Vanishing Point Not a Memoir

In this adventurous exploration of the "I" in American culture, Ander Monson grapples with the lure of self-interest and self-presentation. While setting out to describe his service as head juror at the trial of Michael Antwone Jordan, he can't help but veer off into an examination of his own transgressions, inadvertent and otherwise. He filters his private experience of the public funeral ceremony for Gerald R. Ford through the music of New Order. He considers his attraction to the chemically concocted flavors of Doritos and his disappointment in the plain, natural corn chip, and finds that the manufactured, artificial form, at least in snacks, is ultimately a more rewarding experience than the "truth."

Ander Monson is the author of Neck Deep and Other Predicaments, winner of the Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize; the novel Other Electricities; and the poetry collections Vacationland and The Available World. He lives in Arizona and edits the magazine Diagram.