Collects the year's finest works of non-fiction. These essays roam widely, capturing the preoccupations and events of the previous year. Showcasing our finest writers on a range of topics both public and personal, The Best Australian Essays is an indispensable record of the year that was.

The naked critic: memories of Robert Hughes / Tim Flannery.

Last drinks / Louis Nowra.

Kartiya are like Toyotas: white workers on Australia’s cultural frontier / Kim Mahood.

The murder of Azaria / John Bryson.

Water under the bridge: a guide to the Murray-Darling Basin / Kate Jennings.

Sublime and profane: our contemporary obsession with food / Maria Tumarkin.

Wardrobe erotics: Akira Isogawa / Peter Robb.

Red dog: a mutiny / Helen Garner.

Shooting lunch / Romy Ash.

Killing / Anna Krien.

We need to talk about Kevin / James Button.

A coup by any other name / Rhys Muldoon.

Political animal / David Marr.

Old Copmanhurst / Gillian Mears.

Les Murray and the black dog / J.M. Coetzee.

Want Gina wants: Gina Rinehart’s quest for respect and gratitude / Nick Bryant.

A dark victory: how vested interests defeated climate science / Robert Manne.

Raw experience / Rachel Robertson.

This much is true / L.M. Robinson.

The garrulous listener / Gideon Haigh.

A hundred years of John Cage / Andrew Ford.

A critic and a poet / Clive James.

The porn ultimatum: the dehumanising effects of smut / Cordelia Fine.

Passion in a time of war: on the road with Saddam and Miriam / Lee Kofman.

The magic teaspoon / Jennifer Compton.

A private matter / Deborah Robertson.

Quicksilver: reflections / Nicolas Rothwell.

Publication details.

Notes on contributors.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 303-305)