New York Times - Best Work of American Fiction of the Past 25 Years

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Early this year, the Book Review’s editor, Sam Tanenhaus, sent out a short letter to a couple of hundred prominent writers, critics, editors and other literary sages, asking them to please identify "the single best work of American fiction published in the last 25 years." Following is the winner along with other books that received numerous votes.

  1. 1.
    Beloved
    by Toni Morrison

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  2. 2.
    Underworld - Parts I and II
    by Don DeLillo

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  3. 5.
    American Pastoral
    by Philip Roth

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  4. 6.
    A Confederacy of Dunces
    by John Kennedy Toole

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  5. 7.
    Housekeeping: A Novel
    by Marilynne Robinson

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  6. 8.
    Winter's Tale
    by Mark Helprin

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  7. 10.
    The Counterlife
    by Philip Roth

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  8. 11.
    Libra (Contemporary American Fiction)
    by Don DeLillo

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  9. 12.
    Where I'm Calling From: Selected Stories
    by Raymond Carver

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  10. 13.
    ?
    The Things They Carried
    by Tim O'Brien

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  11. 14.
    ?
    Mating
    by Norman Rush

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  12. 15.
    Jesus' Son: Stories by
    by Denis Johnson

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  13. 16.

  14. 17.
    Independence Day
    by Richard Ford

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  15. 18.
    Sabbath's Theater
    by Philip Roth

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  16. 20.
    The Human Stain: A Novel
    by Philip Roth

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  17. 21.
    The Known World: A Novel
    by Edward P. Jones

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  18. 22.
    The Plot Against America
    by Philip Roth

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Created by joymichelle on May 22, 2006.
 

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