Essays

Chosen by the American Society of Magazine Editors, the stories in this anthology include National Magazine Award-winning works of public interest, reporting, feature writing, and fiction. This year's selections include Pamela Colloff (Texas Monthly) on the agonizing, decades-long struggle by a convicted murderer to prove his innocence; Dexter Filkins (The New Yorker) on the emotional effort by an Iraq War veteran to make amends for the role he played in the deaths of innocent Iraqis; Chris Jones (Esquire) on Robert A. Caro's epic, ongoing investigation into the life and work of Lyndon Johnson; Charles C. Mann (Orion) on the odds of human beings' survival as a species; and Roger Angell (The New Yorker) on aging, dying, and loss. The former infantryman Brian Mockenhaupt (Byliner) describes modern combat in Afghanistan and its ability both to forge and challenge friendships; Ta-Nehisi Coates (The Atlantic) reflects on the complex racial terrain traversed by Barack Obama; Frank Rich (New York) assesses Mitt Romney's ambiguous candidacy; and Dahlia Lithwick (Slate) looks at the current and future implications of an eventful year in Supreme Court history. The volume also includes an interview on the art of screenwriting with Terry Southern from The Paris Review and an award-winning short story by Stephen King published in Harper's magazine.

A teacher of writing and literature for 35 years, Donna DeLeo Bruno has loved books and relished reading for as far back as she can remember. Since retirement, she shares her immense enjoyment and keen appreciation of books and writing styles, with presentations at libraries, book clubs, and women's groups.

Copper Nickel is a meeting place for multiple aesthetics, bringing work that engages with our social and historical context to the world with original pieces and dynamic translations. Copper Nickel issue 23 features poetry by two-time Pushcart Prize winner Jennifer Atkinson, Kate Tufts Discovery Award winner Adrian Blevins, National Poetry Series winner Justin Boening, renowned poet and critic Stephen Burt, Ruth Lilly Fellow Chloe Honum, two-time NEA Fellow Christopher Howell, Lambda Literary Award finalist Randall Mann, Stegner Fellow L.S. McKee, and Guggenheim Fellow Eric Pankey, as well as emerging voices such as Belfast, Northern Ireland, based poet Andrew Deloss Eaton and Hong Kong based poet Nicholas Wong; fiction by George Brookings, Dan Mancilla, Evelyn Sommers, and Liz Wyckoff; nonfiction by Bangladeshi-American writer Anuradha Bhowmik and NEA Fellow Traci Brimhall; and translation folios featuring Polish poet, critic, and scholar of Roma culture Jerzy Ficowski (translated by Jennifer Grotz and Piotr Sommer), Bosnian visual and performance artist Soba (translated by Paula Gordon) who "publishes" his prose on Facebook, and Polish poet Gzegorz Wróblewski (translated by Piotr Gwiazda).

The cover of Issue 23 features collage work by Denver-based visual artist Mario Zoots.

This book brings together leading international figures in political theory and sociology, as well as representatives from the political community, to consider the normative issues at stake in the relationship between environmental sustainability and social justice. These essays emerged from three intensive seminars which brought these distinct groups into fruitful contact.