Freedom from choice

From short stories to sports and science writing, "Best of" anthologies prove that readers like their books preselected.

By JoAnn Gutin

Dec 6, 2000 | As a rule, freedom of choice is a good thing, but even good things can be run into the ground. And in 21st century America, we're running freedom of choice into the ground. Is it reasonable that we be expected to analyze competing cellphone plans and long-distance services so we can pick the one that's best for us? Should we consider it a privilege to pick the optimal energy company for our needs? Are we supposed to have the time and expertise to comparison-shop for the best deal on homeowners insurance and decide for ourselves which of the various medical treatments for breast and prostate cancer is best for us? Excuse me, but what ever happened to experts?

Sometimes a person just wants to hand the reins over to somebody else. This longing accounts for the personal shopper, the prix fixe dinner and -- judging by the towers of books on the floor by my desk -- the proliferation of annual "Best of" anthologies. This year's total is 15 and climbing.

The "Best of" anthology offers readers freedom from choice in the nicest possible way. The way it works is that each anthology has a long-term series editor, usually a writer of some repute, and an annual guest editor, generally a big-name literary figure. (For example, this year's guest editor for Scribner's "Best American Poetry" is Rita Dove; for Houghton Mifflin's "Best American Short Stories," it's E.L. Doctorow.) The series editor does the grunt work, scanning the whole year's output from big and little magazines, newspapers and even online magazines when the spirit moves. The series editor then turns over 100 or so of the best to the guest editor, who makes the final cut.

Houghton Mifflin is the 800-pound gorilla of the annual anthology biz: Its list of anthologies includes short stories, essays, sports writing, mystery stories, recipes, travel writing and science and nature writing, with more categories under discussion. Meanwhile, other publishers are getting on the anthology bandwagon. Scribner's has been publishing its distinguished Best American Poetry series since 1988, and this year's debuts include best magazine writing, science writing, food writing, art writing, writing by men and women of all colors and new (previously unpublished) voices.

Janet Silver, Houghton's editor in chief, estimates there are more than half a million Houghton annual anthologies in print, and she describes the recent growth as "exponential." (As if marking out its territory, Houghton has actually trademarked the phrase "Best American.") Asked to explain the annual anthology's newfound popularity, Silver says her own company owes its success to "readers with ever less time, looking more and more for preselection by authorities they trust and admire."

Preselection: the wave of the future. You heard it here first.

Preselection is one of those organizing principles -- like Oedipal conflict or right-wing conspiracy -- that seem, the minute you hear them, to make disparate phenomena fall into an understandable pattern. Oprah's Book Club, for instance, has had more influence on American literature than Lionel Trilling and Ralph Waldo Emerson combined. It's so popular because Winfrey is saying, "This is a good book. Go and read it."

Next Page: Culture wars and the Web fuel "Best of" fever

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