The Best American essays 2008 / edited and with an introduction by Adam Gopnik ; Robert Atwan, series editor.

Foreword / Robert Atwan -- Introduction / Adam Gopnik -- 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 -- Contributors' notes -- Notable essays of 2007.

The Best American series is the premier annual showcase for the country's finest short fiction and nonfiction. Each volume's series editor selects notable works from hundreds of periodicals. A special guest editor, a leading writer in the field, then chooses the best twenty or so pieces to publish. This unique system has made the Best American series the most respected, and most popular, of its kind.