-- On marriage / by Andrew Sant -- Culturestate / by Guy Rundle -- Something sacred / by Peter Conrad -- On botany / by Jo Lennan -- Getting to know them / by Tim Flannery -- Rick Grossman: the trip home / by Maureen O'Shaughnessy -- 'Freud has a name for it': A. A. Phillips's 'the cultural cringe" / by Ian Henderson -- Another universe /by Amanda Hooton -- Ebony: the girl in the room / by Anne Manne -- All things being equal / by Elizabeth Farrelly -- The smoking vegetarian / by David Brooks -- Country and western / by Sunil Badami -- Infinite anthology : adventures in lexiconia / by Les Murray -- Art and darkness / by Janet Hawley -- The states of the nation / by David Malouf -- Secret women's business / by Shelley Gare -- Prayers, tear gas and terror / by Paul McGeough -- The only things I remember from school / by Murray Bail -- Tears of the sun / by Kathy Marks -- John Masefield's attic / by Alex Miller -- The angry country / by Melissa Lucashenko -- On being odd / by Lorna Hallahan -- Born in Vietnam, made in Australia : getting the fish sauce recipe right / by Pauline Nguyen -- The ace of spades / by Carmel Bird -- Magic Island / by Nicholas Rothwell -- Asylum seekers and Australian democracy : what do we fear? / by Robert Manne -- High times at the Hotel Desiccation / by Sarah Drummond -- A fine and public place / by Gerard Windsor.

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.