Touchstone Anthology of Contemporary Creative Nonfiction

From memoir to journalism, personal essays to cultural criticism - this unique, indispensable anthology brings together fifty unforgettable works from all genres of creative nonfiction. Selected by five hundred writers, English professors, and creative writing teachers from across the country, this collection includes only the most highly regarded nonfiction work published since 1970. Contents:

The fourth state of matter by Jo Ann Beard

Getting along with nature by Wendell Berry

The pain scale by Eula Biss

The unwanted child by Mary Clearman Blew

Torch song by Charles Bowden

Embalming Mom by Janet Burroway

Physical evidence by Kelly Grey Carlisle

The glass essay by Anne Carson

Burl's by Bernard Cooper

Visitor by Michael W. Cox

Living like weasels by Annie Dillard

Return to sender by Mark Doty

Leap by Brian Doyle

Somehow form a family by Tony Earley

Kissing by Anthony Farrington

The beautiful city of Tirzah by Harrison Candelaria Fletcher

Sun dance by Diane Glancy

Mirrorings by Lucy Grealy

Present tense Africa by William Harrison

Reading history to my mother by Robin Hemley

World on a hilltop by Adam Hochschild

A small place by Jamaica Kincaid

High tide in Tucson by Barbara Kingsolver

Small rooms in time by Ted Kooser

The essayist is sorry for your loss by Sara Levine

Mastering the art of French cooking by E. J. Levy

Portrait of my body by Phillip Lopate

Flight by Barry Lopez

The undertaking by Thomas Lynch

Sorry by Lee Martin

Interstellar by Rebecca McClanahan

Bad eyes by Erin McGraw

The search for Marvin Gardens by John McPhee

The date by Brenda Miller

Son of Mr. Green Jeans by Dinty W. Moore

Celibate passion by Kathleen Norris

This is not who we are by Naomi Shihab Nye

Autopsy report by Lia Purpura

Watching the animals by Richard Rhodes

Shitdiggers, mudflats, and the worm men of Maine by Bill Roorbach

Repeat after me by David Sedaris

Imelda by Richard Selzer

The Pat Boone Fan Club by Sue William Silverman

A measure of acceptance by Floyd Skloot

Black swans by Lauren Slater

The love of my life by Cheryl Strayed

Mother tongue by Amy Tan

If you knew then what I know now by Ryan Van Meter

Consider the lobster by David Foster Wallace

Hawk by Joy Williams