This years Best American Essays is edited by the best-selling, award-winning writer Kathleen Norris, whose books include Dakota andThe Virgin of Bennington. “The writers in this volume invite us into hidden places: a surgical pathologists laboratory, the boxing gym where a college professor and his student learn unexpected lessons about discipline, pain, and growing to adulthood. There are many discoveries to be made here, and I gladly invite the reader to an uncommonly rich and rewarding book.” Kathleen Norris

Contents Foreword by Robert Atwan viii Introduction: Stories Around a Fire by Kathleen Norris xiv Diane Ackerman. In the Memory Mines 1 from Michigan Quarterly Review Ben Birnbaum. How to Pray: Reverence, Stories, and the Rebbes Dream 14 from Image Charles Bowden. The Bone Garden of Desire 30 from Esquire James Campbell. Travels with R.L.S. 46 from The New York Times Book Review Anne Fadiman. Mail 50 from The American Scholar Francine Du Plessix Gray. The Work of Mourning 60 from The American Scholar Jeffrey Heiman. Vin Laforge 73 from The Massachusetts Review Edward Hoagland. Calliope Times 82 from The New Yorker Adam Hochschild. Indias American Imports 94 from The American Scholar Barbara Hurd. Refugium 106 from The Georgia Review Stephen King. On Impact 120 from The New Yorker Yusef Komunyakaa. Blue Machinery of Summer 132 from The Washington Post Magazine Marcus Laffey. The Midnight Tour 141 from The New Yorker Lenore Look. Facing the Village 152 from M\\TNTAccentsOneSTART\\K\\TNTAccentsOneEND\\anoa Rebecca McClanahan. Book Marks 165 from The Southern Review Daphne Merkin. Trouble in the Tribe 181 from The New Yorker David Michaelis. Provincetown 193 from The American Scholar Spencer Nadler. Brain-Cell Memories 208 from Harpers Magazine Mary Oliver. Dust 218 from Shenandoah Reynolds Price. Dear Harper: A Letter to a Godchild About God 221 from Forbes ASAP Tim Robinson. The Fineness of Things 235 from The Recorder Carlo Rotella. Cut Time 246 from The American Scholar Ashraf Rushdy. Exquisite Corpse 261 from Transition Earl Shorris. The Last Word 270 from Harpers Magazine Bert O. States. On Being Breathless 284 from The Gettysburg Review William T. Vollmann. Upside Down and Backward 296 from Forbes ASAP Biographical Notes 303 Notable Essays of 2000 309