Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

Introduction copyright © 2016 by Rachel Kushner

Editors’ Note copyright © 2016 by Daniel Gumbiner

 

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ISSN: 1539-316X

ISBN: 978-0-544-81211-6

 

eISBN 978-0-544-81218-5
v1.0916

 

Cover illustration © Jillian Tamaki

 

“The Gentlest Village” by Jesse Ball. First published in Granta. Chapter 1 from A Cure for Suicide: A Novel by Jesse Ball. Copyright © 2015 by Jesse Ball. Used by permission of Pantheon Books, an imprint of Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.

“Reluctant Citizens: A Juror’s Education” by Kyle Boelte. First published in ZYZZYVA. Copyright © 2015 by Kyle Boelte. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Bandit” by Molly Brodak. First published in Granta. Copyright © 2015 by Clegg Agency. Reprinted by permission of Clegg Agency.

“Brown vs. Ferguson” by Endnotes (John Clegg and Robert Lucas). First published in Endnotes. Copyright © 2015 by Endnotes. Reprinted by permission of the authors.

“Things I Know To Be True” by Kendra Fortmeyer. First published in One Story. Copyright © 2015 by Kendra Fortmeyer. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Shadehill” by Mark Hitz. First published in Glimmer Train. Copyright © 2015 by Mark Hitz. Reprinted by permission of the author.

Abdelrahman Al-Ahmar’s narrative edited by Mateo Hoke and Cate Malek. First published in Palestine Speaks. Copyright © 2015 by Voice of Witness. Reprinted by permission of Voice of Witness.

“Miracle,” “The Baseline,” “Life,” “Waterfront,” and “Empire” by Dan Hoy. First published by Octopus Books in The Deathbed Editions. Copyright © 2015 by Dan Hoy. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Last Poem for OE” by Laurel Hunt. First published in Salt Hill. Copyright © 2015 by Laurel Hunt. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Death-Qualified” by Gary Indiana. First published in the London Review of Books. Copyright © 2015 by the London Review of Books. Reprinted by permission of the London Review of Books.

“The Lonely Death of George Bell” by N. R. Kleinfield. First published in the New York Times, October 18, 2015. Copyright © 2015 by the New York Times. All rights reserved. Used by permission and protected by Copyright Laws of the United States. The printing, copying, redistribution, or retransmission of this content without express written permission is prohibited.

“Subda 1” by Anna Kovatcheva. First published in the Iowa Review. Copyright © 2015 by Anna Kovatcheva. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“The Teflon Toxin” by Sharon Lerner. First published in The Intercept as the first part of a three-part series. Copyright © 2015 by Sharon Lerner. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Borb” by Jason Little. First published by Uncivilized Books of Minneapolis. Copyright © 2015 by Uncivilized Books. Reprinted by permission of Uncivilized Books.

“The Miracle Years of Little Fork,” from Music for Wartime: Stories. Copyright © 2015 by Rebecca Makkai Freeman. Used by permission of Viking Books, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.

“The Grozny Tourist Bureau” by Anthony Marra. First published in Zoetrope. Copyright © 2015 by Anthony Marra. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“The Trip Treatment” by Michael Pollan. First published in The New Yorker. Copyright © 2015 by Michael Pollan. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Strong City” by Da’Shay Portis. First published in Fourteen Hills. Copyright © 2015 by Da’Shay Portis. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Dream House” by Ariana Reines. First published in Ramayana. Copyright © 2015 by Ariana Reines. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“President Obama & Marilynne Robinson: A Conversation” by Marilynne Robinson. First published in the New York Review of Books. Copyright © 2015 by Marilynne Robinson. Reprinted by permission of Marilynne Robinson.

“On This Side” by Yuko Sakata. First published in the Iowa Review. Copyright © 2016 by Yuko Sakata. Reprinted by permission of The Wylie Agency, LLC.

“Buena Vista Park, 2 a.m.” by sam sax. First published in Fourteen Hills. Copyright © 2015 by sam sax. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“How I Became a Prison Gardener” by Michele Scott. First published in The Marshall Project. Copyright © 2015 by Michele Scott. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Jelly and Jack” by Dana Spiotta. First published in The New Yorker. Copyright © 2016 by Dana Spiotta. Reprinted with the permission of Scribner, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. from Innocents and Others; A Novel by Dana Spiotta. All rights reserved.

“Killing and Dying” by Adrian Tomine. First published in Killing and Dying. Copyright © 2015 by Adrian Tomine. Reprinted by permission of Drawn & Quarterly.

“Homer Dill’s Undead” by Inara Verzemnieks. First published in the Iowa Review. Copyright © 2015 by Inara Verzemnieks. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“The Death of the Sky” by David Wagoner. First published in the Harvard Review. Copyright © 2015 by David Wagoner. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Algorithmic Problem Solving for Father-Daughter Relationships” by Xuan Juliana Wang. First published in Ploughshares. Copyright © 2015 by Ploughshares. Reprinted by permission of Ploughshares.