State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America

Here's one the percolated right to the top of our Best of 2008 list: State by State, beautifully bound as something approximating a 1950's textbook, features 50 personal essays on 50 states by 50 writers. Each contribution adds something unique to this collection of geographic essays with styles that range from Anthony Doerr's lyrical meditation on the Tukudeka Indians of Idaho to Jonathan Franzen's imagined conversation with New York State's publicist... read more

_{Photo Credit: Ecco, 2008}