Sid Holt

Some truly excellent writing: my particular favorites included Mark Leibovich's profile of Mike Allen, Michael Paterniti's "The Suicide Catcher," and Pamela Colloff's two pieces on a man imprisoned in Texas for years for a crime he didn't commit. Paul Theroux's story "Minor Watt" is creepy-good, too.

What I liked about this book was the great range of topics and writing styles; it was fun to just dip into this volume when I needed a breather from whatever else I was reading at the time and show more know that I'd find something interesting. show less

I am not predisposed towards magazines. They have too many advertisements and those that don't, like Bitch and Adbusters and The Walrus, I let my subscriptions lapse with a stack of issues I never even got around to starting. I cherry pick my way through The Economist most weeks, half-finishing articles and sections. I've never read every article in their China section. I don't think I've read their Obits in ages. So even the magazine I "read", I don't really read. Something about magazines show more and their stories just doesn't gel with me.

But, break outside your comfort zone and all that. A Best-Of Collection means I won't have to be wading through the trash, thought I. It's curated, to use web 2.0 (or are we on 3.0 now? n.0?) lingo. Such a collection will inspire me to explore more long-form journalism. My horizons will be expanded and I will be all the richer.

Except, well, not really.

There's nothing wrong with any of the stories in The Best American Magazine Writing 2015. They aren't riddled with typographical errors or unsubstantiated claims. They aren't unnecessarily fanciful or overwhelmingly dour. They are perfectly adequate technique pieces. I could imagine journalism students dissecting them in little work groups and giving powerpoint presentations afterwards.

But I can't say that, with the exception of Brian Phillips' The Sea of Crises, about Sumo wrestling and Yukio Mishima, that I enjoyed reading any of these articles. That I felt that feeling you get after reading something that knocks your mind into the next level, like an energized electron. Most of the time, I just felt annoyed. Or forgetful. Three times now I've looked at the table of contents, baffled by Love and Ruin. Three times I couldn't remember what that piece was about, including about half an hour after I read it. I think I've finally got it down though. Love and Ruin is about Afghanistan.

But annoyed. For example, the initial essay, Ta-Nehisi Coates' The Case for Reparations. I found the argument muddled and unconvincing even though I am pretty much for reparations (or at least, as the article points out, I am completely open to studying the possibility of reparations via studies that are continually voted down by congress or the senate or whatever it is in the US that vote on these sorts of things. I'm Canadian so that whole governmental process is somewhat mysterious to me). The winning essay didn't convince someone who already believed in the possibility. Things like this annoy me. The articles instantly stopping when, I guess, they've gotten to five thousand or seventy-five hundred or whatever their word limit is, rather than letting the piece be as long as it needs to be, annoyed me. Having to read three short articles on art criticism, written for other art critics, so me having really no clue what was being talked about, annoyed me. Having to read four hundred pages on my iPad rather than my kobo and getting eye strain and headaches annoyed me (although, that really isn't the fault of the essays in this book, more the publisher. I hate reading on my iPad).

So The Best American Magazine Writing 2015 did not change my opinion of long-form magazine journalism. I'm just going to go back to flipping at random through The Economist's articles on the bathroom floor while waiting for Tesfa to get out of the tub. Maybe, when I stupidly request to review The Best American Magazine Writing 2016 next fall, that will be the collection that inspires me to love this type of journalism.

But probably not.

The Best American Magazine Writing 2015, Sid Holt editor went on sale December 15, 2015.

I received a copy free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. show less

"The Best American Magazine Writing 2017" is, just as it says, a collection of great magazine articles written in 2017. Duh! Now, how to write a review based on a wide-ranging selection of stories.....
I found some of the articles to be fascinating. Jeffrey Goldbergs "The Obama Doctrine", written for the Atlantic, was one. It really brings the sometimes confusing style and thinking of President Obama into focus. A thorough examination, it's not one based on the 30 second sound bites we show more received from the national news. Rather, it appears to get through the hype and really explain Obama's reasoning. I only wish Obama himself could have explained himself better, to a wider audience, in language they could understand. Then, maybe, people would appreciate him more.
Another great article was by Matt Taibbi, of Rolling Stone. "President Trump, Seriously and "Appetite for Destruction" and the Fury and Failure of Donald Trump. A serious examination of how we (America) got to where we are today. The failure of the two party system. I'm going to quote some of the article, but it really helps to get the gist of it. "Lie No. 1 is that there are only two political ideas in the world, Republican and Democrat. Lie No. 2 is that the parties are violent ideological opposites, and that during campaign season we can only speak about the areas where they differ (abortion, guns, etc) an never the areas where there's typically consensus.....Lie No. 3 is that all problems are the fault of one party or the other, and never both. Assuming you watch the right channels, everything is always someone else's fault." How true!
My favorite article was written for Mother Jones, by Shane Bauer. It was called "My Four Months as a Private Prison Guard". Bauer spent four months working for a private, for-profit prison. I, myself, worked for the Federal Bureau of Prisons for 21 years. It was interesting to see the growth of Bauer as he worked as a correctional officer. I experienced many of the same emotions and questions, found myself at similar crossroads, and thought many times whether or not I was crazy for choosing this career. The author has a way of putting into words many disparate thoughts and ideas that he had. While his stint was for a pay-to-play company, and I think a much less "honorable" organization, he learned some valuable lessons about himself. There is one line in the article that really, really shows me that the author "got it". When he realized what an inmate told him was true, and could make his life in prison a lot easier...."Just know at the end of the day, how y'all conduct y'all selves determines how we conduct ourselves. You come wit' a shit attitude, we go' have a shit attitude". That ladies and gentlemen, is the one thing you need to learn is you want a career in corrections. Spot on!
There are many other articles in the book, some great, some good, some not-so-good. It all depends on your own perspectives. But there is something for everyone in here! show less

As usual with such collections, a decent selection of fascinating and varied pieces from across the spectrum. Also as usual, I enjoyed some more than others. There seemed to be a reasonably high ratio of essays and articles about Afghanistan and Iraq, which surprised me a bit but perhaps shouldn't have done. On the whole, though, entirely worth dipping into for some excellent recent writing.