With nonfiction being so popular nowadays, it's sometimes difficult to choose who and what to spend your money on, but with this anthology you get a taste of several different authors. My favorites are Bauer, Bain, and Beard (the B's win hands down, I guess), and I went on to read Beard's book too which is great. I love not only how personal these essays are, but also how heartfelt they are--I didn't feel the aloof stance of the observer that I sometimes feel in nonfiction--I felt like these were genuine people trying to make a connection by telling their stories. It's an excellent book.

Prairie Schooner is one of the oldest and most prestigious literary journals in the United States. It has been in continuous publication for 75 years and has been called one of the best magazines in America and was named one of the "Nineteen Magazines That Matter" by Writer's Digest. I think they got it right. Best of Prairie Schooner provides the reader with some of the best personal essays from critics, novelists, and poets such as Wright Morris, Maxine Kumin, David Haward Bain and Nancy Willard. These essays are personal in that they connect with the reader in personal, almost intimate levels, letting the reader see"...what makes their stories, what makes their poems, what makes their lives." This is a wonderful anthology that will provide the reader with delightful, insightful, worthwhile reading that is as advertised, the Best of Prairie Schooner. A good job by the Univ. of Nebraska Press.

I got this book after my close and long time girlfriend was diagnosed with breast cancer. I have read it straight thru and will share it with her. I can't say enough for the brilliant writer's stories of courage and their tenacity to face life head on! Even for those of us fortunate not to have to go thru this terrible cancer ordeal, it is a book of courage and strength and about what really's important in this life. It reminds us of how precious each day is.

This beautifully crafted series of poems explores the meanings of 'trans', from the author's experiences with breast cancer to her adult child's female-to-male transition. Loss, movement, and processes of forging new understanding are important themes. The volume is organized into sections, each of which begins with a dictionary definition of the prefix 'trans-'. Raz is one of theUnited States' most important contemporary poets and editors of poetry, so it is no surprise that she handles these issues with such dexterity in this book.