The Best American Magazine Writing 2021

The Best American Magazine Writing 2021 presents outstanding journalism and commentary that reckon with urgent topics, including COVID-19 and entrenched racial inequality. In "The Plague Year," Lawrence Wright details how responses to the pandemic went astray (New Yorker). Lizzie Presser reports on "The Black American Amputation Epidemic" (ProPublica). In powerful essays, the novelist Jesmyn Ward processes her grief over her husband's death against the backdrop of the pandemic and antiracist uprisings (Vanity Fair), and the poet Elizabeth Alexander considers "The Trayvon Generation" (New Yorker). Aymann Ismail delves into how "The Store That Called the Cops on George Floyd" dealt with the repercussions of the fatal call (Slate). Mitchell S. Jackson scrutinizes the murder of Ahmaud Arbery and how running fails Black America (Runner's World).The anthology features remarkable reporting, such as explorations of the cases of children who disappeared into the depths of the U.S. immigration system for years (Reveal) and Oakland's efforts to rethink its approach to gun violence (Mother Jones). It includes selections from a Public Books special issue that investigate what 2020's overlapping crises reveal about the future of cities. Excerpts from Marie Claire's guide to online privacy examine topics from algorithmic bias to cyberstalking to employees' rights. Aisha Sabatini Sloan's perceptive Paris Review columns explore her family history in Detroit and the toll of a brutal past and present. Sam Anderson reflects on a unique pop figure in "The Weirdly Enduring Appeal of Weird Al Yankovic" (New York Times Magazine). The collection concludes with Susan Choi's striking short story "The Whale Mother" (Harper's Magazine).

Introduction, by Clara Jeffery, editor in chief, Mother JonesAcknowledgments, by Sid Holt, chief executive, American Society of Magazine EditorsThe Plague Year, by Lawrence WrightThe Black American Amputation Epidemic, by Lizzie PresserThe Disappeared, by Aura BogadoGlobal Inequality and the Corona Shock, by Adam ToozeThe Limits of Telecommuting, by Margaret O'MaraRebuilding Solidarity in a Broken World, by Eric KlinenbergThe Election That Could Break America, by Barton GellmanThe Collaborators, by Anne ApplebaumEditor's Letter, by Ta-Nehisi CoatesWitness and Respair, by Jesmyn WardThe Store That Called the Cops on George Floyd, by Aymann IsmailWhose Streets?, by Samantha MichaelsThe Trayvon Generation, by Elizabeth AlexanderExcerpts From "Marie Clarie's Guide to Protecting Yourself Online", by Edited by Megan DiTrolioGraham Court: The Gilded Age Rental, by Matthew SedaccaOne Fifth: The Downtown Co-op of All Downtown Co-ops, by Matthew SedaccaLadies of the Good Dead and On Immolation and On Doulas, by Aisha Sabatini SloanThe Patriot Slave, by Farah PetersonThe Weirdly Enduring Appeal of Weird Al Yankovic, by Sam AndersonMichael Jordan: A History of Flight, by Wright ThompsonTwelve Minutes and a Life, by Mitchell S. JacksonThe Whale Mother, by Susan ChoiPermissionsList of Contributors