Includes bibliographical references (pages 291-306).
Abasement / Drinking story / Fire and ice / Ghosts / The wild, sublime body / Baby yeah / The Gye, the no-name hair salon, the coup d'État, and the small dreamers / It had to be gold / Futurity / Her kind / Ghost bread / The gamble / The wrong Jason Brown / Between these lives, Azeroth / Among men / China brain / What she would always and should always be doing / My gentile region / Anatomy of a botched assimilation / Mother country / At the bend of the road / If you ever find yourself / The lost list / Contributor's notes -- Notable essays and literary nonfiction of 2021 -- Notable special issues of 2021. Brian Blanchfield -- Elissa Washuta -- Debra Gwartney -- Vauhini Vara -- Melissa Febos -- Anthony Veasna So -- Jung Hae Chae -- Justin Torress -- Alex Marzano-Lesnevich -- Naomi A. Jackson -- Angelique Stevens -- Lina Mounzer -- Jason Brown -- Tanner Akoni Laguatan -- Calvin Gimpelevich -- Andrea Long Chu -- Kaitlyn Greenidge -- Gary Shteyngart -- Jesus Quintero -- Elias Rodriques -- Aube Rey Lescure -- Erica J. Simpson -- Ryan Bradley --
This work presents twenty-three "essays brimming with insight and emotional truth. From a writer turning to an AI language enerator to write about her sister's death, to a son grappling with the memory of his abusive mother, to a pilgrim walking in the shadow of a missing woman, these selections interrogate the past and illuminate the present." --back cover.