Inside the 2008 Edition

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.

Salman Rushdie, this year's guest editor, is the author of ten novels, one collection of short stories, and four works of nonfiction; he is also coeditor of Mirrorwork, an anthology of contemporary Indian literature. His novel Midnight's Children won the Booker Prize in 1981, the "Booker of Bookers" in 1993, and the "Best of the Booker," based on popular vote, in 2008. The Moor's Last Sigh was awarded the Whitbread Prize in 1995 and the Aristeion Prize for Literature in 1996. In 2007, Salman Rushdie was awarded a knighthood for services to literature. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a commandeur of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. The Enchantress of Florence is his most recent novel.

• Table of Contents
• Author Biographies
• Selected Excerpts
• Study Guide
• Where to Pre-order