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Best of Times, Worst of Times

Contemporary American Short Stories from the New Gilded Age
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Late twentieth and early twenty-first century America has been labeled as "The New Gilded Age," a phrase that embodies the glitz and glamour of one of the wealthiest countries in the world but also suggests the greed, corruption, and inequalities teeming just below the surface. Identifying some of the sparkling moments of humanity interwoven between the moments of crisis, Best of Times, Worst of Times features short stories by such renowned writers as Junot Diaz, George Saunders, Jhumpa Lahiri, Tobias Wolff, and many others, whose distinctive authorial voices lend urgency and a sense of heightened awareness to the modern moment. Commenting on and making sense of what is going on in America today, fractured as it is by two ongoing wars, the aftermath of 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression, these stories speak to some of the most germane issues confronting America today, from race relations, immigration, and social class to gender issues, Iraq, and imperialism. These expertly culled, emotionally powerful stories provide the perfect mirror with which to examine the real state of the union.
Acknowledgements Introduction Wendy Martin and Cecelia Tichi All in the Family 1 Your Mother and I Dave Eggers 2 The Ballad of Duane Juarez Tom Franklin 3 In the American Society Gish Jen 4 Gogol Jhumpa Lahiri 5 Refresh, Refresh Benjamin Percy 6 Smorgasbord Tobias Wolff Shifting Identities 7 How to Date a Brown Girl (black girl, white girl, or halfie) Junot Diaz 8 In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson Is Buried Amy Hempel 9 Metamorphosis John Updike 10 Think David Foster Wallace Locations and Dislocations 11 Expensive Trips Nowhere Tom Bissell 12 Near-Extinct Birds of the Central Cordillera Ben Fountain 13 Shiloh Bobbie Ann Mason 14 COMMCOMM George Saunders 15 Mines Susan Straight Across Divides 16 Skinless Aimee Bender 17 View from a Headlock Jonathan Lethem 18 Brownies ZZ Packer 19 Pie of the Month Jean Thompson Workdays and Nightshifts 20 A Day Charles Bukowski 21 Scales Louise Erdrich 22 Something That Needs Nothing Miranda July 23 Equal Opportunity Walter Mosley 24 The Passenger Marisa Silver About the Editors
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