The Pushcart Prize XXXVIII: Best of the Small Presses

In tracing the trajectory of literary anthologies, one might say the form enjoyed its heyday around 1960, with the publication of Donald Allen's venerable volume The New American Poetry, 1945–1960. While a few anthologists continue to make valuable contributions (e.g., Jerome Rothenberg), "best of" compilations have arguably become the textbooks of the literary world, tools for shaping the tastes of the reading public. This year's installment of the Pushcart Prize anthology, edited by Pushcart Prize founder Henderson (All My Dogs: A Life) and more than 200 contributing editors, is emblematic of a format that has outlived its effectiveness as it takes matters of taste and markets them as authoritative examples of literary goodness. With pieces by Davy Rothbart (My Heart Is an Idiot), Natalie Díaz (When My Brother Was an Aztec), and Deb Olin Unferth (Vacation) among the collection's most engaging, this is little more than a harmless paper brick filled with work by known authors.