Dealing with all aspects of life, from the pain of war to the warmth of family, the superb tales in Best African American Fiction 2010 are a tribute to the stunning imaginations thriving in today鈥檚 African American literary community. Chosen by this year鈥檚 guest editor, the legendary Nikki Giovanni, these works delve into international politics and personal histories, the clash of armies and of generations-and come from such publications as The New Yorker, Harper鈥檚, The Kenyon Review, and Callaloo. In "Ghosts," Edwidge Danticat portrays an aspiring radio talk show host in Bel Air-which some call the Baghdad of Haiti-who is brutally scapegoated, and in "Three Letters, One Song & a Refrain," Chris Abani gives a searing account of the violent life of a thirteen-year-old member of a Burmese hill tribe. Jeffery Renard Allen dramatizes the mysterious arrival in Harlem of a child鈥檚 hated grandmother, and Wesley Brown fictionalizes the life of the great saxophonist Coleman Hawkins, with cameo appearances by Louis Armstrong, Fletcher Henderson, and other immortals. John Edgar Wideman contributes dense and textured "Microstories" that interweave everything from taboo sex acts to Richard Wright鈥檚 last works to murder in a modern family. Desiree Cooper depicts a debutante from Atlanta moving to Detroit, "a city where there鈥檚 no place to hide," while in "Been Meaning to Say," by Amina Gautier, a widower gets an unforgettable holiday visit from his resentful daughter.