**Curated by the #1** New York Times **bestselling author of** Wild **, this volume shares intimate perspectives from some of today’s most acclaimed writers.** As Cheryl Strayed explains in her introduction, “the invisible, unwritten last line of every essay should be *and nothing was ever the same again*.” The reader, in other words, should feel the ground shift, if even only a bit. In this edition of the acclaimed anthology series, Strayed has gathered twenty-six essays that each capture an inexorable, tectonic shift in life. Personal and deeply perceptive, this collection examines a broad range of life experiences—from a man’s relationship with Mormonism to a woman’s search for a serial killer; from listening to the music of Joni Mitchell to surviving five months at sea; from triaging injured soldiers to giving birth to a daughter; and much more. *The Best American Essays 2013* includes entries by Alice Munro, Zadie Smith, John Jeremiah Sullivan, Dagoberto Gilb, Vicki Weiqi Yang, J.D. Daniels, Michelle Mirsky, and others.