Introduction

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents v
3. Introduction xi
4. Acknowledgments xix
5. THE BEST AMERICAN MAGAZINE WRITING 2019 1
6. A Betrayal 3
7. American Hustler 25
8. A Kingdom from Dust 65
9. Shallow Graves and An Interview with Ben Taub by Eric Sullivan 123
10. The Genocide the U.S. Didn’t See Coming 171
11. We Made It. We Depend on It. We’re Drowning in It. Plastic 201
12. The First Porn President and I Believe Her and The Abandoned World of 1982 215
13. Misjudged 237
14. The National Geographic Twins and the Falsehood of Our Post- Racial Future and The Profound Presence of Doria Ragland and The Ford- Kavanaugh Hearing Will Be Remembered as a Grotesque Display of Patriarchal Resentment 257
15. This Place Is Crazy 269
16. Getting Out of Prison Meant Leaving Dear Friends Behind 287
17. Getting Out 293
18. How to Be an Artist 319
19. The Art of Dying Well 343
20. Taming the Lionfish 365
21. The Breakup Museum 389
22. Skinned, by Lesley Nneka Arimah, and A Conversation with Claire Boyle and Karolina Waclawiak 411
23. Permissions 441
24. Contributors 445