Wendy Martin (Editor) Wendy Martin is Vice-Provost and George and Ronya Kozmetsky Professor of Transdisciplinary Studies and Professor of American Literature and American Studies at Claremont Graduate University. She is the author and editor of numerous books, including The Cambridge Introduction to Emily Dickinson (2007), We Are The Stories We Tell (1990), More Stories We Tell (2004), and The Art of the Short Story (2006).Cecelia Tichi (Editor) Cecelia Tichi is Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of English and American Studies Emerita at Vanderbilt University. Her books include Jazz Age Cocktails, Gilded Age Cocktails, What Would Mrs. Astor Do? The Essential Guide to the Manners and Mores of the Gilded Age and Civic Passions: Seven Who Launched Progressive America. Her mystery fiction includes the "Val and Roddy DeVere Gilded" series, set in the Gilded Age. Her website: https://www.cecebooks.com.

"Stories by today's most captivating writers - Jhumpa Lahiri, Susan Straight, ZZ Packer, Aimee Bender and more - focus a personal lens on race relations, gender issues, Hurricane Katrina and our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan." (Ms. Magazine) "Best of Times, Worst of Times is particularly powerful in the range of social and political issues it addresses through fiction; its a collection designed to provoke critical reading, discussion and writing. The editors provide a broad representation of current fiction from familiar names as well as up-to-the-minute offerings from new American writers; in the process, they illustrate the extraordinary range of stylistic practices that shape contemporary fiction." - Amy Tucker,author of The Illustration of the Master: Henry James and the Magazine Revolution "Topical yet timeless, this collection speaks tellingly and provocatively to issues prevalent in todays world and to readers struggling to make sense of these volatile times. The expansive stories are compelling and necessary, powerful and empathetic; they reveal in equal measure the daunting possibilities, stunning successes, and abysmal failures along side the ordinary, the contradictory, and the hopeful, all at play within the imaginative realm of visionary and expert short story writers who understand the complexities of contemporary life. They have produced a much-needed, wide-ranging, valuable, and unique collection." - Thadious M. Davis,University of Pennsylvania

• Acknowledgements Introduction Wendy Martin and Cecelia Tichi All in the Family 1 Your Mother and I Dave Eggers 2 The Ballad of Duane Juarez Tom Franklin 3 In the American Society Gish Jen 4 Gogol Jhumpa Lahiri 5 Refresh, Refresh Benjamin Percy 6 Smorgasbord Tobias Wolff Shifting Identities 7 How to Date a Brown Girl (black girl, white girl, or halfie) Junot Diaz 8 In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson Is Buried Amy Hempel 9 Metamorphosis John Updike 10 Think David Foster Wallace Locations and Dislocations 11 Expensive Trips Nowhere Tom Bissell 12 Near-Extinct Birds of the Central Cordillera Ben Fountain 13 Shiloh Bobbie Ann Mason 14 COMMCOMM George Saunders 15 Mines Susan Straight Across Divides 16 Skinless Aimee Bender 17 View from a Headlock Jonathan Lethem 18 Brownies ZZ Packer 19 Pie of the Month Jean Thompson Workdays and Nightshifts 20 A Day Charles Bukowski 21 Scales Louise Erdrich 22 Something That Needs Nothing Miranda July 23 Equal Opportunity Walter Mosley 24 The Passenger Marisa Silver About the Editors

Wendy Martin (Editor) Wendy Martin is Vice-Provost and George and Ronya Kozmetsky Professor of Transdisciplinary Studies and Professor of American Literature and American Studies at Claremont Graduate University. She is the author and editor of numerous books, including The Cambridge Introduction to Emily Dickinson (2007), We Are The Stories We Tell (1990), More Stories We Tell (2004), and The Art of the Short Story (2006).Cecelia Tichi (Editor) Cecelia Tichi is Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of English and American Studies Emerita at Vanderbilt University. Her books include Jazz Age Cocktails, Gilded Age Cocktails, What Would Mrs. Astor Do? The Essential Guide to the Manners and Mores of the Gilded Age and Civic Passions: Seven Who Launched Progressive America. Her mystery fiction includes the "Val and Roddy DeVere Gilded" series, set in the Gilded Age. Her website: https://www.cecebooks.com.

"Stories by today's most captivating writers - Jhumpa Lahiri, Susan Straight, ZZ Packer, Aimee Bender and more - focus a personal lens on race relations, gender issues, Hurricane Katrina and our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan." (Ms. Magazine) "Best of Times, Worst of Times is particularly powerful in the range of social and political issues it addresses through fiction; its a collection designed to provoke critical reading, discussion and writing. The editors provide a broad representation of current fiction from familiar names as well as up-to-the-minute offerings from new American writers; in the process, they illustrate the extraordinary range of stylistic practices that shape contemporary fiction." - Amy Tucker,author of The Illustration of the Master: Henry James and the Magazine Revolution "Topical yet timeless, this collection speaks tellingly and provocatively to issues prevalent in todays world and to readers struggling to make sense of these volatile times. The expansive stories are compelling and necessary, powerful and empathetic; they reveal in equal measure the daunting possibilities, stunning successes, and abysmal failures along side the ordinary, the contradictory, and the hopeful, all at play within the imaginative realm of visionary and expert short story writers who understand the complexities of contemporary life. They have produced a much-needed, wide-ranging, valuable, and unique collection." - Thadious M. Davis,University of Pennsylvania

• Acknowledgements Introduction Wendy Martin and Cecelia Tichi All in the Family 1 Your Mother and I Dave Eggers 2 The Ballad of Duane Juarez Tom Franklin 3 In the American Society Gish Jen 4 Gogol Jhumpa Lahiri 5 Refresh, Refresh Benjamin Percy 6 Smorgasbord Tobias Wolff Shifting Identities 7 How to Date a Brown Girl (black girl, white girl, or halfie) Junot Diaz 8 In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson Is Buried Amy Hempel 9 Metamorphosis John Updike 10 Think David Foster Wallace Locations and Dislocations 11 Expensive Trips Nowhere Tom Bissell 12 Near-Extinct Birds of the Central Cordillera Ben Fountain 13 Shiloh Bobbie Ann Mason 14 COMMCOMM George Saunders 15 Mines Susan Straight Across Divides 16 Skinless Aimee Bender 17 View from a Headlock Jonathan Lethem 18 Brownies ZZ Packer 19 Pie of the Month Jean Thompson Workdays and Nightshifts 20 A Day Charles Bukowski 21 Scales Louise Erdrich 22 Something That Needs Nothing Miranda July 23 Equal Opportunity Walter Mosley 24 The Passenger Marisa Silver About the Editors