A review by jenmcmaynes
The Best American Essays 2010 by Robert Atwan, Christopher Hitchens

3.0

As with any compilation, some essays were definitely better than others. My favorites blended the personal with the public; Gyromancy by Rindo (about his own diagnosis of Meniere's disease and the possibility that Van Gogh suffered from it as well) and Speaking in Tongues by Zadie Smith (about language, being biracial, and the US President) were brilliant, five-star essays. Go read them now. A few other good, but not great ones, were The Murder of Leo Tolstoy by Batuman, The Elegant Eyeball by Gamel, and My Genome, My Self by Pinker. These succeeded, though to a lesser degree than the first two because, again, they blended the personal with the science or history and made an engaging read. The essays I really didn't care for didn't do that: How Einstein Divided America's Jews by Isaacson read like a very dry chapter from a very dry history of early 20th century Zionism; Me, Myself, and I's (Kramer) exploration of the father of the essay, Montaigne, was sadly lacking the personal, too (so ironic, I know!). And the essays on Updike, Orwell, and Buckley, though well written, are really only for already-existing fans.

So a mixed bag, but on the whole interesting. Well worth the $1 I paid for it at the used book sale. :)