin. First published in Harpers Magazine. Copyright 2016 by Simon Parkin. Reprinted by permission of the author.

Nature Poem by Tommy Pico. First published in Tin House. Copyright 2016 by Tommy Pico. Reprinted by permission of the author.

Giant by Marc Polanzak. First published by the Southern Review. Copyright 2016 by Marc Polanzak. Reprinted by permission of the author.

Tattoo by Melissa Ragsly. First published in Epiphany. Copyright 2016 by Melissa Ragsly. Reprinted by permission of the author.

Woman Fries and Eats Pet Goldfish After Fight with Husband by Christine Rhein. First published in the Southern Review. Copyright 2016 by Christine Rhein. Reprinted by permission of the author.

One Person Means Alone by Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers. First published in the Missouri Review. Copyright 2016 by Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers. Reprinted by permission of the author.

Who Are All These Trump Supporters? by George Saunders. First published in The New Yorker. Copyright 2016 by George Saunders. Reprinted by permission of the author.

Utah, Petitioner v. Edward Joseph Strieff, Jr. by Sonia Sotomayor. First published on supremecourt.gov.

I Used to Be a Human Being by Andrew Sullivan. First published in New York Magazine. Copyright 2016 by Andrew Sullivan. Reprinted by permission of the Wylie Agency, LLC.

Peace Shall Destroy Many by Miriam Toews. First published in Granta. Copyright 2016 by Miriam Toews. Reprinted by permission of the Wylie Agency, LLC.

Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener. First published in n+1. Copyright 2016 by Anna Wiener. Reprinted by permission of the author.

AS AMERICANS ALIVE IN 2017, we have more access to information than any people in the history of humankind and yet, it seems more difficult than ever for us to arrive at a consensus about what is true. It is even more difficult to determine what is right and ethical. This year has been one of confusion, disorder, and disagreement. Our good ship appears to be drifting somewhere, but we are not looking at the same maps, cannot agree on the direction of the prevailing winds, and several of us claim to have scurvy while others dispute the existence of scurvy and believe it is a hoax invented by the Chinese. How did we get here? And how do we chart our course forward?

This book is, and always has been, edited by a committee of high school students. They come from all over the Bay Area and range in age and they meet every Monday in the basement of McSweeneys Publishing, where they read and discuss contemporary literature. They are aided by a guest editorthis year, the inimitable Sarah Vowellwho visits the class several times a year and, in the interim, recommends many of the pieces that the students read in class. As managing editor of the collection, I help guide our conversations on a week-to-week basis, but my guidance is light and our conversations are largely unstructured and unplanned. The point is to have the students converse and debate, to create a space where they are allowed to explore a piece of writing on their own terms.

At the end of the year, after reading through hundreds of pieces, we must select the two dozen or so works that end up in this collection. This is not easy. The students, myself, and Sarah all have differing opinions about what deserves to be included. But we must find common ground, or the book will never get finished. So we huddle around our oblong editorial table and we hash it out. Imagine the Iowa caucuses but with even more shouting. Like all democratic processes, it is messy and imperfect, but in the end, we find a satisfactory common ground. I can think of no better training for the work of citizenship, and at a time when the adults of the world seem incapable of compromising, it is refreshing to watch these brilliant teenagers negotiate, confer, advocate, and ultimately arrive at a consensus.