Harare Review of Books

592 pages.

Expected publication date: Nov. 21, 2023 (Columbia University Press)

Anthology (mostly non-fiction).

So much of the world’s best reporting is about hard things—violence, war, racism, the failure of social systems—and the pieces collected in 2023’s The Best American Magazine Writing are no different. The Battle for Baby L by Rozina Ali, from the New York Times Magazine, is the outrageous story of how a US army contractor used legal loopholes to effectively (allegedly) steal a baby from Afghanistan. From The Atlantic, Clint Smith’s Monuments to the Unthinkable is a powerful, thoughtful, and well-written reflection on how the US can honour the victims of slavery and anti-Black racism. We Need to Take Away Children by Caitlin Dickerson in The Atlantic is the rest of the iceberg beneath what the public saw of the Trump administration’s separation of children of migrants from parents at the southern border. The Landlord and the Tenant by Raquel Rutledge and Ken Armstrong (ProPublica and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel), The Militiamen, the Governor, and the Kidnapping That Wasn’t by Chris Heath (Esquire), The Year of the Nepo Baby by Nate Jones (New York), and Tinder Hearted by Allison P. Davis (NewYork) also make for excellent reading.

This is a great collection of incisive reporting and fantastic writing about important topics and stories that caught public attention, and is highly recommended. Thank you to Columbia University Press and NetGalley for access.

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