american essays

The powerful essays in Paul Crenshaw?s This One Will Hurt You range in subject matter from the fierce tornadoes that crop up in Tornado Alley every spring and summer to a supposedly haunted one-hundred-year-old tuberculosis sanatorium that he lived on the grounds of as a child. They ruminate on the effects of crystal meth on small southern towns, Maurice Sendak?s Where the Wild Things Are, and the ongoing struggle of being a parent in an increasingly disturbing world. They surprise, whether discovering a loved one?s secret, an opossum?s motivation, or the unexpected decision four beer-guzzling, college-aged men must make. They tell stories of family and the past, the histories of small things such as walls and weather, and the faith it takes to hold together in the face of death.

Collects twenty-eight essays by American writers such as Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, Leonard Everett Fisher, Sandra Cisneros, and John F. Kennedy.

An anthology of classic and contemporary essays on themes of education, ethics, family, gender, history and politics, identity, media and pop culture, race and culture, work and class, reading, writing, speaking, and science, nature, and the environment; featuring selections from Maya Angelou, E.B. White, Sherman Alexie, Plato, Sojourner Truth, Thomas Jefferson, David Sedaris, and others.

Contains ten personal essays by author John McPhee on a variety of themes and topics, including lacrosse, the U.S. Open golf championship, and outings with his mother.

[Presents a collection of essays that] uses music and culture as a lens through which to view our world, so that we might better understand ourselves, and in doing so proves himself a bellwether for our times"--Back cover.

A collection of twenty-five essays written in 1998 by some of America's most influential writers.

Presents twenty-nine essays, selected as the best of 1998 by editor Phillip Lopate, offering a balance of personal and formal writings on a variety of topics including nature, travel music, and feminism.

A collection of essays by American authors deemed to be the best published in 2012. Features guest editor Cheryl Strayed.