Best American series
Encyclopedia
The Best American Series is an annually-published collection of books, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, each of which features a different genre or theme. Each book selects from works published in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 during the previous year, selected by a guest editor who is an established writer within the given field. This series, the original, should not be confused with more recent Best American series published by Harper Perennial
Harper Perennial
Harper Perennial is a paperback imprint of the publishing house HarperCollins Publishers. Harper Perennial has divisions located in New York, London, Toronto, and Sydney. The imprint is descended from the Perennial Library imprint founded by Harper & Row in 1964...

 and Palgrave Macmillan
Palgrave Macmillan
Palgrave Macmillan is an international academic and trade publishing company, headquartered in Basingstoke, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom and with offices in New York, Melbourne, Sydney, Hong Kong, Delhi, Johannesburg. It was created in 2000 when St...

.

History

The Best American Short Stories has been in publication since 1915 making it the oldest continuous series of its type. Starting in 1986 additional titles were added covering the best in essays, sports writing, nature writing and more - all of which now fall under the general title of The Best American Series.

Method

Each category has a continuing series editor, who makes an initial selection of notable works. The guest editor for that year then chooses a smaller number of pieces from the initial list. The pieces that do not make the final cut are often given honorable mention in an alphabetical list at the back of the book.

A work is eligible for the series if published in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 (or published in another language, but translated into English by the author) in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, or Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...

; if it first appeared, or was significantly revised, during the previous year; and if the author comes from or chiefly lives in North America. Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

 publications are eligible if their audience includes North American readers.

Many editions are a mix of more-established authors (e.g., Joyce Carol Oates
Joyce Carol Oates
Joyce Carol Oates is an American author. Oates published her first book in 1963 and has since published over fifty novels, as well as many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction...

, Michael Chabon
Michael Chabon
Michael Chabon born May 24, 1963) is an American author and "one of the most celebrated writers of his generation", according to The Virginia Quarterly Review....

, Lorrie Moore
Lorrie Moore
Lorrie Moore is an American fiction writer known mainly for her humorous and poignant short stories.-Biography:...

) with up-and-coming writers who have achieved moderate success (e.g., Benjamin Percy
Benjamin Percy
Benjamin Percy is a contemporary American writer.- Biography :Percy was born on March 28, 1979 in Eugene, Oregon, and in his early life lived briefly in Hawaii...

, Kyle Minor
Kyle Minor
Kyle Minor is an American writer. Born and raised in West Palm Beach, Florida, Minor lived in Indiana and Kentucky before settling in Columbus, Ohio...

, Ander Monson
Ander Monson
-Life:He was raised in Houghton, Michigan in the Upper Peninsula. His mother's death when he was seven years old is reflected in the themes of his later fiction. He received his Bachelor of Arts from Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois...

). Introductions to each book are written by the series editors, guest editors, and/or other celebrities (e.g., actor Viggo Mortensen
Viggo Mortensen
Viggo Peter Mortensen, Jr. is a Danish-American actor, poet, musician, photographer and painter. He made his film debut in Peter Weir's 1985 thriller Witness, and subsequently appeared in many notable films of the 1990s, including The Indian Runner , Carlito's Way , Crimson Tide , Daylight , The...

 for Nonrequired Reading, and UK cook Jamie Oliver
Jamie Oliver
James "Jamie" Trevor Oliver, MBE , sometimes known as The Naked Chef, is an English chef, restaurateur and media personality, known for his food-focused television shows, cookbooks and more recently his campaign against the use of processed foods in national schools...

 for Recipes).

The volume title is the year the volume was published. The articles in the volume were published the prior year. So for example The Best American Essays 2000 contains articles published in 1999. The volumes are published in September or October of each year.

Series titles

List of the series titles, oldest to newest by first issue.
  • The Best American Short Stories (first issue: 1915)
  • The Best American Essays
    The Best American Essays
    The Best American Essays is a yearly anthology of magazine articles published in the United States. It was started in 1986 and is now part of The Best American Series published by Houghton Mifflin...

    (first issue: 1986)
  • The Best American Sports Writing
    The Best American Sports Writing
    The Best Sports Writing is a yearly anthology of magazine articles on the subject of sports published in the United States. It was started in 1991 as part of The Best American Series published by Houghton Mifflin...

    (first issue: 1991)
  • The Best American Mystery Stories
    The Best American Mystery Stories
    The Best American Mystery Stories is a yearly anthology of mystery stories published in United States magazines and anthologies. It was started in 1997 as part of The Best American Series published by Houghton Mifflin...

    (first issue: 1997)
  • The Best American Science and Nature Writing
    The Best American Science and Nature Writing
    The Best American Science and Nature Writing is a yearly anthology of popular science magazine articles published in the United States. It was started in 2000 and is part of The Best American Series published by Houghton Mifflin...

    (first issue: 2000)
  • The Best American Travel Writing
    The Best American Travel Writing
    The Best American Travel Writing is a yearly anthology of travel literature published in United States magazines. It was started in 2000 as part of The Best American Series published by Houghton Mifflin...

    (first issue: 2000)
  • The Best American Nonrequired Reading
    The Best American Nonrequired Reading
    The Best American Nonrequired Reading is a yearly anthology of fiction and nonfiction selected annually by high school students in California and Michigan through 826 Valencia and 826michigan...

    (first issue: 2002)
  • The Best American Comics (first issue: 2006)


Discontinued series
  • The Best American Recipes (1999-2005)
  • The Best American Spiritual Writing (2004-2008)

External links

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