Best American Essays 2021

A collection of the year's best essays, selected by award-winning journalist and New Yorkerstaff writer Kathryn Schulz ';The world is abundant even in bad times,' guest editor Kathryn Schulz writes in her introduction, ';it is lush with interestingness, and always, somewhere, offering up consolation or beauty or humor or happiness, or at least the hope of future happiness.' The essays Schulz selected are a powerful time capsule of 2020, showcasing that even if our lives as we knew them stopped, the beauty to be found in them flourished. From an intimate account of nursing a loved one in the early days of the pandemic, to a masterful portrait of grieving the loss of a husband as the country grieved the loss of George Floyd, this collection brilliantly shapes the grief, hardship, and hope of a singular year. The Best American Essays 2021 includes ELIZABETH ALEXANDER *; HILTON ALS *; GABRIELLE HAMILTON *; RUCHIR JOSHI *; PATRICIA LOCKWOOD*; CLAIRE MESSUD *; WESLEY MORRIS *; BETH NGUYEN *; JESMYN WARD and others