Readers' Delight: Best Fiction and Nonfiction While Short Stories Are Less Artistic in 1996 Than Earlier in the Century, This Year's Essays Are the Best They've Ever Been

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The Best America Essays: 1996

Edited by Geoffrey C. Ward and Robert Atwan

Houghton Mifflin 370 pp., $27 (cloth) $12.95 (paper) The Best American Short Stories: 1996 Edited by John Edgar Wideman and Katrina Kenison Houghton Mifflin 363 pp., $25 (cloth) $12.95 (paper) Here's an annual treat for all who follow developments in current American prose: this year's versions of "The Best American Short Stories" and "The Best American Essays." A mere glance at the tables of contents might make a book lover grab one or both collections for the daily train or bus commute or the bedside table. As usual, each volume's contents are selected by a distinguished guest …