The Best American Short Stories 2009

Edited by critically acclaimed, best-selling author Alice Sebold, the stories in this year's collection serve as a provacative literary "antenna for what is going on in the world" (Chicago Tribune). The collection boasts great variety from "famous to first-timers, sifted from major magazines and little reviews, grand and little worlds" (St. Louis Post-Dispatch), ensuring yet another rewarding, eduring edition of the oldest and best-selling Best American. The idiot President / Daniel Alarcón -- Yurt / Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum -- Rubiaux rising / Steve de Jarnatt -- Beyond the pale / Joseph Epstein -- A shadow table / Alice Fulton -- NowTrends / Karl Taro Greenfeld -- The farms / Eleanor Henderson -- Sagittarius / Greg Hrbek -- Hurricanes anonymous / Adam Johnson -- The anniversary trip / Victoria Lancelotta -- A man like him / Yiyun Li -- The briefcase / Rebecca Makkai -- Magic words / Jill McCorkle -- One dog year / Kevin Moffett -- Modulation / Richard Powers -- Them old cowboy songs / Annie Proulx -- Into the gorge / Ron Rash -- Ostracon / Alex Rose -- The peripatetic coffin / Ethan Rutherford -- Muzungu / Namwali Serpell -- Contributors' notes -- 100 other distinguished stories of 2008 -- Editorial addresses of American and Canadian magazines publishing short stories