Twenty Years Booked

Bookforum asked contributors to weigh in on the most distinctive and influential works of the past two decades. The writers named the best works in a number of categories—and came up with a few new genres in the process.

LITERARY RANT – J. HOBERMAN

ART THEORY – DAVE HICKEY

PHOTOGRAPHY BOOK – GEOFF DYER

NEW YORK BOOK – LUC SANTE

INVENTIVE FICTION – WAYNE KOESTENBAUM

PORTRAIT OF EVIL – WENDY LESSER

CRIME – GEOFFREY O’BRIEN

FUTURE OF FICTION – CHRISTIAN LORENTZEN

NOT POETRY – ALBERT MOBILIO

BUSH-ERA NOVEL – CURTIS SITTENFELD

CULTURAL CRITICISM – ANDREW HULTKRANS

WHAT WE LEARNED FROM SEBALD – BENJAMIN KUNKEL