by Daniel Mark Epstein from The New Criterion / The Best American Essays 1987 Read at:  https://newcriterion.com/issues/1986/10/the-case-of-harry-houdini https://openlibrary.org/works/OL3748224W/The_Best_American_Essays_1987

by Gretel Ehrlich from Antaeus / The Best American Essays 1987 Read at: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL3748224W/The_Best_American_Essays_1987

by Richard Ben Cramer from Esquire / The Best American Essays 1987 Read at:  https://classic.esquire.com/article/1986/10/1/how-to-write-a-novel https://openlibrary.org/works/OL3748224W/The_Best_American_Essays_1987

by Richard Ben Cramer from Esquire / The Best American Essays 1987 Read at:  https://www.esquire.com/sports/a5379/biography-ted-williams-0686/ https://openlibrary.org/works/OL3748224W/The_Best_American_Essays_1987

by John Barth from Harper’s Magazine / The Best American Essays 1987 Read at: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL3748224W/The_Best_American_Essays_1987

by John Wain from The American Scholar / The Best American Essays 1986 Read at: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15834798W/The_Best_American_essays_1986

by Gore Vidal from The New York Review of Books / The Best American Essays 1986 Read at: https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1985/11/21/on-italo-calvino/ https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15834798W/The_Best_American_essays_1986

by Frederick Turner from Southwest Review / The Best American Essays 1986 Read at: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15834798W/The_Best_American_essays_1986

by Edward Rothstein from The New Republic / The Best American Essays 1986 Read at: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15834798W/The_Best_American_essays_1986

by Cynthia Ozick from Harper’s Magazine / The Best American Essays 1986 Read at:  https://harpers.org/archive/1985/09/the-first-day-of-school/ https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15834798W/The_Best_American_essays_1986