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The Best American Magazine Writing 2018

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Member Reviews

Informative and interesting. Good stuff for would-be writers and readers.

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC.

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Excellent writing about serious topics, so you may need to brace yourself or just set your expectations accordingly. It's tough to go wrong with these highly talented authors. Recommended.

I really appreciate the copy for review!!

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This series offers the best reporting available each year, and this issue covers everything from the Weinstein investigation and the attempted coverup by the accused to Obama's farewell party. Some of the best writers are featured including Ronan Farrow. Well worth your time to read.

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A group of essays articles that are so well written so fascinating thought provoking perfect for discussions. Groups.A standout Ronan Farrows work an article that Brought Harvey Weinstein down .Article after award winning article I will continue to dip into these articles and recommend them. #netgalley #columbiajournalisim.

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The Best American Magazine Writing 2018 is a wonderful summary of the best articles that appeared in magazines that year many of which have won awards.

Many of the articles are published from a range of magazines such as the Atlantic, The New Yorker as well as general interest magazines. The articles cover a range of topical cultural and global conversations around today's issues offering a wide variety of different content. I particularly liked the short story - Cat Person.

Thank you Columbia University Press and NetGalley for the digital review copy of this outstanding anthology.

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Thank you for the opportunity to read for a review. I am still reading, rereading articles and diving into research to educate myself about the events and policies. Thank you.
Thank you NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to review and grow as a better informed person.

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I actually missed a few of these great pieces when they were first published. What is great about this collection is that while many of the pieces will of course have been talked about a lot when they first came out, the Best American Magazine Writing 2018 collects pieces not just from “general interest” magazines and therefore serves as a corrective for the bubble-like way we experience culture today. I for example rarely read sports articles or technology articles and found myself fascinated by ESPN’s Howard Bryant on the NFL and the athletes inequality protests. People who have a disdain for Buzzfeed for example, thinking of it as a place of just listicles and quizzes might miss out on Bim Adewunmi’s culture essays. This collection shares them. After finishing this book a reader should have a very good idea of the big cultural conversations that occurred in 2017/18 and it’s quite satisfying. Thanks to Columbia University Press and Netgalley for the ARC

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It feels as though writing and/or journaling could make for a great New Year's resolution. Here are a couple of ideas to help with getting started. Learning the craft of writing (or just being attuned to current events and good writing) means exposing oneself to high quality examples. In fact, we are always looking for short pieces to share with students and this collection (over 500 pages and recently published by Columbia University Press) offers some great ideas: THE BEST AMERICAN MAGAZINE WRITING 2018 edited by Sid Holt for the American Society of Magazine Editors. Articles from Rebecca Traister, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and others deal with heavy, critical issues like the #MeToo movement, race relations, international atrocities, maternal mortality, and robotics. When reviewing this book, I learned that the Ellie Awards are distributed each year by the American Society of Magazine Editors and they have a searchable database of past winners and finalists. Those chosen for this recent edition were published in a variety of places like the New Yorker, ProPublica, Wired, ESPN, NPR and Smithsonian. Definitely give THE BEST AMERICAN MAGAZINE WRITING 2018 a look -- if only to introduce yourself to a new author and/or publication.

Other awards and sources for the "best" journalism pieces of 2018 include lists from Longreads, from Longform, via David Brooks (the Sidneys), and/or the Pulitzer Prizes for Journalism. Plus, The Atlantic journalist Conor Friedersdorf will publish a list of 100 choices later in the new year (here are his recommendations for 2017).

Links in live post:
https://longreads.com/best-of-2018/
https://longform.org/lists/best-of-2018
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/24/opinion/best-journalism-sidney-awards.html
https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-year/2018,
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/08/slightly-more-than-100-fantastic-articles/567574/

https://asme.magazine.org/asme/2018-national-magazine-awards
https://asme.magazine.org/asme/national-magazine-awards/winners-finalists

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Thank you to Colombia University Press and Netgalley for allowing me to read the class of 2018. I will most definitely be giving my students some of these articles to read - if not all of them - at some point through the accedemic year so that they can actively engage with excellent examples of writing for an audience pieces.
It was really thought-provoking to read all the articles produced surrounding the #MeToo movement and Weinstein’s reign of power in Hollywood. The angles were equally viewed from both the masculine and feminine perspectives. I also found the medical article extremely interesting as it a subject matter that is not discussed as much in the modern medical world, but quite obviously is a topic in dire need of reflection and action.
All in all the wide variety of texts was interesting and well worth the read - from the Smithsonian Article to the short story piece, it is an anthology of work that encapsulates this year exactly. Reflecting back to the Obama years in a Trump era and also how the US government undermined a small Mexican Village trying to do the right thing when fighting drug lords.
This is collection that should be placed in your reading nook ready for when you want to delve in. It is a collection you can read slowly over a period of time, one that you can read, leave and then come back to at a later date and pick up where you left off with ease.
A really good selection that everyone can access and enjoy.

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The Best American Magazine Writing 2018 is a must have for any writer. Not only does this anthology give you insight to the world of 2018's national award finalist, but it gives you a glimpse at today's Issues. These award finalist's writing will have you on the edge of your seat as you explore topics like racism, the cartel massacres in Mexico, and investigations on maternal mortality.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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A very serious collection of longer stories which each take a concerted effort to work through. This is not a feel good collection but instead a grouping that brings to the reader some things worth thinking about. From the #Metoo movement with Harvey Weinstein to the atrocities coming from the cartels in Mexico not that far from our border, to a reading on climate change that brings figure to mind that are almost unfathomable, be ready to sit and contemplate each story after finishing. It is not an easy read but almost a required one to go in depth on the topics covered. Thank you Columbia University Press and Netgalley for the ARC.

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I will definitely be adopting this text in the Spring 2019 semester. I will admit to having been a fan of the anthology for several years and I was very excited to get an early look at 2018’s collection. From Ronan Farrow to Ta-Nehisi Coates (who, blissfully, seems to be becoming a staple of the anthology) the writers featured in this collection are some of the strongest voices out there right now. The subject matter will likely invoke passionate and engaging discussions that allow me to guide my students through critical thinking and writing, as well as home the skills of civil discourse. I am thrilled with this collection. Best year yet.

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I had already read many of these in the Atlantic, New Yorker and other titles, but the choices this year were striking for the cohesive theme of reckoning: the rising tide of #MeToo, the frank examination of racism and power in sports, even the inclusion of the New Yorker short story "Cat Person," which has been one of the best diagnostic tools I've seen recently (you either got it, or you didn't, and if you were hostile and didn't get it, or tried to explain to me why what I saw there wasn't there....). This would be a really useful and economical collection from which to teach a discussion or writing course.

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Be warned, this is not light reading. The topics are deadly serious and important. The hefty collection begins with a articles about Harvey Weinstein by Ronan Farrow, Rebecca Traister, and Laurie Penny. Heavy going and fascinating. No relief with the next articles, as the U.S. death rate from childbirth is investigated, along with atrocities in Mexico and Iraq. Ian Frazier is uncharacteristically gloomy in his account of the Russian Revolution as he travels in Russia. The Serena Williams stories take on a renewed importance in the light of her recent experience at the U.S. Open. Get a metaphorical slap in the face with the article about climate change and how it will play out in excruciating and horrific detail. Even the story of a robot scientist turns creepy early on. And to round things out, the short fictional story from the New Yorker, Cat People, that I had missed when it was making waves last year, brought us back to the opening stories of misogyny and powerlessness. Best to take this important and serious collection a little at a time, rather than straight through. (Thanks to Columbia University Press and NetGalley for a digital review copy.)

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