The Best American Essays

If, as author and editor Wallace (Consider the Lobster) notes in his introduction, ""fiction comes out of nothing,"" and nonfiction comes from ""Total Noise,"" the essays here offer sure-footed dispatches that distill nicely ""the seething static of every particular thing and experience"" in today's America. From Garret Keizer's argument for owning a handgun to Roger Scruton's inside-out ""Modest Proposal"" for meat eaters, these essays ask tough questions and push for answers. Mark Danner and Elaine Scarry each consider American foreign policy with refreshingly detailed analysis (Wallace's own hallmark) that's free of political ideology (though, elsewhere, this muscular thinking can squeeze out the reader in a fit of author self-awareness). Marilynne Robinson's discussion of the meaning and use of holiness, with writing that invites readers to mull things over alongside her, is a pleasure. And in the tradition of the best personal nonfiction, W.S. DiPiero's essay on physical pain and the rapturous pleasures of music strings together disparate threads of life to bring forth its hidden patterns. Other selections include Malcolm Gladwell on ""dog whisperer"" Cesar Milan, Mark Greif on children and sexuality, and Cynthia Ozick on the book-length essay, ""Romantic Religion,"" that left her ""dazzled and undone."" In a serious, trying year, these essays meet the challenges of modern American life, each writer shining his or her facet to a clean, clear brilliance.