The Best American Mystery Stories 2004Since its inception in 1915, the Best American series has become the premier annual showcase for the countrys finest short fiction and nonfiction. For each volume, a series editor reads pieces from hundreds of periodicals, then selects between fifty and a hundred outstanding works. That selection is pared down to twenty or so very best pieces by a guest editor who is widely recognized as a leading writer in his or her field. This unique system has

These are necessary

she came up with an idea—a 30-day challenge to cook and eat only local food grown from local dirt

They leave us with the heavy residue of an unsettling strangeness

which Mamata was able to exploit

This collection traverses the tender and brutal moments of a woman’s life—

it will not break you

But when a new bill that threatens freedom of expression is bulldozed through with impunity

When he's not cartooning or writing bestsellers

With five far-out stories in one box for reading on the go

Following the tremendous success of her New York Times bestsellers

and smart fats

She shows women how to reclaim “nice” and sidestep regressive stereotypes about what a strong leader looks like