The Best American Magazine Writing 2020 brings together outstanding writing, from in-depth reporting to incisive criticism. The anthology features excerpts from major projects that challenge American certitudes: the Washington Post Magazine’s “Prison” issue, detailing the scope of mass incarceration, and the New York Times Magazine’s “The 1619 Project, ” which recenters the nation’s history around slavery and its legacies. It includes extraordinary globe-spanning journalism, including pieces on the genocide against the Rohingya (New York Times Magazine) and the unintended consequences of a dengue fever vaccine (Fortune). Pamela Colloff details prosecutors’ reliance on an untrustworthy jailhouse informant (New York Times Magazine in partnership with Pro Publica), and a Pro Publica series investigates the disaster that befell the USS Fitzgerald.
The anthology showcases the work of remarkable stylists, including Jia Tolentino’s cultural commentary (New Yorker) and Ligaya Mishan’s columns on food and culture (T: The New York Times Style Magazine). Columns by s.e. smith consider disability (Catapult), and the Deaf Blind poet John Lee Clark writes about art he can touch (Poetry). Jordan Kisner visits a Martha Washington–themed debutante ball in Texas near the Mexican border for The Believer, and Jacob Baynham offers a moving portrait of his father-in-law (Georgia Review). Arundhati Roy excoriates the increasing authoritarianism of Modi’s India (The Nation in partnership with Type Media Center). The anthology concludes with Jonathan Escoffery’s short story of homesickness for Jamaica, “Under the Ackee Tree” (Paris Review).
Table of Content
Introduction, by Jonathan Dorn, president, American Society of Magazine Editors
Acknowledgments, by Sid Holt, chief executive, American Society of Magazine Editors
“False Witness, ” by Pamela Colloff (New York Times Magazine in partnership with Pro Publica): Winner—Reporting
“We’ve Normalized Prison, ” by Piper Kerman (Washington Post Magazine): Winner—Single-Topic Issue
“Can We Build a Better Women’s Prison?, ” by Keri Blakinger (Washington Post Magazine): Winner—Single-Topic Issue
“Epidemic of Fear, ” by Erika Fry (Fortune): Finalist— Reporting
“Las Marthas, ” by Jordan Kisner (The Believer): Finalist—Feature Writing
“The Schoolteacher and the Genocide, ” by Sarah A. Topol (New York Times Magazine): Winner—Feature Writing
“Unlike Any Other, ” by Nick Paumgarten (New Yorker): Finalist—Feature Writing
“Jerry’s Dirt, ” by Jacob Baynham (Georgia Review): Winner—Profile Writing
“Elizabeth Warren’s Classroom Strategy, ” by Rebecca Traister (New York): Finalist—Profile Writing
“Tactile Art, ” by John Lee Clark (Poetry): Winner—Essays and Criticism
“India: Intimations of an Ending, ” by Arundhati Roy (The Nation in partnership with Type Media Center): Finalist—Essays and Criticism
“When Disability Is a Toxic Legacy and The Ugly Beautiful and Other Failings of Disability Representation and What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Mental Health and Medication, ” by s.e. smith (Catapult): Winner—Columns and Commentary
“Kanye West’s Sunday Service Is Full of Longing and Self-Promotion and Love, Death, and Begging for Celebrities to Kill You and E. Jean Carroll’s Accusation Against Donald Trump, and the Raising, and Lowering, of the Bar, ” by Jia Tolentino (New Yorker): Finalist—Columns and Commentary
“Nothing Sacred and An Assault on the Tongue and Interlopers, ” by Ligaya Mishan (T: The New York Times Style Magazine): Finalist—Columns and Commentary
“Our Democracy’s Founding Ideals Were False When They Were Written. Black Americans Have Fought to Make Them True., ” by Nikole Hannah-Jones (New York Times Magazine, “The 1619 Project”): Winner—Public Interest
“Fight the Ship, ” by T. Christian Miller, Megan Rose, and Robert Faturechi (Pro Publica): Finalist—Public Interest
“Under the Ackee Tree, ” by Jonathan Escoffery (Paris Review): Winner—ASME Award for Fiction
Permissions
List of Contributors
About the author
Sid Holt is chief executive of the American Society of Magazine Editors and a former editor at Rolling Stone and Adweek magazines.Jonathan Dorn is president of the American Society of Magazine Editors.
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