The best American essays: 2008

Cracking open / Patricia Brieschke

Becoming Adolf / Rich Cohen

The constant gardener / Bernard Cooper

The way we age now / Atul Gawande

Everybody's nickname / Albert Goldbarth

On necklaces / Emily R. Grosholz

Candid camera / Anthony Lane

The ecstasy of influence / Jonathan Lethem

The lesbian bride's handbook / Ariel Levy

Salamanca / Jamal Mahjoub

Notable quotables / Louis Menand

Solipsism / Ander Monson

On celestial music / Rick Moody

Cricket fighting / Hugh Raffles

This old house / David Sedaris

Run like fire once more / Sam Shaw

The renegade / Charles Simic - Tripp Lake / Lauren Slater

Extreme dinosaurs / John Updike

Where God is glad / Joe Wenderoth

Buzzards / Lee Zacharias.