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from Issue 37
Essays from the Edge
$16.95








  ENLARGE COVER

  TABLE OF CONTENTS




Anyone still asking, “What is creative nonfiction?” will find the answer in this collection of artfully crafted, true stories. These stories—ranging from immersion journalism to intensely personal essays—illustrate the genre’s power and potential. Edwidge Danticat recalls her Uncle Moïse’s love of a certain four-letter word and finds in his abandonment of the word near the end of his life the true meaning of exile. In “Literary Murder,” Julianna Baggott traces her roots as a novelist to her family’s “strange, desperate (sometimes conniving and glorious) past” and writes about her decision, in The Madam, to kill off a character based on her grandfather. And Sean Rowe explains why, if you must get arrested, Selma, Alabama, is the place to do it. This exciting and expansive array of works and voices is sure to impress and delight.

Purchase this book alone or as part of the Best Creative Nonfiction box set.

on writing "Community College"
by Tim Bascom

Creative nonfiction swerves toward introspection. I'm glad this essay focuses outward instead. It's still a bit of a surprise, since I am inclined the other way. Somehow, though, I kept the lens aimed away and learned in the process that I don't have to build an essay on self-reference.

At first Newton, Iowa, seemed to me like a perfect picket-fence place. The Maytag family—famous for washing machines—had contributed everything from a spectacular pool to public sculptures, and those window dressings gave the town a sparkle other towns couldn't afford. However, after I started teaching at the community college, I discovered a hidden subculture. My students struggled with dysfunctional families, chronic illness, jail time, spousal abuse, learning disabilities, psychological illness and—after Maytag laid off 2,000 workers—unemployment. This essay is dedicated to those who showed me the meaning of resilience. In a very real sense, they became my community college.

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